Quotation Mark Monday: Little known Presidential facts

"Dad, did you know that William Henry Harrison couldn't smell? He didn't have a nose. He only had eyes and a tongue. He had to lick everything."

Mark and Anne of Fridays: Hayes-ing our children

A few weeks ago, Matt and Lynne sat down to plot out their 8 hour drive to Pittsburgh (more pictures on that later).  Lynne inquired about zoos or children's museums en route.

Then Matt found it:  the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center just off I-80 near Toledo.  A perfect stop!  There was no way to talk him out of it... although admittedly, Lynne didn't try very hard.  Who wouldn't want a closer look at the disputed election of 1876?  An opportunity to study the man who sold out freed slaves and negotiated the end of Reconstruction?  A look at an oft-forgotten bearded president?

By the time we set off on our trip, even Mark was excited.  Matt had even taken him to the library and checked out a book on Hayes.  The kid was literally leaping and bounding into the Hayes museum.

And as it turned out, the Hayes center was pretty nice.  It was situated in a beautiful grove that was worth walking around, and the museum had lots of stuff a kid could identify with -- Hayes' clothes, the seat he sat in in Congress, even his stagecoach and his children's toys.  Plus, Mark's favorite--a randomly organized display on each president that he insisted on viewing in chronological order.

With parents like us, the kid really can't help but be nerdy.  He LOVED the stop and can't wait to visit more presidential libraries.  Matt proimised to print out a list so they can chart them on a map of the United States.  Looks like the Hayes stop was the first in a series.

Quotation Mark Monday: Important Presidents

Mark: Dad, there are only four important presidents.
Matt: Really?
Mark: Yeah, dad. One of them is Washington. One is Barack Obama.
Matt: Oh, who are the others?
Mark: You don't know? You tell me.
Matt: Abraham Lincoln.
Mark: He is important.
Matt: Woodrow Wilson.
Mark: He's not important.
Matt: Franklin Roosevelt?
Mark: He's not important.
Matt: Teddy Roosevelt?
Mark: He's not important.
Matt: Thomas Jefferson?
Mark: He's not important.
Matt: I don't know who it is.
Mark: You forgooooot James K. Polk.

Mark of Fridays: Mark your ballots

After Lynne took Mark along when she voted, Mark wanted to cast his own ballot. And so he had that first wonderful taste of voting for the guy who didn't win. He seemed nonplussed by that development.
Mark also cast his vote for: Republican (over Democrat), blue (over red) and donkey (over elephant). I believe those three races are so close that officials are considering a recount.

Quotation Mark Mondays: Abe Lincoln

Mark: Where does Abraham Lincoln live?
Matt: He's not alive any more. He lived a long time ago.
Mark: Is he buried?
Matt: He's buried in Springfield, in Illinois.
Mark: Did they bury him in his hat?

Book review - Stealing Lincoln's Body

Here's book review number two. By the way, Matt is not counting this one toward his presidential biography series. I think you'll see why.

Book: Stealing Lincoln's Body by Thomas Craughwell, 210 pages

In 1876, an enterprising group of counterfeiters came up with an interesting plan: Why not steal the body of America's beloved president, hold it for ransom and use it to win the release of one of their buddies?
They almost pulled it off.
And their half-baked caper, kicked off a series of adventures for Lincoln's body that made this re-telling a fun, fast and fascinating read.
Growing up in Illinois, it's hard not to be captivated by Lincoln. Appropriately many of the Lincoln books cover different aspects of the same ground- his political acumen, his character, his presidency, his policies. Not this book. Stealing Lincoln's Body definitely creates it's own path.
There is nothing in the book about Lincoln's policies, accomplishments or thoughts (except about his wishes for burial). In fact, Lincoln the living man is not a character at all.
Instead, author Thomas Craughwell takes us on the strange and engaging journey of the president's corpse. It appears the turmoil that Lincoln experienced in life didn't end after he died.
The book opens across from Ford Theater in Lincoln's last moments. Although it's not as lively as other parts of the book, the prologue should give you a good feel for whether you're going to be interested in Stealing Lincoln's Body, as it goes into intricate detail about how the body was prepared for his funeral.
After that introduction, we're brought into the world of the counterfeiters who make an attempt to steal the body. Although that episode inspired the title, this caper only fills about the first quarter of the narrative. I think the book is at its best after the robbery, where the story of Lincoln's corpse is filled with great characters, wonderful anecdotes and genuine drama.
At the Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield (highly recommended, by the way), they talk a lot about how Lincoln has become such an icon, it's hard to see the real man, who had weaknesses and strengths, virtues and faults. In that context, it's interesting that the body of this legend was treated so casually. It was almost stolen, practically abandoned, brazenly lied about, often argued over, frequently relocated, crudely hidden and repeatedly disturbed. Lincoln's corpse was treated more like an old coin than a sacred relic.
Thomas Craughwell's book is a readable and well-researched history of those events. And although it's a history the writing feels more like a fictional mystery, with good guys and bad guys, plots twists...and appropriate footnoting.
The research gives us a feel for the times. Craughwell helps explains the laws about grave robbing and talks about the country's mood in the years after the assassination. The way we treated Lincoln's body gave me a lot to think about, in terms of what we value and how we honor the dead.
Craughwell also has an appreciation for those wonderful historical nuggets, such as: As a young boy, which future president was among the people who came out to see Lincoln's body brought through New York? Or, who was the last living person to see Lincoln's face? (He lived until 1963!)
Now, if you believe corpses are holy, sacred things that should never be touched, you may not feel comfortable in this book. It's never gory, but it's practical about how a body ends up in a grave. If that's not going to bother you, I think you're in for a treat.
I've been to Lincoln's tomb before. But next time I go, it will look like a lot more than just a slab of marble. It'll look like the end of an adventure.

