I like to trust the writer when I’m reading a biography. The most readable biographies are best when I don’t find myself questioning the facts. So, with Harlow Giles Unger’s bio of John Quincy Adams, I had a tiny issue, which I’ll bring up in a moment.
First, let me hold forth on Harlow Giles Unger. I really like his writing. As a writer myself, I find that good writing will keep me involved every time. My first taste of his work was on his Monroe bio, The Last Founding Father. After reading it and John Quincy Adams, I’m ready to read anything he has written. He’s a reader’s (and a writer’s) writer. He may not be a deep historian’s writer, however. His books seem to be short and broad stroked. But, if you are a casual reader, you’ll likely find his writing to be extremely approachable and informative.
Years ago, after reading McCullough’s, John Adams, I remember contemplating running out to grab a bio of John Quincy Adams. If you know nothing about JQA’s life, I can assure you that it was perhaps the most fascinating of all of the president’s lives. He was acting as a diplomatic secretary to Russia at the age of 14. How is that not impossibly interesting? For unknown reasons, I didn’t actually decide to read a JQA bio until my wife pointed me in the direction of Unger’s book some time later. I’m glad that I read Unger’s JQA first, ahead of some other JQA bios. It was a good step in.
The great takeaway from most JQA bios is that he was perhaps our brightest President. Unger relates one instance when young JQA is on board a ship with his father, returning from France to the United States. Two French diplomats were on board and he was tutoring them in English. They were joking with John Adams about how the young, “Mr. Adams” was whipping them into shape.
He was an expert in French at a very young age. He knew more languages than any President before or since, and he knew them well. One of his German book translations, Oberon, was considered the best until the 1940’s. Equally fascinating is that his wife, Louisa, was (in similar vein to Abigail Adams) JQA’s intellectual equal. They went head to head numerous times, even living apart by choice at several points throughout their marriage. The Adams men and the intelligent women that they chose were ALL steadfast in their thoughts and beliefs and bullish and unbending in their personalities.
Unger slips up, however, in his bid to allow me to trust him midway through the book when he is discussing the Pickering conspiracy, a possible effort by Timothy Pickering of Massachusettes in 1803, to encourage the New England states to secede from the Union (p.131). He recounts JQA’s reaction at the time, and supports it with words from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson in a letter. Those who are well-familiar with the Adams/Jefferson relationship will recognize that in 1803, the two of them weren’t corresponding due to the slings and arrows of political misfortune. Adams was stewing in the bitterness of defeat to his former Vice-President, who hadn’t done him any good service while he was in office. So, Unger, pulls the comment on the Pickering controversy from letters written a decade later, after Benjamin Rush has helped patch up the relationship. The casual reader, however, would be led to think that JQA and JA and TJ were all conversing at the same time. Unger does at least, give correct attribution in the notes, but who looks closely at the endnotes? (Other than you and I.)
I’d like to let Unger off the hook, acknowledging that any one can make a mistake in building a case, and also gratefully appreciating his depictions of Monroe and JQA.
As a President, unfortunately, JQA didn’t shine. But what happened before and after his presidency was the stuff of great movies. In fact, if you’ve watched Steven Spielberg’s Amistad, you’ll have a taste for his latter accomplishments. The last chapter of Unger’s, John Quincy Adams, was very motivating for me on two levels. It was an excellent summary of a difficult, but worthwhile ending to a life of great service to our nation. It showed JQA as a true champion in the quest of the abolition of slavery. But, it also allowed me to get a taste for a story in which there must be far deeper elements to uncover. In that way, Unger, I think does us the service of using his broad strokes to encourage us to dig deeper. He caused me to want to dip into more JQA bios, such as Nagel’s John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life very soon.
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