Martin Van Buren, born December 5, 1782, was the first U.S. President of pure early New Netherland settler descent, bringing their ideals and virtues to the White House.
Theodore Roosevelt, twenty-sixth President of the United States and member of The Holland Society of New York from April 1885 until he died on January 6, 1919, would have groaned had he been a witness to the first recorded public appearance of his immigrant ancestor, Nicolas Martens, because Nicolas was in the public eye for something the very antithesis of the famed Roosevelt motto to "Speak softly and carry a big stick."
In 1948 at the 63rd annual dinner of The Holland Society of New York at the Waldorf-Astoria, former President Herbert Hoover received the Distinguished Achievement Medal for his humanitarian efforts in front of 400 attendees.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States and former Governor of New York, died on April 12, 1945, at Warm Springs, GA. A renowned statesman and humanitarian, he had been a member of the Holland Society for thirty-five years.
