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John Quincy Adams (The American Presidents Series)

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This is one of the few, possibly the only, early American President I am aware of who is consistently treated poorly by historians. It is almost like there is some unspoken conspiracy to paint the man as some kind of slacker. The closest we can come to this kind of consensual disapproval is how the American press treated Gerald Ford's athleticism. In Ford's case, this former center for the University of Michigan football team, an excellent recreational skier and a man who consistently shot golf in the low 70's was treated as an uncoordinated clod, who could not put one foot in front of another. Something similar is going on with the depiction of JQA.

Independent of his parents in Europe for 6 years, much of that time by his own choice, his biographers treat him as a mama's boy. That's right, the same man who undertook his first diplomatic mission for the United States at age 14! And it goes down hill from there.

Incredible successes as Secretary of State under James Monroe are glossed over, a Presidential vision for America that was the equal of Washington, Adams (his father), Jefferson, Madison and Monroe's combined, formulator of the Monroe Doctrine, extender of the Continental limits of the United States from sea to sea, ardent abolitionist who fought the Gag Rule in the House of Representatives for 9 years (that's right, he defends our most fundamental of freedoms, freedom of speech, and during a 9 year Congressional battle, defeats those who would have suppressed this freedom within our own Congress), founder of the Smithsonian, the list of this man's unbelievable accomplishments goes on and on.

Professor Remini should be embarrassed for this mediocre effort. Was JQA stiff, prickly and unyielding? Of course he was. Was he obstinate, arrogant and difficult? Again JQA is guilty. But after his outstanding works on Jackson, Webster, and Clay for Professor Remini to simply repeat Nagel's poor work and not take the time and opportunity to fairly and accurately report on this man's life accomplishments has got to be some form of academic bankruptcy. This book is only 155 pages long. And those pages are small. That should tell you something. Save your money.

John Quincy Adams was one of the smartest and most educated men to serve as president. With all that intelligence, he really stunk up the White House. Remini points out how absolutely blind and deaf JQA was to politics. He would not campaign in even minor ways or do anything to help his chances for political success. Perhaps we could use more of that in today's world, but at the same time, politics is politics. If one truly believes in the importance of long term planning and success, he or she must be willing to make some short term sacrifices. With all that said, JQA's secretary of state years under President Monroe were incredibly successful. JQA practically created the Monroe Doctrine and made the case that sometimes preemptive action is necessary. Samuel Flagg Bemis is apparently the expert historian on JQA's State Department years, and Remini relies on his work for that chapter. John Lewis Gaddis also made use of John Quincy Adams's leadership of the State Department in a comparative look at grand strategies, along with FDR and GWB.

The book is interesting, short, and well-written. Little more can be asked for.

John Quincy Adams was the first son of a President to become President himself. Although his family connections didn't hurt, they also weren't overly helpful; his break from his father's Federalist connections means that JQA had to attain the nation's highest office based primarily on his own resume, not his father's.

Ironically, Adam's tenure as President was in some ways, the low point in his career of public service. Prior to then, he was one of the best foreign relations people in American history, one of the primary authors of the Treaty of Ghent and the Monroe Doctrine. In his post-Presidential life, he was a prominent Congressman noted for his anti-slavery work (including his winning defense in the Amistad case) and his part in founding the Smithsonian Institute. As a President, however, he was at best mediocre and ineffective, his four years marred from the start by his controversial election and his unwise appointment of Henry Clay as Secretary of State (for Clay, it was equally unwise to have accepted the position).

Having read Remini's three volume biography of Jackson, it was interesting to read his depiction of one of Jackson's principal political enemies. Remini does a good job, but this is not as strong an effort as his other biographical works. The brevity of the book (which I believe was imposed by the American Presidents Series editors) makes this book more of an overview than a full biography. Remini does cover most of the major points, however, and does deal with Adams's personal life as well.

As stated before, John Quincy Adams was not a very significant President, but he is an important part of early U.S. history. This book is a good introduction to the man often recognized as the best Secretary of State ever. For a more detailed biography, however, Paul Nagel's recent work is a worthwhile read.

