Page 41 - MAY 2020 Barbecue News Magazine

Martin Van Buren flees with a bag of Treasury Notes, while Jackson is being roasted as a pig on the fires of public opin- ion. "In South Carolina t'is called Barbecue only he wants a little more Basteing.”
William Henry Harrison, 1841 Harrison served the shortest time of any American President—just thirty-two days and was the first President to die in office. Harrison's signifi- cance in presidential history is not in his short term in of- fice, but the creative campaign strategy designed to get him elected. His advisers understood the base desires of the electorate and completely changed Harrison’s ré sumé and image to fit what the public wanted. His handlers made a common everyday man out of Virginia aristocracy. Back in 1811 Harrison lead an army troop to defeat a native Ameri- can uprising at Tippecanoe, and so he became known as an Indian fighter. By adopting the log cabin symbolism of the frontier, Harrison easily defeated Van Buren who insisted on ad- dressing the issues. During his election he avoided debating his opponents and focused on handing out free whiskey and barbecue at campaign stops. Hard cider is an alcoholic drink that flowed so fast that Harrison became known as the “Hard Cider Candidate.” To feed his many rowdy supporters, Harrison’s cooks served up free barbecue and a side dish called Burgoo, which was made by adding vegetables to a warm squirrel stew. B.Q. Score: 6
Photo Credit: Crystal Bridges Art Museum Bentonville, AR
Note: The whole ox being barbecued in the top left corner.
John Tyler, 1841-1845 Tyler was from a prominent Vir- ginia family with deep political involvement. He spent his adult life in law and politics and his lifestyle was the tradi- tional Virginia planter’s life, full of picnics, dances and bar- becues. Tyler is considered the first accidental President, assuming the office after Harrison suddenly died. When Vice-president Tyler ascended to the presidency, he was quickly given the nickname, “His Acci- dency.” This was
first time a US president had died in office, Tyler immedi- ately asserted his full right to rule and set the basic stan- dard how presidential successions work today.
Tyler sought to strengthen and preserve the Union through territorial expansion and signed the Log Cabin Bill which gave settlers the right to claim land before it went for sale. This helped to get the west settled and expand the country.
In 1889 the author William Davis wrote in “Recollections of Mississippi” about the 1840 election. “The event was one long frolic. We traveled about fifteen miles a day, stopping at every crossroad to meet the people who came out to greet us. “ ... There were public speeches everywhere. Great barbecues succeeded each other, and were attended by multitudes, who thronged to the appointed places in wag- ons and carriages, on foot and on horseback; traveling for miles to enjoy these social and political festivals ... it may, perhaps, be difficult for people even to imagine the perfect abandonment of a whole population to the excitements and pleasures of such a carnival ... whole communities given up to wild days of feasting, speech-making, music, dancing, and drinking, with, perhaps, rough words now and then, and an honest hand-to-hand fight when debate was angry and the blood hot.
When people remember President Tyler it might be as the rhyming end to a catchy campaign slogan. “Tippe- canoe and Tyler, too!” B.Q. Score: 5
Old Cabin Whiskey was sold in log cabin-shaped bottles and became the drink of choice at Harrison and Tyler’s bar- becues. The distiller, E.C. Booz of Philadelphia, is where we get the term ‘booze.’
MAY 2020
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