John Adams and John Quincy Adams Father and son presidents John
Adams and John Quincy Adams were the first American presidents
with ties to the Netherlands. The elder Adams was a diplomat who
served as a representative to Congress in Europe and was
responsible for obtaining important loans from Amsterdam. He
later served as ambassador to the Netherlands and helped secure
the recognition of the United States as an independent
government at The Hague and negotiated a treaty of amity and
commerce with the Dutch. Adams’ residence in Amsterdam was the
first American-owned embassy on foreign soil anywhere in the
world. Adams oldest son and future president John Quincy spent
much of his youth with his father in the Netherlands and was
educated at Leiden University and was proficient in Dutch.
Martin van Buren The eighth president of the United States,
Martin van Buren, was the first president who was not of
English, Scottish or Irish descent. He also grew up speaking
Dutch, making him the only president whose first