zachary taylor

Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States.

But he was not President for very long.

Why -  you might ask?

Because he died on July 9th after an illness caused by
exposure to the hot sun - and he was only 65 years old.

And do you know what he was doing in the hot sun at
his age?

He was at a ceremony where the Cornerstone of the
Washington Monumnet was being laid.


In his book Atlas of the Presidents (1964) - Donald E.Cooke
writes that 'the slavery issue was still at the boiling point.'

But what is interesting about Cooke's article on Zachary
Taylor is that he only talks about the former President's
contribution to the Presidency in the last two paragraphs
out of two pages.

And that is because Zachary Taylor's real contribution to
us as Americans was not that he was the 12th President
of the United States but rather that he had - according to
Cooke - indomitable courage and high principle - and was
a Hero.

Zachary Taylor has earned his Place in History and carried
to his Grave a nickname- and not just any nickname - but
one that he surely was Proud of - a nickname that lives on
even now in Donald Cooke's Atlas of the World.

And that nickname is:

Old Rough And Ready.

 Zachary Taylor mantained a lifelong record of military victories -
without a Single Defeat.



And let me tell you folks - well I don't really have to now
do I  - that it just doesn't get any better than that.



So - Zachary Taylor - here's one American that would like to
say:



I would gladly stand up next to you....