Deceased US Presidents
By Dr Khalid Siddiqui
Ohio
5. James Monroe (1817-1825): Monroe is regarded as the last US president who was a Revolutionary War veteran. He was the only US President who had held two cabinet posts - Secretary of State and Secretary of War. He was the last president who was not photographed. He was also the last US president to wear a powdered wig tied in a queue, a tricorn hat and knee-breeches. That earned him the nickname "The Last Cocked Hat".
He is best known for the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the recently independent countries of the Americas by a foreign power will be considered a potentially hostile act against the United States. He supported the colonization of Africa by the freed slaves.
Liberia’s capital of Monrovia is named in his honor. Like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, he also died on July 4, but five years later. Only two national capitals in the world are named after two US presidents – Washington, DC and Monrovia, Liberia. In the US, 17 counties and four cities are named after Monroe.
6. John Quincy Adams (1825-1829 ): He was the son of President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams. He was born in Quincy, Massachusetts. In 1792 the new town was named after Colonel John Quincy, the maternal grandfather of Abigail Adams. John Quincy Adams was named after this town.
He is the only US president who was named after a town. He is the only US president who was married outside the USA – at the All Hallows-by-the-Tower Church in London, England in 1797. He became the first US president to win the election without winning the popular vote. He didn’t win the re-election. He is the only president who served in the US House of Representatives after being president. He was one of the six out-going presidents who did not attend their successors’ inauguration.
He is one of the three US presidents who are buried in a church. He never owned slaves. He is reported to have the highest IQ of any US president. He spoke eight foreign languages (Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Russian). He translated many classical foreign-language books into English. He abandoned the use of powdered wig, and became the first president to adopt a short haircut.
He regularly wore long trousers instead of knee breeches. Abraham Lincoln was at his bedside when John Quincy Adams passed away. His wife, Louisa, who was born in England, became the first of the two First Ladies who were born outside the United States. Melania Trump, born in Slovenia, is the second First Lady who was born outside the United States. John Quincy Adams’ nickname was Old Man Eloquent.
