John Quincy Adams by Remini

John Quincy Adams by Remini

A vivid portrait of a man whose pre- and post-presidential careers overshadowed his presidency.

Chosen president by the House of Representatives after an inconclusive election against Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams often failed to mesh with the ethos of his era, pushing unsuccessfully for a strong, consolidated national government. Historian Robert V. Remini recounts how in the years before his presidency Adams was a shrewd, influential diplomat, and later, as a dynamic secretary of state under President James Monroe, he solidified many basic aspects of American foreign policy, including the Monroe Doctrine.

Undoubtedly his greatest triumph was the negotiation of the Transcontinental Treaty, through which Spain acknowledged Florida to be part of the United States. After his term in office, he earned the nickname "Old Man Eloquent" for his passionate antislavery speeches.

For more than half a century, Robert V.Remini, historian of the United States House of Representatives, has been teaching and writing on American history. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Life of Andrew Jackson, a three-volume biography that won the National Book Award in 1984. Biographies of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, and Joseph Smith are among his other works. The Western Writers of America awarded his Andrew Jackson and His Indian Warfare the Spur Award for best western nonfiction. He currently resides in Wilmette, Illinois.