Historical Parallels
* Re “President-Elect Bush Does Dad Proud,” Dec. 25: Former President George Bush jokingly refers to George W. as “my boy Quincy,” after John Quincy Adams, the only other son of a U.S. president to win the White House.
That moniker brings to mind what may be for Bush some unfortunate historical parallels. John Quincy Adams actually received fewer votes in the election of 1824 than a man from Tennessee, Andrew Jackson. But by striking a political deal (which he denied), the younger Adams became president anyway, earning the enmity of his opponent, and the following presidential campaign has been called “one of the bitterest in American history.” An unforgiving Jackson easily trounced the sitting president.
Returning to nicknames, Tennessean Al Gore has often been called “The Wooden Man.” Maybe 2004 will reveal he’s made out of Jackson’s “Old Hickory.”
TARJA BLACK
Lancaster
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