John Adams by David McCullough – this one took me about
three months too. It was better reading than the first one, but I still can’t
read these biographies for more than 15-30 minutes at a time.
I found myself liking John Adams as I read his biography by
David McCullough. The virtues of hard work, thrift, loyalty, and honesty are very
attractive and I enjoyed reading about a man who not only spoke of these
virtues but also lived them.
One of the tragedies in reading about “great men” as an
adult, is seeing the character, actions or personalities that I would not
readily tolerate among my acquaintances and losing the hero worship of
childhood. As I get older, I can understand the complexities of life and I
realize that things are not always clear cut.
However, I can’t abide people who are habitually unfaithful to their
spouses, manipulative, dishonest, etc. I don’t know if it is the romantic in me
or the loyal person in me or just that I have no desire to cheat on my spouse
and expect the same respect from him. So I appreciated that Adams appeared
to like and love his wife and I haven’t seen evidence that he was unfaithful to
her. I appreciated that he strove for honesty and integrity. I don’t really
understand the charges of vanity throughout the book and by his attackers. But
I probably don’t really understand what vanity was at that time and I don’t
really feel like researching it so feel free to comment and explain it to me.
The friendship of Adams and Jefferson wasn’t exactly the
great thing that people make it out to be. There were definitely periods of
dislike and no letters. It has been interesting to see Jefferson
painted in a less than flattering light. I have always heard he was such a
brilliant great man, but apparently he had all kinds of flaws. I am looking forward to
reading his biography. I was confused as I read about Jefferson
in this book when he was described as loving his wife and being distraught over
her death since I had already heard about the affair with Sally Hemmings and
the resultant children. It appears that his wife died well before his affair
with Sally could have begun so I at least I didn’t have to dislike him for
being a cheating husband. Adams and Jefferson both died July 4, 1826 within hours of each other
while John Quincy Adams was president.
I thought it was interesting that Adams didn’t like Benjamin
Franklin all that much when he worked with him in France ,
partly because I don’t like Franklin
all that much as I am trudging through his biography. I can’t deny that he was
probably charming and interesting, but his lack of interest in his own family
is disappointing to me. I remember studying King David and thinking he was a
terrible person too.
Part of the reason I decided to read presidential
biographies, was to see if I could overcome my abhorrence for politics and the
reporting on politics and the machinations of the party system. It was
interesting that Washington and Adams
both opposed the party system and this opposition cost Adams
re-election. I will have to do more research on the Alien and Sedition Act, but
it doesn’t seem like that bad of a thing to throw the press in prison for
reporting ridiculous half truths and full out lies about all the candidates. I
can’t stand reading and watching the news, they give just enough information
and truth to make something seem salacious and entertaining when the reality
isn’t all that unusual or terrible.
Alexander Hamilton was apparently a devious manipulator, I
may have to find a decent biography and read about him again. He would probably
be entertaining. I’m looking forward to his appearances in the next few
biographies I read.
I was amazed to learn that they were performing mastectomies
for breast cancer in 1812. I was horrified to learn that they were doing it
without anesthesia. A google and wikipedia search revealed that mastectomies
have been performed since 542 or 642 AD and that some horrible creepy guy
invented a device to chop off the breast faster in 1882. I may not sleep well
tonight. This device was used until 1970 and 40% of the women who received the
surgery survived 5 more years. I don’t know if it would be really worth a forty
percent chance of living 5 more years to have a breast removed without
anesthesia even if the doctor was using a device that resembles a bear trap. I
will have to google the timeline for anesthesia next.
So far it seems like only wealthy, educated or pedigreed men
had any say in government. Washington
lacked pedigree, but he married money. Adams had
pedigree education and modest wealth. Jefferson had pedigree,
education and the illusion and debts of wealth. I wonder what percentage of the
US population
was literate, pedigreed or wealthy in 1776.
