John Quincy Adams : American Visionary
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 585-623) and index.

In this biography, Fred Kaplan brings into focus the dramatic life of John Quincy Adams--the little-known and much-misunderstood sixth president of the United States and the first son of John and Abigail Adams--and reveals how Adams' progressive vision guided his life and helped shape the course of America. Kaplan draws on unpublished archival material to trace Adams' evolution from his childhood during the Revolutionary War to his years as Secretary of State to his time in the White House and beyond. He examines Adams' different sides: the public and private man, the statesman and writer, the thinker and advocate, the leading abolitionist and fervent federalist who believed strongly in both individual liberty and the government's role as an engine of progress and prosperity. In these ways Adams was a predecessor of Lincoln and, later, FDR and Obama. Indeed, this biography makes clear how Adams' forward-thinking values, his definition of leadership, and his vision for the nation's future is as much about twenty-first century America as it is about Adams' own time.