New York Army National Guard honors President Martin Van Buren during community ceremony on Dec. 5

Major General Michel Natali presents wreath from President Joseph Biden at Martin Van Buren gravesite in Kinderhook

Kinderhook, New York (12/05/2023) — New York Army National Guard Maj. Gen. Michel Natali commemorated the 241st birthday of President Martin Van Buren on Tuesday, December 5, by laying a wreath from the White House at the eighth president's grave in Kinderhook.

The presentation of the wreath from President Joseph Biden marked the climax of a ceremony that featured wreath presentations from the Villages of Kinderhook and Valatie, the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, and the Friends of Lindenwald, a volunteer group which supports the historic site.

The New York Army National Guard also provided a color guard and honor cordon for the ceremony, along with a bugler to sound taps and military chaplain to open and close the ceremony.

In his remarks, Natali, the assistant adjutant, Army, for the New York National Guard, praised Van Buren, who served from 1836-1840, for his efforts to keep the United States from going to war with Great Britain over border disputes in Maine and individual American's support for a rebellion in Canada.

Van Buren also refused to support the annexation of Texas as a state in order to avoid war with Mexico, Natali noted.

Since 1967, the current occupant of the White House has sent wreaths to be presented at the gravesites of former presidents on their birthdays, Natali said.

The ceremony at the Kinderhook Reformed Cemetery, hosted by Kinderhook Mayor Michael Abrams, included remarks by Megan O'Malley, the superintendent of the Martin Van Buren Historic Site, and a presentation by children from Ichabod Crane Elementary School.

Van Buren, O'Malley said, was happy being at home in Kinderhook where he was born and grew up, she said. He would have appreciated a home grown ceremony like the one she was speaking at, she said.

The elementary school students gave a presentation about Martin Van Buren's life and sang happy birthday to the president.

"It was excellent to have the kids here," Natali said.

It's important to hold events like this to tie the legacy of the past together with the present, Natali said.

New York Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Alison Ogden, a member of the honor cordon, said she was proud to participate in the ceremony for the second time.

It is good for the military to be part of local events like this one, Ogden said.

Jane Miller, the president of the Friends of Lindenwald, said they appreciate the National Guard participating in the annual tradition in Kinderhook.

"We need to remember that our nation was shaped by people like Martin Van Buren," Miller said.

He was the son of a Dutch tavern owner who worked and studied hard to become a lawyer and the not become an important political leader, she said.

Van Buren was the first president born as an American citizen rather than a subject of the King of England. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as his first language, having grown up speaking Dutch, and the first president from New York.

Before running for president in 1836, Van Buren, a lawyer, served as a New York state Senator, attorney general, and governor of New York before becoming Secretary of State for President Andrew Jackson. Van Buren was elected as Jackson's vice president during Jackson's second term of office.

Shortly after taking office in 1837, an economic downturn known as the Panic of 1837 hit. Businesses closed, people lost their jobs, and the agricultural economy took a hit.

Van Buren ran for re-election in 1840 but was defeated by William Henry Harrison. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1844 but lost to James K. Polk.

In 1848, he was the unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Free-Soil Party, a group opposing an extension of slavery. That defeat marked the end of his political career.

Van Buren, known as Old Kinderhook because of his hometown, supposedly gave the English language the term OK. During his run for office, OK clubs were organized to support him. He also initialed papers with the letters OK to indicate he approved.

The two letters became another way to say something was good if it was OK.

He was considered a shrewd politician and used patronage and connections to make the Democratic Party a national party based on limited federal government and opposition to federal spending on internal improvements.

He was nicknamed the Red Fox of Kinderhook and the Little Magician because of his political acumen.

Eventually, he turned against slavery, opposing the entry of Texas into the Union during his term in office because he feared another slave state would destroy the delicate balance between slave and free states.

He died during in 1862 during the Civil War.

The New York Army and Air National Guard headquarters traditionally conduct the wreath presentations at the grave of President Chester A. Arthur in Menands, as well as that of President Martin Van Buren in Kinderhook. The New York Air National Guard's 107th Airlift Wing in Niagara Falls honors President Millard Fillmore.

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