I am really excited about this new series of books edited by Arthur Schlesinger. Many are aware of the scholars' poll that Schlesinger has overseen since 1948, in which many leading American scholars rate the overall success or failure of all the presidents. This series of books sets out to provide a short biography of each American president, almost always by a major presidential scholar or historian. The first volume in the series, for instance, was on James Madison by Garry Wills, and the second on Theodore Roosevelt by Louis Auchincloss. What excites me most about this series is the fact that many of the less well known presidents, like James Tyler and Benjamin Harrison and Zachary Taylor, will all get their own biographies.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS is the second volume in the series, and is written by distinguished antebellum historian Robert V. Remini, famous for his biography of Andrew Jackson among other works. There is no question that this book, while not terribly long, is a very high quality, surprisingly in depth study of the life of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. More than most presidents, the story of JQA (as Adams referred to himself), is an especially sad one. The child of two famous parents, John Adams and Abigail Adams, Adams was from a child sensitive to the fact that great things were expected of him, a fact continually reinforced by his overbearing mother. He quickly showed himself to be a gifted and brilliant child, as well as intensely self-critical and perfectionistic. He was a gifted scholar, and actually became a professor at Harvard before embarking on a life of public service.

Although remembered today as one of our less successful presidents, JQA was for the most part an astonishingly successful public servant. Few Americans can match JQA for his overall contribution to American life. As a very young man, after serving a term in the U.S. Senate, he served as an ambassador to various European countries, and eventually became ambassador to Prussia. He was one of the individuals responsible for negotiating the treaty with England ending the War of 1812. After a series of diplomatic successes, Adams became the Secretary of State under Monroe. Remini states that JQA was arguably the finest Secretary of State the United States has ever had. Among other things, he was the primary architect of what became known as the Monroe Doctrine, which more accurately could be called the John Quincy Adams Doctrine. Furthermore, after leaving the presidency, he spent the remainder of his life serving in the House of Representatives in a highly distinguished fashion. It was only as a president that he was a disappointment.

His presidency began with one of the least admirable elections in US history. Although Jackson won both the popular vote and electoral vote, he didn't gain a plurality, which threw the election into the House of Representatives. There Henry Clay machinated an Adams victory. Jackson's supporters forgave neither Clay nor Adams, and before it began, Adams presidency was doomed. He exacerbated matters with a series of political blunders. The tragedy is that Adams entered the presidency with one of the most ambitious visions of the role of government in the lives of individuals. Today, his vision would not be considered at all extreme, but at the time few were willing to accept government's playing the kind of role he imagined.

All in all, this is a moving portrait of a marvelous public servant whose presidency failed to match his many other successes. I strongly recommend it to all interested in either American history or the lives of the presidents. I look forward to additional volumes in this series.

Remini writes well but can be a little dry in places, so be warned. He does spend adequate time reflecting upon JQA's prodigious intellect. It's a matter of debate who was our most intelligent President: Lincoln, Madison and Jefferson would certainly garner their share of votes. But John Quincy Adams warrants serious consideration: he was an intellectual titan with an astounding breadth of intellect. He was impossibly well-read, sober, amazingly articulate with a rapier-like ability to demolish opponents or defend his position. It's debatable whether he was, in fact, America's most brilliant President, but this book goes a long way in making that case.

Remini wisely delves into Adams' private side and quotes extensively from his own words. If you are looking for a glum recitation of Adams' political life, look elsewhere, this is a more human biography. There was a refreshing amount of material focusing on Adams' boyhood, and the chapters covering his Congressional years are especially interesting. His story reads like something from a novel: failed President transformed into one of the most influential Congressmen who ever serve in the House.

My only minor criticism is that Remini does not sufficiently explore or explain Adams' brilliant son, Henry, who grew up to be a caustic and clever chronicler of the late 10th century. Otherwise, this is a solid book, well-written, thoroughly researched and illuminating.

This book was so poorly written that I cancelled my order for "The Life of Andrew Jackson" by the same author and ordered the Jackson biography by H.W. Brands instead (happily, the Brands book proved to be excellent).

While Remini's writing is pedestrian and his explanation of some historical events surprisingly shallow, it is the author's bigoted sermonizing that rankles most. The deficient history includes glossing over British grievances that led to impressment and forgetting to explain that Madison's invasion of Canada sparked the War of 1812. An excellent overview of these and other issues mischaracterized by the author is provided by Garry Wills in his biography of the lackluster James Madison in the fourth book in the American Presidents series or by H.W. Brands in his biography on Andrew Jackson.

