The Unshakable Perspective of Dead, White Males

Regardless of the circumstances, I always find myself pausing on Constitution Avenue or 16th and H Streets NW to gaze at the Executive Mansion; my head usually in the stars. Somewhere in its upper reaches, even late at night, there's a light or two on and looking at those windows, the pomp, history, and hopelessly muddled contemporary politics abate; the real and imagined barriers of that immense power seem to give way to basic truths about what it means to be successful in America. Of course, nobody except those closest to the President ever get to witness that incredibly unique and valuable perspective - Until their death, that is. Nothing in this life is as equalizing and humanizing as its end.

It's been said that as you approach 30, you realize a lot of the things that you had been self-conscious about growing up were distracting and at times debilitating wastes of time. In short, people really weren't thinking about you all that much. And your young life becomes increasingly idealized as it gets eroded away by the harsh realities of life on what seems like a daily basis. In the past 48 hours alone, one of the nicest girls from every graduating class of mine from elementary school to high school passed away suddenly and inexplicably. To boot, my first "modern" love; someone I dated for four years (from the very first hours I was in college until we started getting into retrospectively comical fights about the way things would be set up when we inevitably tied the knot), got married. Of course, it was to someone other than myself. I'm at once surprised, happy, and even a bit mournful over the way I've been able to put these jolting events into perspective. If I'm lucky enough to live deep into old age, I can't imagine the sheer amount of wisdom that I'll have from a lifetime of context.

That being said, what follows are the last words of men who have called 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW home (And George Washington, too). Those Presidents for which no record exists are omitted:


- Washington: "I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. 'Tis well."

- Adams: "Thomas Jefferson survives."
- Jefferson: "Is it the Fourth? I resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country."

It's still a source of constant amazement that these two men died on the same day (50 years to do the day the Declaration of Independence was fully accepted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776). And it's always great to be in the presence of someone finding that out for the first time. Sure, certain details might have been embellished and romanticized over the generations. But the two men had renewed their famous friendship, even if was simply because old age and loneliness caught up with them. As their loved ones and peers systematically died off, it's not a stretch to say they were living to correspond with each other at the end.

- Madison: "Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear."

- Monroe: "I always talk better lying down."

- Adams: "This is the last of Earth. I am content."

- Jackson: "Oh, do not cry. Be good children and we shall meet again in Heaven."

- Van Buren: "There is but one reliance."

- WH Harrison: "I wish you to understand the true principles of government. I wish them to be carried out. I ask nothing more."

- Tyler: "Doctor, I am going. Perhaps it is best."

- Polk: "I love you, Sarah. I love you for all eternity."

- Taylor: "I am sorry I am about to leave my friends. I have tried to do my duty, and am not afraid to die. I am ready."

- Fillmore: "The nourishment is palatable."

- Buchanan: "Oh God Almighty, as thou wilt."

- Lincoln: "She won't think anything about it," in response to his wife's questioning of what "Miss Harris would think of her hanging onto him so."

- Johnson: (Suffered a fatal stroke while writing addressing the popular - and historically correct - opinion that his failed Reconstruction policies were even greater failings compared to what Lincoln's would have been) "I was somewhat surprised when I received your account of VEEP Wilson's conversation with Governor Isham Harris and others in regard to what would have been the policy of President Lincoln, if he had lived. In your letter, you state that Wilson....."

- Grant: "I want nobody distressed on my account."

- Hayes: "I know I am going where Lucy is."

- Garfield: "This pain, this pain. Swaim, can't you stop this? Oh, Swaim.

- B. Harrison: "Are the doctors here? Doctors, my lungs..."

- Cleveland: "I have tried so hard to do right."

- McKinley: Whispered the tune "Nearer, My God, to Thee." Then, "We are all going, oh Dear."

- T. Roosevelt: "Please, put out the light."

- Wilson: "The machinery has just worn out. I am ready."

- Harding: "That's good. Go on; read some more."

- Coolidge: "Good morning."

- Franklin Roosevelt: "I have a terrific headache."

- Eisenhower: "I want to go; God take me."

- Kennedy: "That's obvious." In response to Nellie Connally's wife's remark "You can't say that Dallas doesn't love you today, Mr. President."

- Johnson: "Send Mike immediately."

LBJ died relatively quickly after he left office, and a lot of that can probably be traced back to a famous and personally respected, albeit tragic anecdote - "On Inauguration Day, Johnson saw Nixon sworn in, then got on a plane to fly back to Texas. When the front door of the plane closed, Johnson pulled out a cigarette - the first he had smoked since his heart attack in 1955. One of his daughters pulled it out of his mouth and said, 'Daddy, what are you doing? You're going to kill yourself.' He took it back and said, 'I've now raised you girls. I've now been President. Now it's my time!' From that point on, he went into a very self-destructive spiral."

- Reagan: All we know of Reagan's last minutes and even years is what Nancy and the rest of the family gathered by his bed-side described as a transcendental moment - Ravished by Alzheimer's and waking from a coma, he looked directly at his beloved "Mommy," smiled clearly, and passed away.

His last official contact with the American public is as poignant as it comes, will probably be housed in the National Archives someday, and serves as a fitting end to this entry.