MARTIN VAN BUREN, 8th, 1837-41

Martin Van Buren's soldierly posture, immaculate grooming, and bright red hair made him appear taller than his 5 feet 6 inches. He was trim and slender until age sixty. Afterwards, he wore a corset to maintain an illusion of slimness. So skilled was he in political manipulation that he earned the nickname, the "Little Magician."

Van Buren made no secret of his life's ambition. He wanted to become president, calling that office "the glittering prize" and "my most earnest desire."

He was the first of only five presidents not of British descent. He is also the only president for whom English was not his first language. He grew up speaking Dutch.

At twenty-four he eloped to marry his childhood sweetheart and maternal cousin, Hannah Hoes. Little is known of Hannah but that she died on February 5, 1819, of consumption. Van Buren omitted all mention and even her name from his 800-page autobiography.

An 1828 description reads: "Mr. Van Buren was rather an exquisite in appearance. His complexion was a bright blond, and he dressed accordingly. . . . His cravat was orange with modest lace tips; his vest was of a pearl hue; his trousers were white duck; his shoes were morocco; his neatly fitting gloves were yellow kid; his long furred beaver hat with a broad brim was of a Quaker color."

When Van Buren was president, the city of Washington had a population of about forty thousand. Pigs and chickens roamed the streets at will; slaves were sold openly; the terrain was swampy, malaria-ridden and crisscrossed by cow paths and open sewers. Elegant Van Buren rolled around Washington in a magnificent olive-green coach with silver-mounted harness and liveried footmen.

In 1840, Congressman Charles Ogle of Pennsylvania suggested Van Buren's taste for fine food showed a soft, indulgent character and a disregard for common people. Ogle maintained that the portly Van Buren had gained weight at public expense by routinely eating off gold plate in the executive mansion.

"Blue Whiskey Van," named so because of his heavy drinking, became comatose on July 21 and died three days later.

d. July 24, 1862 (Kinderhook, New York), at 79, of asthma.