Happy Burr-thday, Aaron
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Aaron Burr's birthday on Feb. 6 still isn't a work holiday.
But if Gene Buck has his way, America's third vice president will get a little more recognition.
Buck, a retired graphic artist, is the founder of the Seattle-based Aaron Burr Accord, which claims about 350 members nationwide.
"There're a lot of Burrites around still, but it's not the popular thing to be — as much as it was when Burr was alive," Buck says dryly.
Maybe it's because "Burrites" looks too similar in print to "burritos."
"Maybe so," Buck admits.
"He (Burr) has quite a history," Buck explains. "He's an enigmatic person, I've found. Some people consider him a scalawag, a traitor. Other people consider him — well, not a saint, but someone who did all kinds of things."
Briefly: Burr narrowly lost the presidential election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson and then became Jefferson's vice president. But he's infamous for a duel four years later in which he killed Alexander Hamilton (whose face is on $10 bills), and his trial and acquittal for treason.
The Aaron Burr Accord is not to be confused with the Aaron Burr Association in Annandale, Va. (Buck said he chose his group's name so it would come first in listings.)
Like most historical societies, Buck's honors, researches, seeks recognition for and kind of fetishizes its object. For instance, Buck is currently seeking a publisher for "My Burr Book," which has a different Burr-related fact for each day of the year.
But for several years now, Buck has also quixotically pursued two missions: Getting Burr's face on a postage stamp (which he designed), and finding out whether Burr sired Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States. Buck is also "chairman of the DNA steering committee" of the Aaron Burr Accord.
"We want the bodies dug up because we want to see whether or not Burr was the father of Martin Van Buren. We just hope someone will say, `Hey, that is a good idea. Let's do it.'"
So far, no luck on either front. Buck has gone up and down the political and bureaucratic food chains, including writing to both presidents named Bush. Does he even think George W. knows who Burr was?
"Well, Cheney can tell him," Buck shoots back.
Gore Vidal suggested that Burr may have been Van Buren's pop in his book, "Burr."
"I wrote to him once and he didn't write back," Buck says.
But he maintains a healthy sense of humor, and says he enjoys putting a burr under people's saddle.
"The organization can last forever, as long as we're promoting the stamp," he jokes. "But if we're successful, we have to disband."