Thread by @NPRinskeep

A magazine in 1850 called John C. Fremont one of the world’s three most important historical figures since Jesus Christ. wsj.com/articles/imper…

The three important figures were a USA-focused list: Columbus, who connected Europe and the Americas; Washington, founder of a country that, for all its flaws, many saw as the light of the world; and Fremont, who added the “El Dorado” of California to that nation.

We would not likely put those names on such a list in 2020. The list does show how some Americans then viewed the narrative of their country’s westward expansion - and the extraordinary acclaim that John C. Fremont received by making himself a central character of the story.

What made him so famous? Partly it was his accomplishments: extraordinary journeys across thousands of miles, surmounting the Sierra Nevada in winter, seizing land the size of an empire from Mexico.

But the rest was brilliant public relations. His assignment for the US Army was to promote settlement of the West. In promoting the West, he promoted himself. And his chief promoter and political adviser was his wife, Jessie Benton Fremont.

Eventually he was so famous that he ran for president - and she was so well known it was almost like a husband and wife team were running. It’s a very modern story, just as modern America was taking shape.

You can find Imperfect Union here:
amazon.com/Imperfect-Unio…
And at many independent bookstores, such as these that sponsor events for me this week in Boston, Atlanta and DC:
harvard.com/book/imperfect…
acappellabooks.com/pages/books/22…
politics-prose.com/book/978073522…