Yet it is the author's lectures and rants against the formidable Abigail Adams that is most embarrassing to read. If I were to write this book review just as the author wrote his passages on Abigail, it would read like this: "Likely, Professor Remini's hostility towards his own mother produced severe misogyny, which led him to denounce Abigail Adams as a proxy for his hated mother."

Obviously, the above passage is beyond the bounds of scholarship so I wonder why Remini engaged in it. In addition to bloated sermons, Remini wielded tools of subtle bigotry against Abigail. For example, most scholars of this era recognize that it was set in a period before standardized English, which is why Washington and Jefferson spell the same words differently in different letters. For example, on p. 561 of his Jackson biography, H. W. Brands writes: "In...quotations, spelling and punctuation have been corrected...to do justice to the authors of the quotations, who lived before spelling became standardized." While Remini adheres to the principle of standardizing the spelling of letters, in the first half of his book, he makes an exception for those written by Abigail. Is it misogyny that impels him to quote her letters without standardization and then type "[sic]" after words that are "misspelled" according to later dictionaries?

When Abigail died in 1818, the author writes on p. 54: "JQA did not return home to comfort his mother during her illness nor did he attend her funeral....it was another mark of resentment toward his mother's 'dominating ways.'" This stark fact is meant to contrast with his father's death in 1826: "When John Quincy received word of his father's failing health and the fact that he might succumb at any moment he sped away to get home in time." Unfortunately, both accounts egregiously misrepresent the facts.

By contrast, here is David McCullough's take on Abigail's death on p. 623 of "John Adams": A "letter warning John Quincy to be prepared for the worst had not reached Washington until the day before his mother's death, and it was not until the day after her funeral that he learned she was gone. [JQA wrote:] 'the tenderest and most affectionate of mothers....My mother...was a minister of blessing to all human beings within her sphere of action....She had no feelings but of kindness and beneficence.... She...has been to me more than a mother. She has been a spirit from above watching over me for good....'"

Meanwhile, Remini's misrepresentation of his father's death clashes with the facts (i.e. Remini writes that upon being notified "[JQA] sped away to get home in time"). Here is McCullough on p. 647: "Not until Sunday, July 9, after receiving several urgent messages from home, did John Quincy start north by coach, accompanied by young John, and it was later that day, near Baltimore, that he learned of his father's death." Why didn't Remini write that JQA missed his father's funeral just as he had his mother's if not to intentionally deceive the reader in order to forward the author's thesis of hatred against the mother? Meanwhile, Remini does not explain that a trip home may cost two weeks time over poorly constructed roads and instead implies to the reader that JQA should have just hopped on Air Force One and sped home in a matter of minutes.

Once the mother expires, Remini gets down to the task of actually writing a biography. While the second half of the book is worth reading, too much trust has been squandered. Occasional authorial intrusions remind the reader that this author cannot be trusted so the entire book becomes suspect.

I could provide many more examples but this book is not worth the time. An accomplished historian would drench the reader in the era under examination, present a multiplicity of facts and viewpoints, and allow the reader to make his own judgment. An author of a short biography would provide facts, succinctly explain issues, and leave the reader with a greater understanding of the era and perhaps a yearning to learn more. By contrast Remini obfuscates details and offers unlikely psychological speculations while boring the reader like a preacher imprisoning his flock for an all-day sermon.

Remini is renowned for his multi-volume Pulitzer Prize-winning biography on Andrew Jackson. Assuming that his book deserves the acclaim, a subject I will never have an opinion on for I will not read another book by this author, a possible explanation for his shoddy scholarship in JQA is that Remini did not respect the readers of this series. He rushed off a poorly-researched manuscript because he believed that the readers of these abridged books on the presidents are not serious scholars; rather he dismisses them as ignoramuses who may be manipulated and confused for sport in return for a quick paycheck. Obviously, this is speculation but since that is all the author offered when writing JQA's biography, it is all the review is worth giving.

If you are interested in a book on John Quincy Adams, I recommend David McCullough's tome on John Adams, which delves into the father, mother, and the son. It explains the era, the issues, and the personalities and it is further recommended because it is not written by an author who appears, on the basis of this book, to be a bigot.

