Actually, some of the letters do offer praise for writers’ successors-Ike says he “heartily” supported JFK’s Cuban policy-but the nasty letters are definitely more fun. John Adams on Thomas Jefferson: “He has honoured & salaried almost every Villain he could find.” Jefferson on Andrew Jackson: “He is one of the most unfit men I know of for such a place.” And Jackson calls William Henry Harrison “the present imbecile chief.” The display includes no criticisms of Clinton, perhaps because Bush says he will not openly criticize him for one year. But give him time.
