James and Dolley Madison
The next president in my journey is James Madison. So, this month’s book I had in my collection already. I got it when my day job had me TDY in Washington DC and I day tripped out to Montpelier. James and Dolley Madison by Bruce Chadwick, originally posted on YouTube on June 28, 2021, or you can watch it on Rumble or listen to it on PodBean. Now, I messed up in picking this book. The book is not my favorite, which I’ll get to, but more it is not really a biography on James Madison. There is very little biographical information on James Madison in the book. That’s on me, I should have vetted it better. Now here’s what IS in the book.
James Madison met Dolley Payne Todd in 1793 after she was widowed in a Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia. Dolley was very much a social butterfly, very extroverted, she genuinely liked people, and had many prospects for her hand. She was 25 years old, James was 42. This was very much a case of opposites attract, because James was NOT a social butterfly, but he was completely fascinated by Dolley. I think for James at least, it was more of less love at first sight. He had heard of the widow Payne and was determined to meet her, so he had his friend Aaron Burr, future VP and slayer of Alexander Hamilton, introduce them. I’m not sure if it was immediate love for Dolley, but she was at least charmed by him and was willing for the acquaintance to continue, until it was a love match and the couple married in 1794.
Immediately after marrying, Madison retired from congress, and was basically happy to stay at home, running Montpelier. But when Thomas Jefferson was elected as President in 1800, with term starting in 1801, Jefferson asked Madison to be his Secretary of State, a position Madison filled for 8 years, before being voted into office himself.
Once they hit Washington DC, Dolley essentially stepped in and acted as White House Hostess all through Jefferson’s presidency. Chadwick makes a pretty strong case that Madison might not have been elected president had it not been for Dolley’s politicking, because she was the consummate hostess, never dropped a ball, had an impeccable memory for names and faces, invited EVERYONE to parties, and networked like a mad queen. Like, several years ago (predating this channel) I read a book by Malcolm Gladwell, although damn if I can remember which one, where he talks about influencers, and people who like to just make connections between people. Dolley was DEFINITELY one who liked to make connections. Like, she was so good, got so many people political seats and positions they might not have ever aspired to, that after James Madison died, Congress voted to keep a seat open for her to sit in on congressional meetings until her death. THAT is how far-reaching her political influence went.
So anyway, Dolley is the networking queen of DC, working her networking magic to swing a presidency for her husband, who served two terms from 1809 to 1817, before retiring to Montpelier for good, where he died in 1836.
And this was basically the summary of the book. I found this repetitious. There are no less than three full chapters about the parties Dolley would host at the White House and at Montpelier. By far the most interesting chapter was chapter 1, where the author describes Dolley Madison’s flight from the White House, where in she saved the portrait of George Washington during the War of 1812. Among the repetitions were the cause for the War of 1812, being British impressment of American sailors, James Madisons social awkwardness, which I’m not at all sure is accurately portrayed, largely because the man was chosen, out of all the delegates at the Constitutional Convention, to WRITE THE CONSTITUTION, and then to defend that offering in the Federalist papers.
Other than explaining Dolley’s role in getting him the presidency, the author makes some pretty sweeping assertions, none of which are actually proven. He asserts that the Madison’s owning of slaves were why their finances ultimately failed, leaving Dolley bankrupt. But then every single thing he uses to explain the financial difficulties of the Madison’s points towards an inability to say no to Dolley’s very spoiled son from her first marriage, Payne Todd, and their own extravagance’s. Chadwick asserts that Payne Todd was a sociopath, but does not convince, when there is a far simpler explanation than sociopathy for Todd’s problems. When Dolley was widowed in 1793, her oldest son died in the same epidemic, on the same day. So rather than blaming sociopathy, a simpler explanation is that, following the death of her husband and oldest son on the same day, from the same epidemic, Dolley became an overbearing mother, set on drowning her youngest and surviving child in protective layers. This urge would have been compounded by the fact the Madison was apparently sterile, so that Payne was her ONLY surviving child and there would be no others. Add in to that Dolley’s extreme extroversion, and Payne NEVER got away from his mother’s influence. James’ desire to keep Dolley happy had him paying all of Payne’s bills. Basically, he was a spoiled brat who was never expected to actually grow up and adult. Interestingly enough, the strongest argument AGAINST Payne being a sociopath is literally the last line in the book. “During his last days, talking about his relationship to his parents, Payne Todd told a friend that throughout his life he had been his own worst enemy.” When has a sociopath EVER been that self-reflective?
Now, the fact that this is not an awesome biography on James Madison is not necessarily the author’s fault. It is exactly what it says it is, a book describing the relationship between James and Dolley Madison. So, I learned a good lesson on vetting my books better. This book would have been better if the author had included a bit more biography on James and Dolley individually before they ever met. I mean, James was 42 when they met. Half his life was literally over. So, the book picking up and only describing his life from that point forward leaves out huge bits of some highly relevant history, and limits James’s life to the 16 years he was in and around the White house, first as Secretary of State, then as President, then sort of glosses over his twenty years of retirement before his death. So, in a life of 85 years, the author focused on 16, and then only haphazardly, focusing more on Dolley’s parties, then on Madison’s contributions to government. I’m disappointed in this one. And because I still don’t feel like I know enough about Madison to determine where he ranks on my list of presidents, I’m gonna read another book on Madison next month.
