Evening star., 1936-08-30
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

the campaign for election to
the highest Office in the United
L States may be seething with
Intensity. All is quiet on the banks
of the Potomac at the center OF Gov
ernment in contrast to the acrimon-
ious disputes which rocked it as II 1t
had been a cave Of the winds in the
cause of the five aspirants who at the
end of President Monroe's Era OF
Good Feeling" in Office wished to Sue
ceed him as President Of the United
States.
They were John Quincy Adams,
John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, VIII
liam H. Crawford and Andrew Jack
son. Each by virtue Of his high Office as
a pivotal member of the closing ad-
ministration, was temporary resi-
dent of Washington, with a tremen-
dous following of friends in every
walk of social and political life. The
result was a partisan turmoil through
out the Capital city, whose bitter
tnvective and slanderous innuendo has
fortunately never since been equaled.
To visualize the situation we would
have to imagine the problems that
would arise if, upon conclusion OF
any Presidents tenure of office. three
of his cabinet officers, the speaker
of the House of Representatives ana
the most popular Senator in his ad-
ministration should all simultaneously
and with tremendous vigor announce
themselves as candidates to succeed
him.
With the absence of general cleo
ton day throughout the States, each
following its own regulations in the
matter, it gradually became apparent
as the months wore on, even with
news travelling as slowly as it did, that
q ma jority electoral vote had not been
cast for any of the candidates.
Congress Battle Ground.
This not only meant that the House
of Representatives would be required
to choose between the three who had
received the highest number of cleo
toral votes, but that Washington was
to become the political arena for the
whole country and Congress its battle
ground.
How that battle ragged, too, not
only in the cloak rooms and committee
rooms Of the Capitol, but in the draw
ing rooms Of social and political
Washington, on the street corners and
In the columns Of the press.
1t has been claimed that the first
edition Of Webster's Dictionary, pub
lished during the successful contest
ants term of office, contained num-
Der of new and strange epithets, never
before included in any lexicon which
had come into use during this amaz-
ing interval in our political life.
John c. Calhoun, brilliant Secre-
tary of War under President Monroe.
made his home at the famous Dun
barton Oaks, in old Georgetown, now
the Robert Woods Bliss estate. His
overwhelming popularity and absence
of enemies among the clashlng rae
lions, lost him the presidency be-
cause he was the unanimous choice
of his opponents for the vice presi-
denc>. Realizing that he was to be
defeated because he could not arouse
sufficient partisanship for the nigh
est honor among friend or foe. ne
withdrew from the race just before
the election and his name was not
voted upon by the people at large
except for second place.
The affection in which both the
Secretary and his wife were held was
evidenced by the profound and sin
cere sympathy with which tremen-
dous cortege from official and resi-
Dental life followed the tiny casket
of their beloved little son from
GEORGETOWN to its last resting place
in Congressional Cemetery. The childs
life was forfeit to a strange epidemic
disease. called bilious fever, which not
unlike cholera in its symptoms ravaged
the District OF Columbia the Sum-
mer and Fall before that election OF
1925.
John Quincy Adams, son OF John
Adams, second President OF the united
States, was Monroe's austere, but ex-
traordinarily able Secretary OF State.
His Washington residence was upon
the present site of 1331-1335 street,
where the Adams Building now STANDS.
Conceded to be the best man Tor
the office even by those who detested
him personally, he was probably tne
least polite man who ever asplreo
for the presidency. Unbendlng, un-
conciliatory, his courage and aolllty
somehow won the respect OF his op-
ponents. Nevertheless, they found the
English language almost inadequate
to express their hatred Of him.
So far did popular dislike OF Adams
10 that an attempt was made to
make political capital of the accl-
dent of his wife's birth In foreign
land. Despite the fact that her
fathers brother, Gov. Thomas john
son of Maryland, had been one OF
the signers of the Declaration OF In
dependence, it was claimed that she
was a disloyal citizen, because she had
been born in England of an English
mother during the time that her
father was our United States consul
to Great Britain.
Years later her grandson Henry
wrote not only of her charm in COM
pairing her to a Romney portrait, but
tells of her courage and devotion as
a helpmate in travelling 5000 miles
across Russia in the Wintertime alone,
except for a none-too-well 7-year-old
son, that she might rejoin her hus-
band as directed. This he rather sum-
marily enjoined, when he was recalled
as our Minister to the land of the
Cars and appointed one of the COM
missioners responsible for the treaty
Of Ghent.
Adams Scores Prosecutors.
Referring to the prosecutions meted
out to himself and his family during
his campaign for the presidency,
Adams declared, 1T would seem as If
every liar and caluminator in the