Hello all, Eric Revenus with the most notorious podcast here. Each week I

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What would have happened without Daniel Tompkins?

We think of good looking TV-type candidates as a 20th or 21st century thing.

Kennedy stands out. But away, that makes no sense at all. People worried

simply ugly before who got into politics. In fact, in the 19th century,

politics were personal. It also mattered what one looked like. Now,

perhaps 19th century people didn't quite have the cult of personality of today.

The celebrity bug that's clearly part of American life. But there's no reason to think

that they dain't for ugliness either. Thus, Daniel D. Tompkins rose through New York

politics at a young age. Always describe as polished, handsome, a beauty even.

Painters notably Trumble captured the dashing young governor of the great empire state,

the state, and the man's career bursting, just like the opening of the eerie canal that so much

funded the state's progress. Yet, none of that about Daniel Tompkins is the flicker of history

about this vice president that anyone knows if they know it at all. If you know Tompkins at all,

a few New Yorkers may know Tompkins Square Park, or Tompkinsville, Staten Island. They may

figure it's named after somebody. And then if anyone knows more about Tompkins, it's bad.

That he was a drunk. And it's hard to argue with that.

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