Tuesday, February 1, 2011

FDR and Andy

President Andrew Jackson was a blood relative of the McQuiston family and spent many days in his early youth at one of their homes. He figures strongly in the family treasure story where $25,000 in Colonial gold was hidden from Cornwallis, with Jackson's help, and later given to Sam Houston to pay off Texas war debts. Seems Andy Jackson had another famous fan.

 President Franklin Roosevelt found himself in a position fighting the forces of aristocratic money against the common man. His righthand man and speech writer, Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, also the Chief Prosecutor at the Nazis war tribunal, actually wrote up a list he called the "Sixty Families." These were the richest U.S. families, including many from the banking industry, that held such a stranglehold on America that it was slipping into the Great Depression.

Robert Jackson, no known relation to Andrew Jackson, was no slouch, having served as Attorney General before his post at the Supreme Court and Nuremberg. He is the only man in history to serve as U.S. Solicitor General, Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice. He also met with the Pope many times in trying to figure out how to rebuild Europe and how to deal with the Nazis during and after the war. He is generally considered the greatest jurist to ever live and wrote many opinions still referred to, today. Point is, he knew what he was talking about.

FDR was no slouch either. He was Assistant Secretary of the Navy and, later, Acting Secretary of the Navy. In addition to seeing action himself, he was charged with the Navy's "demobilization" after WWI. He was ordered to dismantle the entire U.S. Navy! He fought, almost single-handidly to prevent this from happening and he formed the United States Navy Reserve. He was a Senator and also Governor of New York State and the only president ever elected to office for four consecutive terms.

FDR wrote a letter in which he states, "The real truth of the matter is, as you know, that a financial element has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson. The country is going through a repetition of Jackson's fight with the Bank of the United States – only on a far bigger and broader basis."

Later, FDR writes, "The trip through the Tennessee Valley was a great success – especially the visit to the Hermitage. The more I learn about old Andy Jackson, the more I love him."

Me too.