Old Hickory

Four key incidents in the public life of Andrew Jackson (1767-1845),seventh President of the United States. We watch him win the Battle of New Orleans in 1812 after an alliance with pirate Jean Lafitte. Later, political enemies slander his wife to coax Jackson into a duel with a crack shot: from her sickbed, she demands he promise not to fight. At his inauguration in 1829, plain folk are invited to celebrate. The film ends with a close look at a crisis early in his presidency: the threat by South Carolina (and his own Vice President, John Calhoun),to secede in a dispute over tariffs. This southern President confounds his allies, choosing the union over parochial economics. Written by