NASHVILLE, Tenn. — General of the Army Douglas MacArthur once declared famously in a speech to Congress that “Old soldiers never die. They just … fade away.”
Another five-star Army general, Dwight Eisenhower, had his military rank restored after he left the presidency in 1961 and he preferred to be called “Gen. Eisenhower” in the years since he left the White House.
Andrew Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, is buried next to his wife, Rachel, in her beloved garden at The Hermitage, the former president’s home.
I was struck when I heard a docent at the site say that the Old Hickory much preferred his military rank over the commander in chief rank he held for eight years, from 1829 until 1837. Jackson was apparently prouder of his general’s rank than he was of president of the United States of America.
He was, after all, the “hero” of the Battle of New Orleans. His rag-tag forces were greatly outnumbered and outgunned by the British, but managed to score a victory over the Brits.
Jackson was thrust into the news in recent weeks, when one of his successors as president — Donald J. Trump — sought to suggest that Trump could have prevented the Civil War. Interesting, in that Jackson died 16 years before the nation’s bloodiest conflict even started.
Indeed, though, Jackson’s history as president is a good bit more checkered than his military history. He promoted the Manifest Destiny policy that called for the settlement — or the conquering — of the Old West. The “Trail of Tears” occurred on his watch as president. He was known as a “unionist,” and believed that federal policy should oversee states’ policy allowing slave ownership — which is a curious contradiction, in that he owned slaves.
Whatever …
He is buried at The Hermitage under a tombstone that calls him “General Andrew Jackson.”
Old Hickory certainly did share the military ethos of two quite prominent successors. They were immensely proud of their service to their nation at war.
