By William Groneman III
With the Presidency in the news more than ever and the Alamo’s 189th anniversary just past, let’s revisit various presidents’ connection to the Alamo.
The Alamo garrison celebrated George Washington’s birthday in San Antonio on the night of February 22, 1836, their last party.
Had the Mexican Army’s advance force not halted due to bad weather and swollen rivers it would have overrun them suddenly instead of after a thirteen-day siege. Washington had two namesakes in the Alamo garrison – George Washington Cottle and George Washington Main.
James Madison’s nephew, James M. Rose, perished in the Alamo battle. Madison outlived his nephew by three and a half months, dying on June 28, 1836.
David Crockett, a newly elected member of the Tennessee Legislature, traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1821 in a group that included future President James K. Polk. At the time Crockett was clerk of the Tennessee State Senate.
Polk engaged him in political chitchat. “Well, Colonel, I suppose we shall have a radical change of the judiciary at the next session of the legislature.” Crockett answered, “Very likely, sir,” then detached himself before anyone asked him what the judiciary was.
Later, as United States Congressmen, Polk tried to convince Crockett to fall in step with the Tennessee political machine under Andrew Jackson. Crockett resisted and this led him into conflict with Jackson. Although Crockett had served under him during the Creek War of 1813, they became bitter political enemies.
Crockett witnessed the assassination attempt against Jackson while at a Congressional funeral in 1835. The assailant drew two pistols, pulled the triggers, but both misfired. A group of men, including Crockett subdued the would-be assassin.
Jackson was President during the Alamo’s fall, and had a namesake among the garrison – Andrew Jackson Harrison. Crockett despised Martin Van Buren, Jackson’s hand-picked successor and made no secret of it.
John Quincy Adams had Crockett as a dinner guest at the Executive Mansion (aka The White House) in 1828. A later newspaper account portrayed Crockett as an apish boor. Crockett appealed to other dinner guests to attest to his good behavior, which they did in an open letter to the newspaper.
Adams died on February 23, 1848, the twelfth anniversary of the Alamo siege’s beginning.
County clerk and future President William Henry Harrison dined with Stephen F. Austin in the United States on March 3, 1836, during the Alamo’s siege.
James Buchanan, the fifteenth President shared the name of Alamo garrison member James Buchanan of Alabama.
Theodore Roosevelt authored a book on the lives of Buffalo Bill Cody, Kit Carson, Daniel Boone, and Davy Crockett, and founded the Boone and Crockett Club.
Roosevelt trained his Spanish-American War Rough Riders in San Antonio, returning in 1905 for a reunion and cavalry parade passing in front of the Alamo. The Menger Hotel, across the street from the Alamo, whose bar served as a recruitment station for the unit, displays a photo of Roosevelt and his men at the top of San Juan Hill.
William McKinley referred to the Shrine of Texas Liberty as the Ah-lay-mo during a 1901 speech there. Curiosity overcame former President Calvin Coolidge, while on a tour of the site in 1930, when he asked why the Alamo had been built.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, visited the Alamo in 1936, commemorating the battle’s centennial. He requested a moment of privacy to pray.
John F. Kennedy visited San Antonio on November 21, 1963, the day before his assassination in Dallas.
Two presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson, born in Texas, bracketed Kennedy’s tenure. Johnson’s father, Samuel Johnson, Jr., was one of six Texas legislators responsible for passage of the Alamo Purchase Bill, which brought about the restoration of the mission.
LBJ often referred to the Alamo in supporting his actions in office. He may have gotten carried away while addressing U.S. troops in Korea when he claimed his great-great grandfather died at the Alamo. Even so, the Autobiography of Davy Crockett became a permanent title in the White House library during LBJ’s administration.
George Walker Bush served as both the Governor of Texas and President. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, sent him a Lone Star flag that had been raised over the Alamo that morning.
Most modern presidents have been photographed at the Alamo.
Seventeen Presidents lived at the time of the Alamo’s fall. They included the then-current President Jackson, former Presidents, Madison and John Quincy Adams, and future Presidents, Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison, who was only two and one-half years old at the time of the battle.
Grover Cleveland was the first future President born after the Alamo’s fall – a year and twelve days after the battle.
William Groneman III can be reached at wgroneman@yahoo.com
