Happy BURRthday!

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Fans!

Well, yesterday was former VP Dan Quayles birthday as reported by Jason, and tomorrow, Feb. 6th is another VP's birthday-and not just any VP, but the first one who never became President! Thats right-its the birthday of the most infamous man to ever hold the office of VP-Aaron Burr!

Burr was born on Feb. 6, 1756 in Newark, NJ. His grandfather Jonathan Edwards was Colonial America's most famous pastor, the author of the definitive American Puritanical sermon-"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", and is still considered, almost 300 years later, one of Americas greatest theologians. His father the Rev. Aaron Burr Sr. helped found, and was the president of Princeton University.

Aaron Burr is best known of course, for killing former Secretary of the Treasury, signer of the Constitution, head of the Federalist party, fellow Revolutionary War hero, and Major General/Senior Officer of the United States Army (the equivalent of the Joint Chief Of Staff)-Alexander Hamilton in a duel while he was Vice-President. Thats right-over 200 years before Dick Cheney shot a man while VP-the Vice-President of the United States shot and killed a man.

The duel is without a doubt the most famous in American history-made even more famous by the highly popular "Got Milk?" ad directed by my director on "Pearl Harbor" Michael Bay! Bay's work since then leads many to believe it would be a much better world if he had stuck to commercials. But that's a whole other ball of wax.

Burr is best known for the duel, but the life of this remarkable American is more than just a few seconds on the "Plains of Weehawken". Burr was the first truly prominent American feminist-advocating womens intelligence and equal education and opportunities for women throughout his life, and put his money where his mouth was-educating his daughter like a man.

Burr was a Revolutionary War hero in his own right, fighting bravely at the battles of Quebec and Monmouth, and numerous other smaller battles. He was an accomplished lawyer, congressman, Senator, and Vice-President. Here is a quote about his service as VP in presiding over the Senate:

"Mr. Burr, the Vice-President, presides in the Senate with great ease, dignity & propriety. He preserves good order, silence—& decorum in debate—he confines the speaker to the point. He has excluded all spectators from the area of the Senate chamber, except the members from the other House. A measure which contributes much to good order." Senator William Plumer (F-NH)

In case you're wondering, that "F" stands for "Federalist", and Burr was a Democratic-Republican-meaning this quote praising him is from someone in the opposing party. Pretty impressive eh?

Later in his life Burr was put on trial for treason against the U.S., accused of trying to carve out an empire for himself in parts of the Louisiana Purchase and Mexico. It was "The Trial of the Century" and Burr was acquitted, despite President Jefferson's efforts to make sure Burr was found guilty.

Burr was, without a doubt, an American Original-its hard to find any person in any other country's history like Burr. That's probably why he has so captured the American imagination-particularly in Gore Vidal's first novel in his "American Empire" series: BURR. Its also part of why the Aaron Burr Association was formed (as I talked about in another blog here) and why I joined it.

I called up the President of the Aaron Burr Association-Mr. Stuart Johnson and got this quote from him on the upcoming birthday of this amazing American:

"We here at the ABA want to wish Aaron Burr a happy 254th birthday. We've stood by you and will keep up the good fight promoting your life. Your depth and complexity never cease to amaze us and we will keep protecting your reputation and promoting your life to all Americans."

Thanks for the quote Mr. Johnson.

We here at Vice-Precedence are determined to show people the truth about Aaron Burr, and that's the focus of one of our upcoming projects. So lets all wish this truly distinctive American a "Happy Birthday"!

Thanks for reading.

Another Day at Vice-Precedence

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers.

Well, its a slow day on the news front for former VP Richard "Dick" Cheney-who I follow for the blog. No news about anything going on really with Mr. Cheney-whose operation seemed to go well. I will let you know if anything breaks with it.

For those of you who read my article on Chris Rocks' documentary film about black womens hair-"Good Hair"-that comes out soon- that want to know more, there was an interview with Rock in the new issue of GQ that just came out this week.


In Cheney news, Jonathan Alter at NEWSWEEK wrote a rather incendiary article on the former Vice-President where he states:

"...as much as I'd like to see Cheney frog-marched out of Jackson Hole and sent to prison for violating his oath, it would set a bad precedent."

