How much do you know about President Martin Van Buren? The chances are slim.
The eighth president of the United States, who served from 1837 to 1841, doesn’t usually get Mount Rushmore-level attention. His four years in the White House were marked by a financial recession so severe that his enemies nicknamed him “Martin Van Ruin.”
But a new biography, Martin Van Buren: America’s First Politician, by James M. Bradley, sheds new light on the obscure politician who may be best remembered today for a joke from a 1997 episode of the show. Seinfeld.
‘Martin Van Buren: America’s First Politician’ by James M. Bradley.
Oxford University Press
“Van Buren was most responsible for making mass entertainment the primary form of political expression in America,” says Bradley, also deputy chief of copy at PEOPLE. “He practically founded the Democratic Party, the oldest political party in the world. Everything we associate with parties and campaigns—conventions, platforms, and yes, propaganda—began under Martin Van Buren.”
Read on for a few things we might not have learned in history class about the man nicknamed “The Little Magician” for his diminutive build and shrewd political skills.
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Contrary to what Kramer said on SeinfeldVan Buren was not “evil”
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Seinfeld Season 8, Ep. 14 ‘Van Buren Boys’.
NBC/Netflix
In the 1997 episode “The Van Buren Boys,” a fictional “street gang” that admires the eighth president uses the eight-finger sign to show their allegiance. After Kramer got into an argument with them at the pizzeria, he told Jerry who replied in disbelief, “There’s a street gang named after President Martin Van Buren?”
Kramer says, “Oh yeah. And they are just as evil as he was.” (Kramer gets out of the flurry by accidentally giving them the eight-finger sign — but only because he’s holding garlic powder with the other three fingers.) But really, Van Buren wasn’t evil. True, he was cunning and often ruthless in his pursuit of political power, but he was always pleasant and kind to the public and his colleagues. (Van Buren Boys T-shirts can be found on numerous websites.)
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He was bald – and he wasn’t happy about it
A strong follower of fashion trends, Van Buren did everything he could to restore his receding hairline. While researching the book, Bradley discovered the receipts of a Washington druggist who sold Van Buren Aldridge’s Balm of Columbia, a product that promised, through “the power of chemistry, a great desire to prevent hair loss in FORTY-EIGHT HOURS.”
The wildly popular product cost $1 a pint and made the manufacturer a bundle. But that didn’t undo Van Buren’s hair loss. However, he compensated for his growing forehead with incredible mutton chops, which earned him comparisons to Veep to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine character.
He is still the only president not related to John, the 13th century King of England
It is a strange enough fact that almost all American presidents, genealogists now believe, are descended from King John of England, who agreed and sealed the Magna Carta in 1215.
But there is one exception: Martin Van Buren — the only American president of pure Dutch descent and without any ancestral connection to the British monarch.
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He had a cheese problem in the White House
A tradition started under Thomas Jefferson where cheese makers sent the President their delicious handiwork. Over time, the cheese got bigger and bigger, and each merchant tried to outdo the other. In 1837, just before Van Buren became president, a Western New York cheese maker sent the White House a block of cheese so huge (1,400 lbs!) that he had to keep it in the lobby for everyone to enjoy .
When Van Buren moved into the White House, the smell of cheese was so strong that it permeated the curtains and furniture, requiring weeks of cleaning and airing.
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He popularized the term “OK”
In the “who knew” category, Martin Van Buren played a huge role in making “OK” a worldwide phenomenon. He didn’t invent the acronym – linguists believe it originated in a satirical Boston newspaper article in 1839 – but in the frantic presidential campaign of 1840, his supporters used one of his nicknames (“Old Kinderhook” – Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, NY) in party newspapers, literature and signs (“He is OK”, “I am with OK”), and has been part of our lexicon ever since.
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He loved the finer things in life — even in his bathroom!
A man of humble origins, Van Buren spent money on luxury items and clothing without any shame. In his stately mansion in upstate New York, he had indoor plumbing (a luxury in America in the 1840s), a malachite tub, and a Wedgwood toilet, a fine English porcelain. Visitors have been known to scoff at the extravagance on display at his estate. A Wedgwood toilet can find even today at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in Kinderhook, New York.
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by James M. Bradley Martin Van Buren: The First American Politician it is out now from Oxford University Press and is available to buy wherever books are sold.
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Source: HIS Education