Posted on 01/28/2012 11:34:18 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
President John Tyler’s grandson Harrison Tyler, 84, says he’s not impressed with the state of politics today and particularly thinks Newt Gingrich is a “big jerk” for his three marriages.
Incredibly, President Tyler, who was born in 1790 and became the 10th president in 1841, has two grandchildren still alive today. His grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, currently maintains the Tyler presidential home, Sherwood Forest Plantation Foundation in Charles City, Va.
Harrison said he doesn’t spend much time focusing on the 2012 presidential race — “I can’t stand watching television” — but considers himself a conservative. His big problem this election, he said, is with the candidates.
“I don’t really like any of them,” he said in an interview.
But Tyler’s especially not a fan of Gingrich, who he dubbed a “big jerk.”
“He needs to stick with the same wife, that’s what my mother taught me,” Tyler said. “But that doesn’t seem to happen much today.”
Tyler, an engineer who founded his own business, ChemTreat, in 1968, said he thought it was important that Mitt Romney had business experience, but noted he is firmly undecided at this point. He said he plans to vote this fall, but “I just haven’t made up my mind yet.”
And President Barack Obama — who Tyler called a “charming man” — just doesn’t have the right pro-business policies to get his vote, he said.
“Well, I think he’s a charming man, but he grew up in the society where he believes in running the show and changing the apple cart and taking it away from those that have,” he said.
Tyler said he prefers to focus on the family home in Virginia, not on politics. He spends some time giving lectures on local Jamestown history — he’s also descended from Pocahontas — but notes he didn’t even start studying presidential history and his grandfather until his retirement.
“I’m retired from my business,” he said. “I’m 84 years old. I drive around, I bought a lot of additional land, beautiful land around the river. I just drive around watching all the deer and all the turkey.”
President John Tyler, who lived from 1790-1862, had 15 children during his lifetime, making him the most prolific president. One of his children, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, born in 1853, fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr. in 1924 and Harrison in 1928. Lyon Tyler, Jr., is 88 and currently living in Franklin, Tenn., according to Harrison.
President Tyler was William Henry Harrison’s Whig running mate in the 1840 election, which spawned one of the most famous campaign slogans in American history, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” On his 32nd day in office, Harrison died of complications from pneumonia. Tyler was then the first vice president to become president due to the death of his predecessor, serving from 1841-1845.
John Tyler also has the distinction of becoming the first president to get married while in office — after his first wife died in 1842, Tyler married Julia Gardiner, who was 30 years younger than him, in 1844.
This stuff is becoming funny. It would be even funnier if it wasn't so pathetic. I wonder which Romney twerp reached out to Mr. Tyler.
Even the Washington Times (or is it Washington Slimes) has one of those pieces by a former Reagan administration official claiming Newt opposed Ronald Reagan, presumably over his anti-communist stance.
I wonder how far Mitt will go to bring his critics down if he gets into office.
Next up, a Romney staffer will go dig up Mary Todd Lincoln to criticize Callista Gingrich’s dresses.
Next up, Mitt Romney’s eldest son leaked this to the Washington Post: In Georgia, a Gingrich staffer rear-ended a little old lady in Atlanta. No injuries or significant damage was reported.
They are really reaching; I believe John Tyler was the only US President who was not given a state funeral because he served in the Confederate cabinet after his term was over. Newt should point to this attack as proof of his “racial harmony” credntials.
Oh, good!
Now I can go to sleep at night.
I’ve been staying awake, wondering what Pres. Tyler’s grandson thinks....
Wait a minute, WHICH grandson?
What about the granddaughters?
Oooooohhh, more sleepless nights!
NOT!
Maybe it was Newt who stole the marble rye...
Hey Mackenzie Weinger
If a filthy rich Catholic Cardinal was running for POTUS, the subject of his high position in the Church would come up.
Romney is not just a Mormon, he is high up the food chain in church hierarchy, comparable to a Cardinal.
But you keep writing stories about Tylers grandson, that’s whats relevant here.
What is with the Freeper obsession with Newt “Dede Scozzafava” Gingrich? I can see Rick Santorum. That I get. But Newt “Nancy Pelosi” Gingrich? Newt “Three Wives and Ten Million Alibis” Gingrich? We have Freepers calling it the Washington Slimes and boycotting Drudge over this! Newt “Resigned In Disgrace” Gingrich is not worth it. I guess to be a Freeper now you have to believe in Global Warming and support Fannie Mae and never ever working in private enterprise all your adult life. Some people are sounding more like Paulians. I thought Harrison Tyler’s comments were entertaining. God bless him. He’s 84 and living in the 21st century — the grandson of a man born in the 18th century. Does this mean I am suddenly going to vote against Newt? No. Of course not. Lighten up. It’s Saturday.
The New York magazine article on Harrison R. Tyler goes downhill from here:
A few days ago, the website Mental Floss posted an amazing, seemingly impossible piece of American trivia, which then quickly spread around the web, to Yahoo, the Huffington Post, ABC News, Fox News, Politico, Kottke, the Daily Mail, and others: Two grandsons of President John Tyler — who was born in 1790 and served as tenth president of the United States — are still alive today.
"Thank goodness," says Harrison Ruffin Tyler, one of those grandsons, who spoke to us earlier this morning from Sherwood Forest Plantation, the historical Tyler family home in Virginia in which he resides. Harrison Tyler is not an immortal vampire, or a 160-year-old freak of nature, but a mentally sharp octogenarian with a soothing Southern drawl and a more favorable opinion of his grandfather's legacy than the ones held by most presidential historians.
If he were an immortal vampire or a 160-year-old freak of nature, I might have read further.
His father and grandfather weren't necessarily people I'd take advice from. Presumably, they'd be for Ron Paul.
Shouldn’t this guy be off fathering a great-grandchild to carry on the family name? He seems to be of the right age for it.
WHAT??! The guy in the article, Harrison, his father was 75 when he was born? Incredible.
Hilarious. Maybe 84 year old Tippecanoe G-son can team up with Ms. Meghan McCain.
Wow! Simply amazing.
Recommendation: Hit abuse on yourself, ask admin mod to remove, and mention you didn't know about the Newt Dissing Restriction.
Nobody’s had a grandfather born 222 years ago since the patriarchs of the Old Testament. They’re talking six or seven generations here.
See #4 - I don’t think John Tyler would have voted for Obama.
One of his children, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, born in 1853, fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr. in 1924 and Harrison in 1928.
And in the days before Viagra no less. Impressive.
“””who spoke to us earlier this morning from Sherwood Forest Plantation”””””
Sounds a tad racist.
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