Robert J. Remini may be the most qualified author in the entire American Presidents Series. Remini is the leading expert on Andrew Jackson and Adams was president in the Jackson era, having been elected by defeating Jackson and then, losing his bid for re-election against Jackson. I was taken by the parallels between the Adams dynasty and the Bush dynasty. Both John Adams and George Bush were elected president after serving as vice president to a popular president. Both lost their bids for re-election. The son of both had the same first name but was known by a middle name; John Quincy Adams and George W. Bush. Both of the sons were elected in very controversial elections in which they lost the popular vote. Indeed, Adams was elected by the House of Representatives after getting Henry Clay's support in what was described as a "corrupt bargain" by Jackson's supporters. Bush's re-election broke the pattern of similarities since Adams, like his father, was a one term president.

Remini examines Adams' early life and notes that he was dominated by his mother, Abigail Adams. Her pressure lead him to become well educated and a perfectionist. He traveled to France with his father when the elder Adams was minister to France and he was educated there and became fluent in French. In raising his own three sons, he had very stern expectations of them and all three were disappointments to him. His pre-presidential career included a very solid term as secretary of state under James Monroe.

After losing his bid for re-election, Adams served in the House of Representatives and had a long, distinguished post presidential career. He was a staunch opponent of slavery and like his father, but unlike most other presidents up to his time, he never owned a slave. In a famous trial involving slaves who revolted on the slave ship Amistad, Adams was the attorney who defended them.

Today, we often get the feeling that politics has sunk to new lows of negative campaigning. However, the campaigns of Jackson against Adams were as dirty as they get. Adams was accused of arranging sexual favors for foreign diplomats in treaty negotiations and was labeled a pimp. Jackson married a woman who was believed to be divorced but, it turned out her divorce had not been final. When the error was discovered, Jackson and his wife corrected it and renewed their vows. This did not stop Adams' supporters from having a field day making vile attacks against Jackson and his wife, and labeling Jackson's offspring as illigitimate. Today's campaigns are relatively tame.

Remini is a great scholar who has written extensively about Jackson. Here, in this short book, he has written another fine biography. I recommend this book in particular and the other books in the presidential series in general.

Full disclosure. John Quincy Adams is one of my heroes. I eagerly grabbed this book but almost didn't finish it. The strong later chapters which effectively describe the Adams election, administration and later time in congress are paid for by a load of psycoanalisys of Abagail Adams, John Quincy to the point where the reader just wants to say ENOUGH!

When the writer calls Adams is a poor father and follows it up with a description of him informing his sons they should work hard, avoid drinking, and follow religion I must conclude that he doesn't want me raising children either. When he lambasts Adams for wanting to raise his sone the way he was raised saying that he should know better, he ignores that the method used produced one of the greatest statemen in the history of this country.

Later on it gets better the author rightly hits Adams as a poor pol but extols the virtues of his honesty and single minded devotion to what he believed was right. His chapters on Adams vision and his fight against the gag rule are great reading as are all chapters from the point that Adams serves in the Monroe administration.

The author's bias' are plain and the lens that he sees Adams life is apparent to any reader, but that lens can't cloud the life of the man, it can only make reading this story an annoyance for a time.

I suggest going right to 1816 and reading from there. The book is worth reading but it was enough to convince me that I would avoid this author in the future.

Robert Remini's brief study of John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) is part of the American Presidency Series edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. The series has the commendable aim of introducing the reader to each of the Presidents in a volume of short scope. The broader aim, I think, is to reawaken an appreciation of the history of our country and to stimulate reflection on the American experience. Thus, each volume tries to present a story of a life and also to explain briefly what is unique about each President and makes him worthy to be remembered.

Remini gives an excellent discussion of John Quincy Adams's service to the United States, both during his Presidency and before and after it. The aspect of JQA's public service that stands out, both in his Presidency and otherwise, is his commitment to American Nationalism. By this I mean a devotion to creating a strong, united nation for all the people to promote the public welfare. JQA worked diligently to advance the interests of the entire American people, as he saw these interests, rather than to be a tool of any faction or party or momentary passion. Much of the time, he succeeded.

As President, JQA advocated the creation of public works and improvements to link the country together. He was a strong supporter of education, scientific advancement, and learning. He wanted the Federal government to play an active role in supporting these ends and worked towards the creation of an American university. (After his Presidency he was a strong advocate for the creation of the Smithsonian Institution.)

Before he assumed the Presidency, Adams served as the Secretary of State under James Monroe. He worked for the goal of American Nationalism by expanding the boundaries of the United States through a skillful exercise of diplomacy until they extended to the Pacific Ocean. JQA also was instrumental in the formulation of the Monroe Doctrine.

