Memorandum on Robert Smith
Happy Birthday to James Madison!
In April 1811, James Madison wrote a memorandum justifying the need for Secretary of State Robert Smith to resign. It included a long list of attacks including accusations that Smith was leaking intelligence to the British, that he lacked loyalty to the Madison administration, and just generally bad at his job by undermining and reversing the policies of James Madison on the eve of the War of 1812.
James Monroe replaced him as Secretary of State and Madison was able to have a more kindred spirit in international diplomacy.
(I clearly wrote this comic in parallel of the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, but there’s something amusing about posting this comic so much later in the day at the exact moment the news of the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is unfolding).
