Unlike Theodore Roosevelt, who called Thomas Jefferson “perhaps the most incapable Executive that ever filled the presidential chair,” President John F. Kennedy had a highly exalted view of the nation’s third president, recognizing him for his incredible intellect and talents.
On April 29, 1962, Kennedy held a dinner at the White House honoring Nobel Prize winners from the western hemisphere. In the President’s opening remarks, he famously stated the following:
“I want to tell you how welcome you are to the White House. I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet. Whatever he may have lacked, if he could have had his former colleague, Mr. Franklin, here we all would have been impressed.”
President Kennedy at the White House on April 29, 1962 entertaining Nobel Prize winners.
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Mike,
Thanks for bringing this insightful comment to our attention.
This may be the one time that JFK was right and TR was wrong.
Obviously one can only consider those Commanders in Chief serving prior to the death of Teddy Roosevelt in 1919 – through Woodrow Wilson. That said, there are myriad options for the title of “most incapable Executive that ever filled the presidential chair” worse than Jefferson. How about Franklin Pierce or James Buchanan – two of the most ineffective men to sit in the presidential chair? Why not Andrew Johnson or Ulysses S. Grant to wear that mantle? Wilson was certainly not more effective than Jefferson. I’m not sure what TR’s criteria were for making such an assessment, but the five I mentioned without breaking a sweat are no-brainers for infinitely less effective than TJ.
I definitely agree that there are far more likely candidates for the “most incapable Executive that ever filled the presidential chair” besides Jefferson. You have quickly rounded up some of the most likely suspects, and we could, of course, add others to the competition. I don’t know the specific background behind TR’s assessment of Jefferson, but I’ll speculate a little. Perhaps Roosevelt viewed Jefferson as too much like himself in some respects with both of them being men who did all things well. Maybe TR saw Jefferson as competition for him in the quest for presidential greatness and felt a need to knock him down a notch. Or maybe TR thought that Jefferson was too inclined not to confront controversy, something TR never shied away from. Jefferson worked behind the scenes, didn’t like public speaking, and was conflict adverse. Roosevelt may have viewed this as cowardice, something that was the ultimate sin in his mind.