I reading a book about the Battle of Gettysburg. It mentions that George Meade was appointed to command the Army of the Potomac after Joseph Hooker was relieved of command.
The author, in passing, says that one of the reasons why Lincoln appointed Meade was because Meade had been born in Spain. He was therefore ineligible to run for President.
I find it difficult to believe that Lincoln would have given much thought to the issue. The possibility that one of his generals would end up being a political rival would have too remote to worry about. And Lincoln appointed several other generals who would have been more plausible candidates without worrying about the possibility.
Am I wrong? Can anyone provide a cite that Lincoln discussed the political implications of Meade’s appointment?
Well, General McClellan did run against Lincoln in the Presidential election of 1864. What was the timeline on that? Did McClellan start campaigning, at least informally, before Meade’s appointment?
Hmmm… General George Washington, General Andrew Jackson, … 2 major wars, 2 presidents in fourscore years who were big shots in the army. Probably a good idea to avoid the possibility of being upstaged.
(and… General Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt the “rough rider”, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Captain John F. Kennedy, Captain James Earl Carter, pilot George HW Bush, Lieutenant Richard Nixon, dodger William Jefferson Clinton, and pilot (alleged) George W Bush; plus… wannabes General Alexander Haig - 'member him? - small boat captain John Kerry, tank driver Dukakis… Do you think the principle is one which would not occur to Lincoln or he should have ignored?)
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. I’m just saying that worrying about rivals doesn’t seem to have been part of Lincoln’s character.
Look at the people he ran against in 1860: Seward, Stanton, Cameron, Chase, Bates, Fremont - Lincoln gave them all prominent posts in his administration. He promoted McClellan and didn’t worry when McClellan acting disrespectful and insurbordinate. When the war started Lincoln named several political figures, both Republicans and Democrats, to military commands. Lincoln didn’t seem to feel he needed to diminish his rivals.
I have read that Meade was not Lincoln’s 1st choice to replace Hooker.
Command was offered to John Reynolds, who for some reason turned
it down, and later died early in the battle.
IMO you are right to question this Rivalry-Meade thesis, as though Lincoln
was such a petty man that he would place more importance on own political
career over than over reunion of the country, for which he gave his life.
One problem with history as a modern career is that so many events, epsecially
the most importnt ones, have been vetted for so long that there is really nothing
authentically novel to add. Less scrupulous modern historians attempt to
compensate by pretty much just making sht up, and dressing this sht in the
cloth of recieved truth.
Meade still would have been eligible – his parents were American and were in Spain in a diplomatic capacity for the US. I highly doubt anyone would use that to disqualify him (if nothing else, it would have been a disincentive for joining the foreign service).
Meade got the command because Lincoln’s first choice, John F. Reynolds, turned it down. Since Reynolds was born in the US, it’s clear the fact that the commander’s eligibility to be president was not a big factor for Lincoln.
IIRC Reynolds felt that there would be too much interference from Washington* for him to be comfortable in command.
*This is usually taken to mean Lincoln, but could also refer to Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton.
Historian Bruce Catton characterized Reynolds as a general who fought instinctively upon encountering the enemy. At Gettysburg, Reynolds was early to reach the developing encounter, and Meade gave him considerable leeway to make decisions about the military situation, and authority over a large part of the army. Catton says Reynolds sent word back to Meade that there was going to be a big fight, and pretty much everyone Reynolds could lay his hands on was going to be in it.
It’s a shame he was killed that day, since Lincoln really needed that kind of general.
What Lincoln needed most to be reelected was for voters to see that the Union was winning the war. So he needed to appoint the General most likely to win the war. Worrying about that General possibly gaining enough adulation to be a future political rival was far less relevant.
I don’t think any future runs for office played into Meade’s appointment. He was experienced, served with distinction although he was considered a “snapping turtle” personality. Lincoln had gone through a number of generals by then. It was probably Meade’s turn once Reynolds turned him down.
I was surprised recently to find out Meade is a great great grandfather of former Second Lady Happy Rockefeller. I guess the family personality improved over several generations.
There is an article in the June issue of “Civil War Times” magazine wondering if Meade is the Rodney Dangerfield of Civil War generals. There is a quote that “It says something about the state of affairs that Meade’s first thought when a messenger entered his tent that he was about to be place under arrest…Back in October 1861 Brigadier General Charles Stone spent six months in prison without hearing what the charges were against him after losing the Battle of Ball’s Bluff.” Meade did not seek command of the Army of the Potomac nor did he engage in political back stabbing often seen among generals.
John McCain was born in Panama (the Canal Zone) to US parents while his father was serving in the navy, and nobody ever questioned his credentials to run for president. I am sure the same logic would apply to diplomatic personnel.
There may have been personality issues involved. When Hooker was relieved, there were four corps commanders who were available to take over. (Lincoln didn’t want to bring a new general into the Army of the Potomac just days before a major battle.) Meade was the least senior of the four but the other three were willing to serve under him - and that may not have been true for those other three.
I believe the status of Meade’s parents was less official. Richard Meade was primarily a private businessman who also acted as a local purchasing agent in Cadiz, Spain for the United States Navy. I don’t believe he had any official diplomatic status.
But his parents were United States citizens, so Meade was a natural-born citizen.
(Yes, I know, the term has never been construed by the Supreme Court, blah blah blah . . . please let’s not have another 100-post hijack over the meaning of “natural born citizen”. The point is, Lincoln had no grounds for believing Meade ineligible to run.)
The author seems to be extrapolating from the previous war. James K. Polk worried incessantly that he was promoting Whig rivals, even though Polk himself had no intention of running for reelection. Most historians agree that he refused to let Zachary Taylor lead the final assault on Mexico City out of political spite. (It didn’t work, of course; the Whigs ran Taylor successfully in 1848 anyway, and then ran the man who replaced him, Winfield Scott, in 1852.)
I’ve never seen any evidence that Lincoln feared potential rivals in making any of his appointments. Lincoln understood that he would rise or fall based on success in the war, and success required successful generals. After Lincoln promoted Grant over Meade, and Grant experienced success, some Republicans did attempt to draft Grant as a replacement. The movement foundered precisely because of Grant’s success–a replacement was no longer necessary.
In 1852 the winning candidate was Franklin Pierce, who was a brigadier general in the Mexican War. A political appointee, he wasn’t bad as a general, although he was severely wounded at the Battle of Contreras.
The thing with Meade is that he was the winning general in one of the most famous battles in American History and he is little known or remembered. The “Civil War Times” article I mentioned in an earlier post tells how the author went searching the “suttler’s stores” that re enactors have at Gettysburg for books on Meade. He couldn’t find any, or anything else until he can across a coffee mug and a post card. Meade felt his accomplishments would be enough to secure his legacy. Wrong.
Agreed that Lincoln didn’t consider whether or not Meade was a potential candidate for the Presidency in appointing him. Reynolds was Lincoln’s first pick, but turned him down; Meade was his second pick, but also very well-thought-of by his peers.
Actually, it was enough of an issue (although still minor) that the Senate passed a nonbinding resolution in the summer of 2008 expressing its confidence that John McCain was a “natural born citizen” within the meaning of Art. II. Among those voting for the resolution was the junior senator from Illinois.