THIS WEEK
On This Week with George Stephanopoulos one morning a few years ago, the question of the day for the panel was, Which American President was not a native English language speaker? I don’t think anyone got it, but the answer was Martin Van Buren, the nation’s eighth President. That clicked in my mind immediately as soon as I heard the name; as a fellow “Martin”, I had long admired him. He came from upstate New York and, on December 15, 1782, was baptized “Maarten Van Buren”, in the original Dutch spelling. His family spoke Dutch at home, as many did in the isolated communities in that part of the state. (September 2016) |