Seeing Hillary Clinton looking old, tired and haggard this week got me thinking of past occupants of that office, especially the first, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was a fine writer and political philosopher and his credentials as a renaissance man are unassailable, but as Secretary of State he hit the low point of his career. As Benjamin Franklin's replacement as Ambassador to France Jefferson had done a fine job and was the natural choice to take the position. US foreign policy was simple then. We had to avoid war with both England and France. Only a few other countries mattered and none of them were likely to ask us for money or military help. It was an interesting time in both countries. France, still led by the hapless Louis XVI was going through governmental reforms and England's King George III was beginning to suffer his first bouts of madness. Jefferson spent his time squabbling with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, forming rival political parties that disagreed on everything. Jefferson's party favored close ties with France, Hamilton with England. Jefferson's bias may have been a factor in his complete failure to get desired concessions from them. The most notable diplomatic event of Jefferson's years as Secretary of State was a treaty with the Indians, and that was negotiated by Chief Justice John Jay. As for France, they executed Louis in January 1793, executed Queen Marie Antoinette soon after, kepth their young son Louis XVII prisoner and began killing everyone in sight in the fall. That would have been a good time for a Secretary of State with good connections in France to do something important. Instead he promptly resigned. George Washington was a hero, inspiring general and thoughtful leader, but in his second term as President things started going very wrong. Though thought to be above politics, he fell under Hamilton's influence, and after Edmund Randolph served a few useless months as Jefferson's replacement, Hamilton persuaded Washington to appoint Timothy Pickering. Pickering did Hamilton's bidding. John Adams retained him as Secretary of State and he undermined the Adams administration.
