Saturday, November 10, 2007

Busted

Backside of a bust of Andrew Jackson, seventh U.S. president

This bust of Andrew Jackson, America's seventh president (1829-1837), resides in the National Portrait Gallery. Jackson was this nation's first "frontier" president. Although he was born in South Carolina, he spent a great deal of his life and career in Tennessee. Jackson has the distinction of being the last president to be a veteran of the Revolutionary War and only the second president to be a prisoner of war (George Washington was the first.) Andrew Jackson was known as "Old Hickory" for his toughness and distinguished himself as a lawyer, chief justice, and military officer before assuming the mantle of the presidency. He's also infamous for encouraging what came to be known as the "spoils system"--awarding high level government positions to friends and party loyalists to the detriment of the government and service to the people. Hm. I wonder if today's president is taking a page out of Jackson's book?

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential

2 comments:

Lara said...

what I mostly like about your photo today is the title - great word game :).

Anonymous said...

I couldn't resist the wordplay. It was right there just begging to be used. Glad you liked it!