"American Lion" examines the life and leadership of Andrew Jackson

"American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House"

by Jon Meacham

Random House, 483 pp., $30

All U.S. presidents attract biographers. Andrew Jackson, president from 1829 to 1837, has attracted several talented biographers in centuries and decades past. All those biographers knew, of course, that Jackson died in 1845, at age 78, and was controversial in many ways until the end. Intellectually, Jon Meacham, Jackson's newest biographer, knows that, too. But for Meacham, Jackson is alive in so many ways circa 2008. As a result, Meacham's biography stands out because his overarching reason for writing the book is to convince readers that Jackson influenced the modern presidency more than any chief executive that came before him.

Of the early presidents, "Jackson is in many ways the most like us," Meacham writes. "In the saga of the Jackson presidency, one marked by both democratic triumphs and racist tragedies, we can see the American character in formation and in action. To understand him and his time helps us to understand America's perennially competing impulses. Jackson's life and work — and the nation he protected and preserved — were shaped by the struggle between grace and rage, generosity and violence, justice and cruelty."

By day, Meacham lives very much in the present, as editor of Newsweek magazine. When not commanding the newsroom, however, Meacham tends to live in the past, as the author of two previous history books: "American Gospel," about the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers, and "Franklin and Winston," about the friendship of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

Jackson bridges certain gaps between the Founding Fathers, some of whom knew him as an aggressive military commander before reaching the White House, and Roosevelt, who looked backward to Jackson's words for guidance while steering a nation through a profound economic depression and a global war. By acting decisively to forestall a civil war over slavery during the 1830s, Jackson demonstrated a "rugged, courageous spirit," Roosevelt said. He channeled that Jacksonian spirit during the 1940s as he vowed to save the nation from the threats emanating outside its borders.

For the most part, Meacham seems to subscribe to the "great man theory of history," a common trait among biographers. In other words, the character of the ruler determines events more than events wash over the ruler. Meacham wisely dilutes the great-man theory, however, by showing the continuing interactions between Jackson and his chief advisers. An orphan from modest circumstances who became a fiercely devoted family man, Jackson chose some of his advisers from among relatives, as well as from among political allies. Near the opening of the book, Meacham lists two dozen men and women who will appear frequently in the book as they influence Jackson, for better and for worse.

Meacham's fondness for Jackson is evident in every chapter. Fortunately, Meacham also delineates Jackson's flaws and shows the complexity of Jackson's strengths.

"He was the most contradictory of men," Meacham writes. "A champion of extending freedom and democracy to even the poorest of whites, Jackson was an unrepentant slaveholder. A sentimental man who rescued an Indian orphan on a battlefield to raise as his own, Jackson was responsible for the removal of Indian tribes from their ancestral homes. An enemy of the Eastern financial elites and a relentless opponent of the Bank of the United States, which he believed to be a bastion of corruption, Jackson also promised to die, if necessary, to preserve the power and prestige of the federal government."

In his credits, Meacham praises three previous Jackson scholars: James Parton, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Robert Remini. Remini's three-volume Jackson biography, plus his other accounts of the Jacksonian era, are unlikely to be surpassed for their factual details, for their cultural nuances. Perhaps not incidentally, Meacham read Remini's books while growing up in Tennessee, Jackson's home state and the one most closely associated with Jackson lore.

Meacham deserves credit for bowing toward his predecessors. He also deserves credit for modernizing Jackson so that a new generation of readers might discover him.

Steve Weinberg's most recent book is "Taking on the Trust: The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller" (Norton).