The "Dastard" Robert Randolph Releases the Genie

By By David Boozer

Somebody had to be the first and, in this case, it happened to be Robert Randolph. This former navy lieutenant holds the unwelcomed distinction of being the first person to attack a sitting U.S. president (some accuse him of attempting an assassination). Unfortunately, he chose the wrong president.

Many expected better from Randolph. He came from a politically powerful Virginia family. With great expectations, he joined the U.S. Navy, serving under some influential naval officers: Commodore Stephen Decatur, Commodore Charles Goodwin Ridgely, and John Timberlake. But after his appointment as purser on the USS Constitution in 1828, his life began to unravel. He was accused of committing fraud with naval funds, which resulted in an ugly scandal with larger political implications known as the Randolph Affair. Fortunately, the fraud case ended in December 1832 when the navy court of inquiry found that he had not committed fraud, in spite of not being able to account for $4,000. Unfortunately, President Andrew Jackson got involved. After closely following Randolph’s case for four years, Jackson used his powers as commander in chief to discharge the lieutenant from the U.S. Navy. Randolph didn’t take this well.

The former lieutenant waited for the right moment to exact his revenge, choosing May 6, 1833, while President Jackson waited to disembark a steamboat at Fredericksburg, Virginia. As the tall, gaunt president and his entourage sat around a table, Randolph came onboard, found the president, and struck him in the face. The blow was enough to bring blood. (Andrew Donelson, the president’s nephew and private secretary, was present and believed the attack was an assassination attempt.) The other men with the president intervened, sending Randolph fleeing. He escaped and Jackson chose not to immediately arrest him. But this did not mean Jackson had sympathy for him — far from it.

On April 3, 2014, Heritage Auctions will offer a letter written by an anonymous author dated May 9, 1833, (just three days after Randolph attacked Jackson) from Fredericksburg, Virginia, asking that Jackson forgive and forget his attacker. The boldness of the unknown author is remarkable: he argues that Jackson should forgive Randolph for several reasons, such as to ennoble him in the eyes of his countrymen and as a help to Randolph, who had no “means of support.” Reinstating Randolph in the navy would, the author reasoned, give “you an opportunity of exhibiting the noblest revenge of a noble nature of ‘doing good to those who despitefully use you.’. . . Reinstate him, I pray you.” The president was not at all persuaded.

The sixty-six-year-old whiskey-drinking Tennessean didn’t become president by being soft (during the attack he was still carrying a bullet in his chest from an 1806 duel) or forgiving toward his adversaries (he never forgave those who attacked his wife’s honor during the turbulent 1828 presidential campaign), and he wasn’t about to begin being either now. With his blood still boiling, he took up a pen and endorsed the anonymous letter in bold ink, “Such a dastard never ought to have been in the Navy he that has rob[bed]the dead, a brother officer, ought not to associate with the honest. he whowas patronised by the gallant [Stephen] Decatur & after his death had the meaness to traduce him# is unworthy of the countenance of any honest man — [signed] A. J. #Commodore Ridgely — [signed] A. J.”

Jackson was rightfully angry at the “dastard” Robert Randolph. But this was bigger than only these two men. Randolph had let the unwelcomed genie out of its bottle. Since that May 1833 day when President Jackson was attacked, there have been over twenty known attempts to assassinate a president or president-elect. Four have been successful (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy). President Jackson was even the victim of another, more dangerous assassination attempt two years later when his attacker aimed two pistols at him; both misfired. This time, Jackson was ready. He grabbed his cane and set upon the man, severely beating him. Since John Kennedy, every president except Lyndon Johnson has been threatened.

This anonymously written letter with an unequivocal response twice signed by President Jackson certainly has great historical significance. It will be offered along with many other historical manuscripts on April 3, 2014, at our April Manuscripts Auction #6113 to be held at 445 Park Avenue, 15^thfloor In New York City. A full preview will be available from March 31 through April 3. If you can’t make it to New York, you can still watch the auction live and bid using HERITAGE Live! This convenient platform has been the choice of over 24,000 bidders in the past twelve months alone.