Following his presidency. JQA served as a Congressman from Massachusetts. He distinguished himself in working for the anti-slavery cause and, specifically, by his tireless opposition to the "gag rule" which aimed to prevent critical discussion of slavery-related issues in the halls of Congress.

Remini presents his material in a way that focuses on this theme of JQA's public service and on its nationalistic aspirations . He also points out how and why JQA failed to realize many of his goals, particularly during his term as the sixth President (1825-1828) Adams was named President by the House of Representatives following a highly contested election. It was alleged that he struck a "corrupt bargain" with Henry Clay, who became Adams's Secretary of State. This "corrupt bargain" doomed the Adams Presidency and tarnished both Adams's and Clay's careers.

Adams was also highly opinionated and stuffy and gave the impression of aloofness. He was not a good politician and lacked a certain ability to compromise or to work cooperatively with others. At one point Remini writes (p. 110): "It is really impossible to think of any other president quite like John Quincy Adams. He seemed intent on destroying himself and his administration. By the same token, it is difficult to think of a president with greater personal integrity." JQA was defeated for a second term by Andrew Jackson in a bitterly fought campaign. Among other things, Jackson possessed abundant popular appeal and charisma, in sharp contrast to JQA's aloof, intellectual character.

While Adams's Presidency failed, his goals and ideals were good. They lived on and deserve studying and remembering.

Remini also gives a good summary of Adams's personal life, adopting some of the psychohistory of JQa's recent biographers. He points out the stresses that Adams endured from his famous father and mother and the pressures placed upon him and his brothers for high achievement. JQA also imposed these pressures and expectations, alas, on his own children. There is a good discussion of Adams's failed love affair as a young man --probably the one passion of his life -- and of his subsequent marriage to Louisa Johnson. Remini describes JQAs extensive intellectual interests, his tendencies to anger and to depression and he links these traits in a sensible way to the failings of Adams's Presidency.

This is an excellent study of JQA which captures in short compass the essence and character of his contribution to the United States. Readers who want to learn more about JQA -- with a focus on his service as Secretary of State and as Congressman from Massachusetts may wish to read the two-volume study by Samuel Flagg Bemis: "Joh Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy" (1949) and "John Quincy Adams and the Union" (1956).

Robin Friedman

First off, I am a real fan of this American Presidents Series of books. Each runs about 150 pages in length and can be easily finished in a few days by even the most time-constrained reader. This series is a godsend for those of us who buy 600-page biographical tomes with the best of intentions, then abandon them 100 pages in (albeit with extensive knowledge of the subject's family tree and childhood.) Robert Remini's biography "John Quincy Adams" strikes a great balance between illumination and brevity.

I became interested in John Quincy Adams after reading the chapter JFK devoted to him in "Profiles in Courage" and being struck by such an accomplished man continuing to harbor so many self-doubts. Remini's biography offers ample explanation for this. Driven hard by his family to excel (his father becoming, of course, the second President of the United States), the bar for perceived success was very high. As well, depression seemed to be a family trait, with many members touched by alcoholism or suicide, including two of JQA's own sons.

Remini does an excellent job describing the grueling regimen of study the young JQA followed and the high expectations the family placed on him. By his early teens, JQA was proficient in several languages and, amazingly, his fluency in French at age 14 was such that he was asked to serve as a translator for US diplomats in the Russian courts.

It can be shocking to read comments made by our leaders of the time, particularly statements regarding American Indians. The reader is reminded just how different was that era and how much things have changed in the intervening 200 years. One thing which has not changed is dirty political campaigning. In fact, the fallout from JQA's election in 1824 and the campaign of 1828 seem to mark a transition from the civil presidential elections of the nation's early years to the adversarial style still with us today.

As a politician, Adams was horrible. He had zero interest in playing the game, even to the point of refusing to campaign. "War meetings or committee meetings of both parties [occurred] every day of the week. It is so in every part of the Union. A stranger would think that the people of the United States have no other occupation than electioneering." That sounds like he spent an evening watching modern day cable news networks.

Heavy-duty readers of American history may find this book (and the others in the series) too concise, but then they are not the primary target audience. As for me, I learned a great deal about John Quincy Adams and his era without a burdensome commitment of time -- precisely what I sought.