Good book for: People looking for an interesting story about Lincoln which they probably haven't read anywhere else. Lincoln buffs who want to read something very different.
Avoid this book if: You're going to be horrified by how they treat a dead body. You don't have a bit of dark humor in you. You don't like history books.

Book review- His Excellency: George Washington

Matt thought he’d offer up some modest reviews of the books he’s reading, in case anyone is interested in some recommendations or warnings. Plus, it’s always nice to have a post-book discussion, right Oprah?
First up: His Excellency: George Washington, by Joseph J. Ellis, 275 pages.

Sometime during the last election, I set a life goal to read a book about every president. I had just finished reading Barack Obama’s Socialist Manifesto, Dreams From My Father, and realized that reading a book on each president’s would give me an interesting look at U.S. history. (A bit of personality-driven, I realize, but fun.)
I don’t remember picking His Excellency: George Washington for any particular reason – maybe I read a review in a newspaper or something. But whatever lead me to it, I found the right book.
Like Lincoln , Washington has become more symbol than human being. His life is so epic that it’s sometimes hard to believe he walked on solid Earth. The book works to chip away at that feeling. Washington is shown as person who had faults (including a nasty temper and a cheap streak) and amazing vision - he was a man who consciously shaped his times.
The book is agonizingly sparse in two areas I desperately wanted to know more about: Why did Washington break away from the British Army, where he was a decorated and respected soldier, to join up with the American revolutionaries? And, second, what were his thoughts during the Constitutional Convention, as the very foundations of this nation’s political and judicial systems were being negotiated?
I’m not going to hold those as strikes against His Excellency. In fact, the premise of the book is that you can only go so far into Washington ’s psyche because he prided himself on his reserve. He was not Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson and we’re all probably better off for it. Washington knew his place in history, even at the time, and he went so far as to ask that his letters to Martha Washington be burned and other personal correspondence be destroyed.
So, the great insights we get into John Adams’ tumultuous feelings about America ’s beginnings (used for David McCullough’s biography) are muted in here. I suppose there’s just an upper limit to how much we’ll ever know about Washington ’s feelings on issues that were both personal and historic. And that probably says something about the guy.
Anyhow, the book is a fast read (that’s a compliment) with crisp writing that covers Washington’s days fighting the Indians for the British up to his last days in Mount Vernon. As the author notes, the book is not meant to be an exhaustive scholarly history of Washington – other books do that – but rather a readable, biography of a fascinating person. The book accomplishes that goal. It touches on the “fun” parts of Washington (the cherry tree, the silver dollar), but gives its real weight to the wash of U.S. history that was happening around, and because of, the man.
I thought the best part of the book was the chapters on the Revolutionary War, probably because that was Washington ’s finest hour. He was leader and soldier. Truly, the world would never be the same.
My only other criticism is that I think the book went out of its way to finesse Washington ’s position on slavery. But overall, I highly recommend this one.
So, for me it’s two presidents down and 41 to go. (I don’t think I’ll read about Grover Cleveland twice.) William Henry Harrison may only be a pamphlet. I’m not sure if I should continue on in order or jump all over. What do you think?
And after I read 5,001 Things to Know About Rutherford B. Hayes Before You Die, Luke says he’ll learn me how to throw a curveball.
One last note: I never realized that Washington had no children of his own with Martha, who was a widower. Father of our country, indeed.

Good book for: People who want to learn more about Washington the man, not Washington the furniture. History fans.
Avoid this book if: You’re not interested in George Washington. You’re looking for an in-depth scholarly evaluation of President No. 1.