Omaha daily bee., 1912-09-08
Benton's Waterloo

The Polk Administration, that carried on so sue
cessfuy the war with Mexico was, of course, Demo
cratic; and while Polk had made up his mind that
he did not desire second term, he naturally wanted
to be succeeded by Democrat. Knowing the pen
chant of the American people for soldiers, and
realizing that the two most popular Generals with
our army in Mexico - Scott and Taylor - were
Wings, and also realizing that would be ridiculous
to promote any General then in the field, holding
junior commission, over those popular heroes and
believing it necessary to have Democratic idol come
out of the war a logical candidate for President
Polk determined to have a Lieutenant Generally
created, the intention being that Benton should be
the Lieutenant General and afterward the Demo-
cratic nominee for President bill for that pur-
pose was rushed through the House, but was de-
feaed in the Senate as Benton claimed through the
Vaccinations of William L. Marcy, James Buchanan
and Robert j. Walker, all members Of the Cabinet
all of whom wanted to be President and none Of
whom had any military record Had this program
gone through, Benton would have been nominated
and elected President in l848, and, it is certain
as anything in politics can be that he would have
been reelected in 1852. stronger Union man than
Benton never lived Had he, instead of Pierce, been
elected President in 1852, would have averted the
trouble in Kansas that precipitated the Civil War;
That awful catastrophe would have been postponed
for years, perhaps for ever. All Of which might
have happened, but for the ambitions OF Buchanan,
Marcy and Walker.
"Of all sad aCords of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: III might haze been.'"
The War of 1912 gave us Andrew Jackson and
William Henry Harrison as Presidents. While Jack
son was the hero of Horse Shoe Bend and Chalmette
he had also been United States District Attorney
Judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee and a
member of both Houses Of Congress phases of his
career little known and lightly valued in the public
mind. His civil career, however, may have had
weight in bringing about his election, by majority
of one, as Major-General of the Tennessee Militia
and probably no more important and far-reaehlng
events ever hung upon one vote. The people elected
Old Hickory President, because they knew that he
had broken the power of the Creek Nation in one
pitched battle and had routed the flower OF the
British Army in another
Jackson, no doubt, was aided materially in his
three Presidential races by the fact that as boy
he had served few days in the Revolutionary Army,
and had received cruel scalp wound from sword
in the hands of brutal British officer for mantully
refusing to black his boots. We may wonder whether
Jackson thought of that cash in his head as evening
closed on his astounding victory in front OF New
Orleans
1t is on record that during the bitter ClayJackson
campaign of 1882, the elder Francis Preston Blair
went over to the White House and told the hero OF
New Orleans that the Clay newspapers were declar-
ing the story of his having been slashed in the head
by British officer to be fake. Whereupon, Jack
son made Blair run his fingers through his bristly
white hair and into the scar, as evidence OF its
existence
The Fathers were not all mild-mannered or meay
mouthed in politics.
The Betrayal of Henry Clay
General Harrison had served in both Houses of
Congress, had been Governor of the Northwest Ter
ritory, and Minister to one of the South American
States, and when elected to the Presidency was serv
ing in the humble position of County Clerk; but his
victories at Tippecanoe and the Thames were what
gave him the nomination and sent him to the White
House.