Author: Oliver Nott
Romney’s choice
| June 6, 2012 | Posted by Oliver Nott under international |
Mitt Romney’s chances of becoming the president of the United States took a considerable albeit predictable boost last Tuesday, when he amassed the majority of 1,144 Republican party delegates needed to unofficially confirm what many had seen coming for over a year now. With this in the bag, the issue now dominating the thoughts of numerous Republican party officials, conservative pundits, and political bloggers and journalists is the question over who Romney will pick to be his running mate in November, and, if successful, the next vice-president of the United States. This mathematical assurance, which has only substantiated what has been obvious for months, means that aside from new campaign strategy – get the old etch-a-sketch out – and the… more
Presidential review: Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Simpson Grant, Rutherford Birchard Hayes
| September 15, 2011 | Posted by Oliver Nott under presidential reviews, reviews |
Andrew Johnson, 1865 – 1869 VP: N/A, First Lady: Eliza McCardle Andrew Johnson was the most unfortunate man to ever grace the office of president of the United States. His premiership was doomed from the start, as his country demanded the same level of leadership Lincoln offered before him, something Washington would have struggled to match, let alone Andrew Johnson. Furthermore, Johnson succeeded Lincoln in a devastating and unfamiliar way – the first presidential assassination – and he was handed the reins of leadership mere days after his country fought a bitter civil war, which left a deep and permanent scar in its history, arguably dividing the north and the south of the United States forever. What made everything worse… more
Presidential review: James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln
| September 8, 2011 | Posted by Oliver Nott under presidential reviews, reviews |
James Buchanan, 1857 – 1861 VP: John C. Breckenridge, First Lady: N/A James Buchanan was one of those presidents who was widely admired and showed true potential before taking office, but when in the White House floundered a bit and left a lot to be desired. He was a distinguished legislator and a talented diplomat, however due to his ambivalence in office he was landed with a tough decision over the future of the Union, faced a hostile Congress and on leaving became the political scapegoat for the start of the Civil War in 1861. James Buchanan was born on the 23rd March 1791, in Mercesburg, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dickinson College and went on, like most middle-class men at this… more
The Club of Rome
| September 5, 2011 | Posted by Oliver Nott under international, national |
It was while I was reading Freedom by American novelist Jonathan Franzen that I stumbled across the rather ominously named association, The Club of Rome. One of Franzen’s key characters, Walter, references the title of the group while he espouses his views on economic and population growth, which include the argument that overpopulation and the West’s obsession with all forms of growth are the root causes of many of the world’s major dilemmas, from global warming and famine to genocide and war. I had never read anything by this author before and so initially assumed Franzen fashioned this crazy communist character, Walter, as a vehicle through which he could direct his own resentment of capitalism and its fixation on consumerism. However,… more
Presidential review: Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce
| September 1, 2011 | Posted by Oliver Nott under presidential reviews, reviews |
Zachary Taylor, 1849 – 1850 VP: Millard Fillmore, First Lady: Margaret Smith Zachary Taylor is remembered foremost as a military General, rather than the president of the United States. Known to his friends and colleagues as ‘Old Rough and Ready’, as a General through numerous wars he never lost a battle. Taylor suffered a similar, albeit extended, fate to William Henry Harrison and died only a year into his first term as president. However, while Harrison was greatly mourned over, Taylor’s death was a stroke of luck for the Union and many argue that it kept the civil war at bay for the next decade. Zachary Taylor was born on the 24th November 1784 in Barboursville, Virginia. He had military command… more
Presidential review: William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James Knox Polk
| August 18, 2011 | Posted by Oliver Nott under presidential reviews, reviews |
William Henry Harrison, 1841 VP: John Tyler, First Lady: Anna Symmes After Martin Van Buren’s rather uninspiring administration, the United States turned to William Henry Harrison in hope of a more active president who would boost the recovery from the Panic of 1837. Depicted as a frontiersman in his 1840 presidential election campaign, United States voters gave this 68-year-old war hero the chance to improve the nation’s economy and keep the union together. Unfortunately, Harrison had the chance to do neither. In fact, Harrison didn’t even get the chance to make a state of the union address, as he died of pneumonia exactly one month after taking office. Harrison was born on February 9th 1773 in Charles City County, Virginia.… more
Presidential review: Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren
| August 11, 2011 | Posted by Oliver Nott under presidential reviews, reviews |
Andrew Jackson, 1829 – 1837 VP: John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren, First Lady: Rachel Donelson Robards Andrew Jackson was possibly the most complex man to ever sit in the Oval Office. He viewed himself as a frontiersman and he engendered the populist spirit of the US, which not only went down well back then, but would probably be as successful today. He wasn’t a politician of the people, but rather a man of the people, nicknamed ‘Old Hickory’ by friends and foes alike. He was a law-breaker as much as a lawmaker and his significant transformations of the office of the president can only be matched by FDR a century later. He was stubborn, callous and insolent; he was… more
Presidential review: James Monroe, John Quincy Adams
| August 4, 2011 | Posted by Oliver Nott under presidential reviews, reviews |
James Monroe, 1817 – 1825 VP: Daniel D. Thompkins, First Lady: Elizabeth Kortright James Monroe was the last member of the so-called ‘Virginia Dynasty’ to fulfil the duties of the president of the United States. He was sharp and decisive, and had a diplomatic record matched only by his four predecessors. Although his name would not be the first to spring to mind when assessing the talent of the first five presidents, he nonetheless left a significant print on the office of the president, especially in diplomacy. James Monroe was born on 28th March 1758 in Virginia, and after a comfortable childhood went to study law at the College of William and Mary. However, Monroe ended his studies prematurely to fight… more
Israel’s inner divisions
| August 2, 2011 | Posted by Oliver Nott under international |
Israel: a nation renowned for its deep-rooted splits, religious significance and vast, often disputed, history. Subject to domestic terrorism from its own citizens, it is a country literally surrounded by enemies. It is possibly the most contested region in the world and the old fights over where sovereignty should lie, with the Jewish settlers or with the Palestinians, remain interminable. There are countless examples and events that evidence just the sheer cavity between Israel’s Jews and its Palestinians, from continuous bombings to sectarian street clashes. The dreadful impact of this enormous divide between two of the oldest and biggest religions in the world is captured by two sentences in a play, written by Aaron Sorkin, called ‘Isaac and Ishmael’: Teenager: What… more
Presidential review: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison
| July 28, 2011 | Posted by Oliver Nott under presidential reviews, reviews |
Thomas Jefferson, 1801 – 1809 VP: Aaron Burr, George Clinton, First Lady: N/A If George Washington’s presidency seemed like a minor part of his life, then Thomas Jefferson’s was certainly insignificant in comparison to the rest of his. He neither expected nor wanted people to remember him for his time in the White House, but rather for other talents, such as his work in law, legislation, architecture, philosophy, and diplomacy, but predominantly, his writing. Although Jefferson was more a ‘man of the people’ than his two predecessors, he always hoped historians would recognise and emphasise his political poetry. Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia in 1743 and as the oldest male in his family, inherited lots of land and at… more
