Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren was an American lawyer, diplomat, and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he served as New York's attorney general and U.S. senator, then briefly as the ninth governor of New York before joining Andrew Jackson's administration as the tenth United States secretary of state, minister to Great Britain, and ultimately the eighth vice president when named Jackson's running mate for the 1832 election. Van Buren won the presidency in 1836 against divided Whig opponents. Van Buren lost re-election in 1840, and failed to win the Democratic nomination in 1844. Later in his life, Van Buren emerged as an elder statesman and an important anti-slavery leader who led the Free Soil Party ticket in the 1848 presidential election.

5 December 1782

Born on the same birth day (5 December): Andy Kim (singer) • Bhumibol Adulyadej • Boris Ignatyev • Cam Fowler • Carrie Hamilton • Doctor Dré • Ellis Parker Butler • George Armstrong Custer • George Shepherd (artist) • Giuseppe de Majo • Hans Hellmut Kirst • Hilary Koprowski • Jacopo Sala • Jeroen Krabbé • Jessica Paré • José Cura • Konstantin Korovin • Marcus Daly • Matthew Taylor (political strategist) • Montee Ball • Pieter Oud • Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer • Zbigniew Oleśnicki (cardinal)

Born in the same month (December 1782): Philaret Drozdov • William Armstrong (Virginia politician)