President John Q Adams
Colette Watts
As James Monroe’s secretary of state, John Quincy Adams demonstrated a high aptitude for the formulation of foreign policy. But his abrupt and unbending ways were ill-suited for the presidency. Worse yet, his call for various kinds of ambitious federal programs of various kinds was out of step with the prevailing mood in Congress, and Adams left the White House in 1829 with few of his measures realized.