Lessons for Today from “The Great Rejected” Rejected ” By James C. Klotter
H
enry Clay has been described as being like a political rock star. In his era, that certainly seemed the case. When in public, adoring fans flocked to him. Women showered him with requests for kisses and he usually responded favorably. (As one contemporary noted, his mouth was so large that he could rest one side “while the other side was doing active duty.”) His personality and charisma charmed many voters, with one saying that when Clay smiled, “He smiled all over.” Another noted that “neither in public nor private did he know how to be dull.” That said it all. But more than anything, people remarked on Clay’s oratory. Crowds as large as 100,000 gathered to hear the great man and simply to savor excellence. When he spoke, it seemed that the soft, soothing tones were directed at each individual listening, but then his words might boom out like an organ filling a great cathedral. And his passion enthralled, convinced, and seduced his listeners, causing his emotions to be their emotions, his heart, their heart, his will, their will. Clay the orator was unsurpassed. Henry Clay, though, was more than sound and fury, words, and charm. He had an economic plan—his American System—that he touted as a way to tie the various sections closer, so they needed each other. It would thus provide the final link to national economic unity. And Clay had achievements—as Speaker of the U.S. House, where he redefined that office, as a diplomat who 10
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helped end the War of 1812, as Secretary of State, as leader of his Whig Party, and as a political model to millions. But his greatest achievements came as “the Great Pacificator,” a man whose compromises kept the nation united and helped forestall a civil war for a generation or more. Historians have noted that the delay allowed the North to grow stronger, while allowing a leader like Abraham Lincoln to come to the forefront and lead the Union to victory. In the Missouri Compromises of 1819-20, the Nullification Crisis of 1832-33, and the Compromise of 1850, Clay proved to be the dominant figure in each and won applause from both parties for his efforts. Yet “the Great Compromiser” was also “the Great Rejected,” for three times voters selected someone else when he ran for president and twice more his party made him the runner-up for the nomination. Still, for a quarter century, in almost every presidential election from 1824 to 1848, Clay was a major player in the game. Given that one major defeat is usually the kiss of death for a political leader, Clay’s lasting power shows the appeal he had in his era—and later ones. In fact, when voting in the 1950s on the greatest members of the U.S. senate, that body recognized Clay as one of the five greatest, and The Atlantic in 2006 placed him in the top third of the most influential Americans throughout the nation’s history. Quite an achievement for a “loser.” What questions, then, should we ask about this man, and what can we learn from Henry Clay, even now?
