impacted the office of the presidency in ways that live on today. The present day cult of

personality that surrounds the office can be traced back to Andrew Jackson. With the

likes of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, who described Jackson as "brutish and

savage," the presidency had been drifting toward a kind of faceless aristocracy. Jackson

changed all that. Jackson had that certain intangiable quality known as "charisma," a

qualiity so lacking in both our present day candidates that it might explain the

unprecedented difficulty we experienced in declaring a clear-cut winner in the Gore/Bush

What is charisma? Among our modern day presidents, Kennedy, Johnson and

even Nixon all had it, though certainly not the same aspects of it. Charisma does not

necessarily equate with "charm" though this is part of it, and probably the largest part of

Kennedy's charisma and the least of Nixon's. Nor does charisma equate to leadership

qualities. Rather charisma relates to certain aspects of a man's personality or character

grounds to avoid the establisment of a ruling class of bureaucrats who operated above or

splintering of the party to which both J. Q. Adams and Jackson had both previously

Irish immigrants, Jackson grew up in poverty unlike his predecessors. Jackson identified

more sensitive to the needs of the farmer or small businessman. Indeed this issue led to a

with the common man and saw himself as the voice of the people. He viewed the

swept him into the 1832 presidency. However, as with many issues involving Jackson a

personality and his unyielding identification with the common man.

The significant benchmarks of the Jacksonian presidency are directly traceable to

Jackson did not equate individual rights with states rights. In fact he believed a

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gore Bush, Nixon's Nor, National Bank, White House, Federal Bank, Quincy Adams, South Carolina's, Clinton Jackson's, Bush Jackson, Johnson Nixon, national bank, democratic party jackson, jackson's charisma, common voice, democratic party, executive branch, jackson countered, andrew jackson, aspects personality, central bank, party jackson,
Approximate Word count = 1085
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)