“Gold Hickory?” Is Trump the new Andrew Jackson?
By Chris Wells
Those who said history repeats itself were telling us the truth, because the many similarities between Donald Trump and our 7th president Andrew Jackson are hard to ignore. Both men ran as populous “outsider” candidates—Trump having made an infamous name for himself through real estate, television, and perhaps a public spat or two; Jackson through the war of 1812 winning the Battle of New Orleans and later conquering Florida. Jackson was said to be crude and built for a storm; much like Trump he courted controversy. Jackson married his wife even though she had not yet been divorced, a national scandal at the time. His own men nicknamed him “Old Hickory” because they said he was tough as hickory wood. Jackson made war against the Indians fearing them to be “threats to the southern border.” He had British generals shot, owned slaves, and once shot a man dead in a duel by allowing his opponent to shoot first! It was stated by the Indians, that one look from Jackson and we would all die.
From this notoriety, Jackson won the popular vote in the presidential election of 1824 however the…um “rigged system”…that was in place at the time threw the election to the house of representatives which was presided over by Henry Clay who himself had just received third place in the popular vote for President. Ultimately they awarded John Quincy Adams the presidency with Henry Clay made secretary of State–Jackson got nothing, which was decried as a “Crooked” deal. Jackson did however win decisively in the election of 1828 and he reveled in being an outsider even to his own political party…(Does that sound familiar?) Thomas Jefferson even stated that Jackson holds no respect for the law or the constitution. Many felt Jackson’s temperament was “unfit” for office—a wild man who once even stopped his own assassination attempt by beating the would-be assassin with his cane after the gun miss-fired. Jackson was quite a colorful character in U.S. History, but also remembered as one of our top U.S. Presidents—many historians even have him in their top 10 of all time. This shows us that big personalities like Roosevelt, Lincoln, or even Jackson make the best U.S. Presidents. Men who have stood up for what they believed in and never backed down from a fight, or never given in to political corruption. Maybe we need this “type” of temperament again for our nation to endure. I just hope Trump gets a chance to earn a nickname like “Old” or better –“Gold Hickory.”
Side Note: Andrew Jackson’s men often told a story of the great compassion shown by General Jackson despite his reputation. Once he gave up his own horse so that one of his wounded soldiers could ride instead of walk. Jackson marched on foot beside him the whole way home with his men. Likewise, Donald Trump whose car once had a flat tire—The person who stopped and fixed it for him was surprised to find that his entire mortgage had been paid off that next month.
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