This is John Batchelor, a wonderful observation by Myron Magnet of John Adams, who, you will recall, followed Washington to the presidency but did not win a second term. Why not? Well, there's lots of speculation, but one thing is certain. John Adams successfully maneuvered the XYZ affair, sometimes known as a quasi-war,

where the U.S. was doomed unless it stood up to France's bullying.

This is the Napoleonic era.

However, there was a way forward, and John Adams found it.

Too late for his election, as Myron explains.

Myron Magnet on John Adams, his successes, bequeathed to his successor, the people against him,

and he persevered.

More of this tonight.

Well, he doesn't know to whom yet.

This is another part of the interesting story.

All he knows is he lost and somebody else won.

But the point is, of course, that this treaty absolutely vindicates the whole central effort

of his presidency, which was to preserve peace so that trade could flourish so that the country could strengthen

so that it could be powerful enough to take on adversaries if it had to, but it wasn't,

it wasn't yet.

So that if he had been able to say, hey, look at here's the treaty.

There's no war after all. We didn't have to build up the

army. We won the quasi war. We got this treaty. We now have peace, as far as the eye can see.

If he had been able to do that while the campaign was going on, he had been able to say that,

he probably would have won a second

term, even though his cabinet conspired against him, even though the ultra-federalists

conspired against him and tried to elect Pinckney, he could have had a second term, but he did not.

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