That Boob in the White House

A funny tidbit from Sean Wilentz's The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. In 1840, when Martin Van Buren was running for a second term, what would have been a fourth consecutive for the Jacksonian Democrats, the Whigs came up with an ingenious strategy. Although they were the more "aristocratic" party, the Whigs campaigned as the party of limited government and the common man, nominating William Henry Harrison as their candidate. WHH wasn't much of an idea man, spending most of his time blathering vaguely about "liberty." But he latched onto a great symbol of popular bona fides: the log cabin, the 1840's version of the Texas ranch. Before long, log cabin kitch swept the country and newly popular minstrel shows sang for "Log Cabin Cotillions." Despite chugging a lot of hard-cider (another Whig icon) at campaign stops, WHH reached out to the evangelicals as the candidate of temperance (!), morality, and traditional masculinity.

The Whigs also accused MvB of being a perverted old champaign-drinking elitist. One of their most popular pamphlets was Charles Ogle's "The Regal Splendor of the Presidential Palace," which alleged that van Buren had turned the White House into a lacivious party palace, replete with French chef and Negro concubines. Damned Frenchies with their rich food! Van Buren had even demanded that his groundskeepers build him a massive earthen breast in the back yard, "topped by a carefully landscaped nipple" (2005, 501).

Turns out the White House under van Buren was actually somewhat run down. No fancy dinners or Nubian harams, but the roof leaked quite a bit. Oh well. That guy needed to go. "Old Tip" was just the man to restore honor and decency to the White House, which is why he ranks so consistently high in the eyes of historians. Unlike that perv, van Buren, Tip was a good guy to drink a hard-cider with.