Meet the Presidents: John Quincy Adams

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]Hi, my name's Jeff Gould, America's storyteller. Running down the presidents in our 250th year in existence, we are at number six, John Quincy Adams. By the way, if you like these, hit the like button, hit subscribe, and make sure you ring that notification bell, so the next time another president comes up, you'll be there. So, uh John Quincy Adams really straddles two eras. He learns at the knee of his father, John Adams, what it's like to deal with Europeans. He is a minister both at the knee of his father as he's dealing with the French and the British, but also himself. He himself becomes minister to the Netherlands, to Prussia, to Russia, to Great Britain, negotiating the end of a war. He is a fierce competitor, 5'7, piercing eyes. Does he look like Patrick Stewart?

[00:00:53]Anyway, they call him Old Man Eloquent.

[00:00:56]He is well-respected.

[00:00:58]And he's not well-liked. I mean, they like Andrew Jackson better. Andrew Jackson gets the popular vote in 18 uh 24, but it's close. He doesn't have the whole majority. And so, they have to go back to a tiebreaker in the house. The Speaker of the House is a guy named Henry Clay. Henry Clay backs John Quincy Adams, and what do you know, what a coincidence, after Adams gets into office, he nominates uh Clay as Secretary of State.

[00:01:26]Anyway, uh Jackson doesn't like that, neither do a lot of people, and Adams gets blown out in his second run at office. He only serves one term in office. So, he quits and goes home, right? No, he does not. This man, who was a senator, Secretary of State, minister, president, now goes back to Congress to fight for really the interior of the country.

[00:01:52]Uh a lot of states on the on the coast had access to harbors, but these other states were looking for interior improvements, and he starts to become part of the Whig party, trying to improve the interior of the country. Uh he fights for that until he dies. I mean, literally, at the age of 80, uh debating on the House floor, he has a stroke and dies two days later. He goes into office at a time when people are wearing wigs and knickers. He is the first president to take off his wig and wear pants. He literally symbolizes the end of one era and the beginning of another. The whole time, the growth and prosperity of this American experiment.

[00:02:36]And that's why. Hm.

[00:02:38]I like that story.

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