If you're interested in reading the entire article, copy and paste the address below into your browser, its an interesting article.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/214929?tid=relatedcl


As most of you readers know I am following Mr. Cheney's progress on his (still untitled) book, and found an article where renowned historian Joseph J. Ellis gives advice to Mr. Cheney on writing his book. Professor Ellis won the Pulitzer Prize for his excellent work (which I have read and enjoyed) “Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation,”. The chapter in this book on the Burr-Hamilton duel is particularly interesting for me of course-but in my opinion Ellis like many historians, makes the mistake of being a little too impressed with Hamilton, and a little dismissive of Burr. Still, overall its an excellent read, and Professor Ellis is a gifted writer of history. Here is his advice to former VP Cheney as he tackles his own chronicle of his career:

There is some scholarly consensus that the memoir Ulysses S. Grant wrote for money while he was dying is the greatest presidential memoir, though it’s almost entirely about his military career. Believe it or not, Calvin Coolidge’s memoir is great at explaining his Vermont origins and the values he brought to the presidency. Barack Obama’s “Dreams from My Father” is the most candid and compelling self-portrait, perhaps because it was written before he knew he would become president.

John Adams’ autobiography is the best example of how not to do it. Angry, obsessed with settling scores, often incoherent in its rambling asides — and I love the guy.

Avoid coming across as angry, trying to settle scores and writing rambling asides.

The greatest memoir in American history, I think, is “The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography.” He not only sustains an ironic perspective on himself but on the entire 19th century. Benjamin Franklin’s “Autobiography” is a close runner-up. Like Henry Adams he had the ability to see himself historically, which is very hard to do.

If Dick Cheney’s memoir is to have any lasting influence, it will need to confront his failures, most especially regarding Iraq and the hyperbolic reaction to 9/11. Based on his most recent public statements, that seems unlikely. He will probably follow the John Adams model, which will yield a self-justifying testament designed to rally the right-wing base of the Republican party. Another blip on the radar screen.

One can only wonder if Mr. Cheney will take this advice, as he's not really known for doing that. As soon as anything breaks on the CIA investigations, Mr. Cheney's book, or anything Vice-Presidential, you can count on us to report it ASAP. Please keep supporting "Vice-Precedence" by reading this blog, posting on our Facebook page, going to YouTube and watching our videos and rating and posting comments on them, and most of all-letting friends and family know about it all. We need to spread the word and get more readers and Fans. Thanks for your support and I will see you here Thursday.

Matt Saxe

The Aaron Burr Association

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers.

Well, since there isn't much news about former VP Cheney right now-the naming ceremony at the U. of Wyoming on Thursday that I blogged about went fine, even with the protesters, I thought I would write about something else today.

In doing our research for the film Jason and I have come upon many unique people and organizations. One of the best groups we found was the ABA-The Aaron Burr Association. As hopefully you our fans and readers know by now, Aaron Burr is one of the most infamous figures in American history-even people with little interest or knowledge of American history know of his famous duel with Alexander Hamilton thanks to the "Got Milk?" commercial where, while he was VP he killed the former Secretary of the Treasury and fellow Revolutionary War hero. Later he was put on trial by the federal government for treason for supposedly trying to conquer the lands west of the Mississippi River acquired in the Louisiana Purchase and Mexico and make himself Emperor of these lands. Just for the record-he was acquitted of these charges.

Burr is considered by the majority of historians and the general public as one of the villainous figures in our country's history because of this duel-which is all the majority of people know about him. However, the ABA is determined to make sure our third Vice-President is remembered for more than that:

The ABA's mission as stated in their Constitution written in 1946 is:

"To keep alive the memory of Colonel Aaron Burr as a student, a soldier, a lawyer, a politician, a patron of the arts, an educator, a banker, and as a husband and father" and "to secure for him the honor and respect which are due him as one of the leading figures of his age."

They cite the facts the Burr was an early feminist-supporting the education of women far more than the other Founders, served bravely in many terrifying combat situations during the Revolution, was a strong foe of slavery, founded Chase Manhattan Bank, and was considered by many as the greatest Senator in the country while in office in the early days of the Republic.

I found this group interesting-sort of an American parallel of the Richard the III Society in Great Britain-whose goal it is to protect the character of the "Hunchback King" from the artistic liberties of William Shakespeares' play where he is portrayed as the worst kind of villain, a homicidal sadist and murderer of children whose bloody ambition knows no bounds.

The ABA has an annual meeting every year where activities focus around Aaron Burr, at the 2006 meeting they held a reenactment of Burrs' treason trial which was presided over by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, serving in the same role as his predecessor in the Supreme Court-the greatest Chief Justice of all-John Marshall, who presided over the original proceedings. Justice Scalias' verdict: "Not Guilty", just like John Marshall 199 years earlier.

In fact, I found the group so interesting, that I called the president of the association: Stuart Johnson, and spoke with him, and he is a very polite and dedicated man when it comes to the organization. Since the dues are only $25 a year, I figured, "What the heck?"-and joined myself. There are members from all over the country who support the organization and believe in its mission.

The fact that an organization like this exists, and has existed for 63 years, shows that people do care about our Vice-Presidents. If you're interested here's the website address:
http://www.aaronburrassociation.org/

Thanks for reading and keep spreading the word about "Vice-Precedence"!
Matt Saxe