- American Presidents of Dutch ancestry:
- Martin Van Buren – 8th President; key organizer of the Democratic Party; first president not of English, Irish, or Scottish descent. He also was the only president not to have spoken English as his first language – rather grew up speaking Dutch.
- Theodore Roosevelt – 26th President; was a Progressive reformer with a “cowboy” persona.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt – 32nd President; elected to four terms, the only president to be elected more than twice; ranked as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents. He was raised and lived in the Hudson Valley (Dutchess County).
- Dewitt Clinton – 1st Governor of New York and responsible for construction of the Erie Canal
- Eleanor Roosevelt – First Lady of the United States as wife to the 32nd President; advocate for civil rights, active in the formation of the United Nations; author and speaker.
- The Dutch were the first to acknowledge the independence of the United States in 1776 by saluting the American flag.
- The Hague (Netherlands) was the first American Embassy in the world
© 2009. Hudson River Heritage
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