By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
Equipped with just a sample of the collectible items he owns, historian Larry Cook spoke at the Manlius Library on June 9, sharing little-known facts and stories related to presidential history.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy formed an early childhood memory for Cook, who has spent his life immersed in research about the United States presidents.
Cook’s interest eventually snowballed into a collection of about 8,000 pieces of memorabilia and a close friendship with former president Jimmy Carter.
“I never thought when I was 16 years old watching the Carters on TV in Planes, Georgia, that they would be my friends,” Cook said. “You never know where life is going to lead you.”
At the start of his afternoon presentation, Cook showed the audience a wooden-framed lithograph dating back to 1845 that pays tribute to Andrew Jackson.
“Andrew Jackson was quite a unique character,” Cook said.
Cook said that Jackson joined the Continental Army at age 13 and was thrust into captivity as a prisoner of war under the British at age 14.
According to Cook, Jackson had been the first president at the center of an assassination attempt. The would-be assassin misfired his gun twice before being thwarted by frontiersman Davy Crockett.
Next Cook spoke on James Buchanan, presenting an envelope with a clipped signature from the 15th president.
“I love to talk about James Buchanan because you don’t hear a whole lot about him sometimes,” Cook said. “He gets kind of a bad rap. He was in just before the Civil War, and people feel he should’ve done more to avert that.”
Also noting Buchanan’s distinction as the only president from Pennsylvania and the only unmarried president, Cook focused in on Buchanan’s love affair with Ann Coleman, a relationship sabotaged by the young woman’s parents.
On the authority of rumors, Coleman’s mother intercepted letters from Buchanan while he had been away in Philadelphia, leading to trouble, the end of their engagement and Coleman’s downward spiral before her eventual drug overdose.
Despite the tragic turn of events, Cook said that Buchanan might never have run for office had he settled down with Coleman in Lancaster.
Cook also talked about Abraham Lincoln, showcasing a signed commission letter naming the president’s former personal secretary to the title of captain during the Civil War.
To the surprise of audience members, Cook revealed that none other than Edwin Booth—the brother of John Wilkes Booth—once saved the life of Robert Todd Lincoln, the president’s son.
Cook also displayed a laminated political cartoon about Grover Cleveland, a former Fayetteville resident known as a longtime bachelor.
Furthermore Cook detailed Cleveland’s ascension from mayor of Buffalo to governor of New York to two non-consecutive terms as a United States president, not to to mention his secret operation on a cancerous lesion while an occupant of the Oval Office.
In his roughly hour-long talk, Cook also touched on Theodore Roosevelt’s serious carriage accident and Ulysses S. Grant’s romanticism—Grant begged his cross-eyed wife not to obtain corrective surgery, as he didn’t want anything to happen to the eyes he fell in love with.
Cook ended his talk by sharing details on his close contact with Jimmy Carter, mentioning the 39th president’s recovery from a recent turkey hunting incident and his return to teaching Sunday school.
Explaining some backstories behind the Camp David Accords as well as days he has spent with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter (and their Secret Service agents), Cook exhibited signed items, up-close-and-personal pictures and a hand-crafted pitchfork from the Carters.
Before becoming a full-time historian, Cook served as the director of medical operations for the Manlius Fire Department. He has since been recognized as a life member.
Larry Cook’s new book, titled “Presidential Coincidences, Amazing Facts and Collectibles” can be purchased through his website larrycookhistorian.com.
