Gibson Guitars Honors Andrew Jackson with a New Line

A 273-year-old tulip poplar on the grounds of President Andrew Jackson's home in Hermitage, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, which was felled by a tornado in April of this year has been given new blossom as a guitar line. The new guitars are being inlaid with the words "Old Hickory"--Jackson's nickname.

Vice President Al Gore, who was on hand for the unveiling Sunday July 12. said, "I would like to thank Gibson guitars for turning the debris of devastation into beautiful instruments of inspiration." More than 1200 trees were felled when a tornado struck the Hermitage April 16. Gibson plans to make 200 guitars out of the tree. The Smithsonian Institution will be given the first, the rest going on sale for a price yet to be determined.

(Editorial comment: We agree with Al Gore that "inspiration" is a proper motive for making instruments of music, but we find Andrew Jackson to be perhaps one of the least inspirational subjects for such an endeavor. As the father and "inspiration" of the historic Trail of Tears in which he forced thousands of Indians to be deprived of their homes and land and forced on a death-and-disease-filled march to Oklahoma, we feel that it is disappointing that the tornado didn't completely wipe out all memory of him.

To have linked him with an instrument that is intended to uplift and heighten the spirit is a sad paradox that should never have happened. Jackson was no hero. He wasn't an inspired leader who followed the high road; he was a base and mean political opportunist who played to the prejudices of his day.

We wonder what Gibson was thinking.)