Challenges discussion

A President Without a Party
by Christopher J. Leahy

I got stalled on my presidential challenge on this one. Overall it’s a well written book and very interesting in describing the history of the time and the political challenges of John Tyler. Since I’m mostly reading this as a curious way to delve into American history, I did find the depth of detail around John Tyler’s family life a little boring. It also seems that there was a lot going on from his presidency to the Civil War, where in it seems likely that he was more involved, but the available history was concerning his family so that is where the biography predominantly went. So I was busy and put the book down for a long while. During which time I read the biography of Fredric Douglas (which I am including in my presidential challenge reading as nearly presidential persons on the times along with Hamilton and Franklin). So much crazy stuff happening leading up to the Civil War. Anyway, the ending was both interesting and crazy. John Tyler joining Jefferson Davis’ Confederation is an act of betrayal beyond measure. Kind of a crazy part about reading history if that the assholes of history do make for more interesting reads that the boring stay the course politicians. Thankfully there are those that do good and lead that also make for interesting and a more uplifting view of the building of our sometimes great sometimes morally bankrupt empire.

One of the things that got me into reading about the presidents was this segment from a show/podcast called Backstory that discussed Tyler.

https://backstoryradio.org/shows/tyra...

It wasn't until I read his bio: John Tyler: The Accidental President, that I learned he survived a cannon explosion and had grandchildren that were still alive (at the time I read the book).

That exploding cannon was a national tragedy at the time. Pretty much unknown to the public as a whole. In part this presidential challenge is interesting in what fades over time to the public as a whole.