She was the daughter of powerful Missouri politician Thomas
Hart Benton and was a savvy political operator who played
confidante and advisor to the inner circle of the highest
political powers in the country. He was a key figure in
western exploration and California’s first senator, and
became the first presidential candidate for the Republican
Party—and the first candidate to challenge slavery. Both
shaped their times and were far ahead of it, but most
extraordinarily their story has never fully been told.
Thanks in part to a deep-seated family quarrel between
Jessie’s father and the couple, John and Jessie were
eclipsed and opposed by some of the most mythic characters
of their era, not least Abraham Lincoln. Award-winning
historian Sally Denton restores the reputations of John and
Jessie and places them where they belong—at the center of
our country’s history.
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