The childhoods of Alexander Hamilton and JD Vance were quite similar, and the similarities don’t end there. Both had the strong writing skills, energy, industry, and intelligence which led others to take them under their wings and advance their careers. Both had stints in the American military and became proponents of peace through strength, and both became huge proponents of American manufacturing as a key to America’s future prosperity.

Their Childhoods

Both spent their early years in households with mothers who were involved in affairs, even when living with someone else. Hamilton’s mother was even imprisoned by her second husband for adultery. Similarly, Vance’s mother had drug-addiction-related affairs with one man after another.

Both were rescued from their chaotic households when they were in their early teens, and then bloomed in their stable new households. Alexander was rescued (after abandonment by his supposed father James Hamilton, the death of his mother, and suicide by his guardian cousin) by the man who, according to Ron Chernow author of the biography Alexander Hamilton, was likely his real father.

Vance was rescued by his family-centered grandmother whose tough love gave him a sense of determination and responsibility. In his vice-presidential acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on July 18, he told how his tough grandmother had ended one of his friendships:

She once told me, when she found out that I was spending too much time with a local kid who was known for dealing drugs, that if I ever hung out with that kid again, she would run him over with her car and she said, “JD, no one will ever find out about it!”

Literary Skills

Both Hamilton and Vance were largely self-taught. They were voracious readers as children and then first became famous due to their strong writing skills.

Hamilton’s first published works were adolescent poems which appeared in his Caribbean island’s English-language newspaper. He became famous when his apocalyptic report of a hurricane hitting his island resulted in the island’s governor setting up a subscription fund to send him to North America for his education.

Vance’s excellent writing skills culminated when he wrote the best-selling book about his hardscrabble childhood. The book made him quite famous, especially after it was made into a Netflix movie.

Military Service

Both Hamilton and Vance served in the military as young men: Hamilton in the American army during the Revolutionary War, Vance in the U.S. Marines during the Iraq War.

Perhaps as a result of their war experiences, both came to favor peace through strength, Hamilton by building the strong Navy that President Jefferson dismantled (leading to the weakness which invited the War of 1812).

In his acceptance speech, Vance pledged that he and Trump would together secure peace through strength:

Together, we will make our allies share in the burden of securing world peace: no more free rides for nations that betray the generosity of the American taxpayer. Together, we will send our kids to war only when we must.

Personalities that Attracted Mentors

Both were characterized by their evident energy, cheerful brilliance, taking of responsibility, hard-working industry, and striving for excellence. As a result, throughout their lives mentors discovered them and advanced their careers.

The first of Hamilton’s mentors was his first employer, the owner of a shipping company. When this owner travelled to New York, he left Hamilton in charge of the entire local business.

Another of his early mentors on the island was preacher Henry Knox. Chernow wrote:

Knox must have marveled at his tremendous luck in discovering Hamilton. We do not know exactly how they met, but Knox threw open his library to this prodigious youth, encouraged him to write verse, and encouraged him toward scholarship…. In later years, Knox liked to remind Hamilton that he had been “rather delicate & frail,” with an “ambition to excel” and had tended to “strain every nerve” to be the very best at what he was doing.”

The most famous of Hamilton’s mentors was Geoge Washington for whom he became the indispensable right hand during the Revolutionary War and then as Secretary of the Treasury throughout Washington's eight-year presidency.

The first of Vance’s mentors was PayPal founder Peter Thiel, who inspired him to seek purpose in life during a lecture at Yale when Vance was a graduate student in law after graduating from Ohio State in just two years (instead of the usual four). In an article in a Catholic magazine, Vance wrote about how Thiel’s speech got him reading thoughtful writing about God:

Peter’s talk remains the most significant moment of my time at Yale Law School. He articulated a feeling that had until then remained unformed: that I was obsessed with achievement in se -- not as an end to something meaningful, but to win a social competition… [Thiel] was possibly the smartest person I’d ever met, but he was also a Christian. He defied the social template I had constructed -- that dumb people were Christians and smart ones atheists…

Thiel later employed Vance, wrote a short blurb for his book’s cover, helped fund his independent venture capital fund, introduced him to President Trump and strongly supported his run for the Ohio Senate.

Vance’s next mentor will likely be President Trump. Should they win the presidency and vice presidency together, Vance could end up being the most energetic, intelligent, and active vice president in history.

Promotion of American Manufacturing

Hamilton and Vance were both strong promoters of American manufacturing. Hamilton’s most famous work as Treasury Secretary was his 1791 Report on Manufactures which laid out how America could promote manufacturing.

Vance experienced the decline in prosperity and increase in addiction when Ohio factories shut down or moved abroad. During his acceptance speech he promised to promote American manufacturing so that American families with one income could afford to buy their own houses:

We’re done sacrificing supply chains to unlimited global trade, and we’re going to stamp more and more products with that beautiful label: “Made in the USA.” We’re going to build factories again, put people to work making real products for American families made with the hands of American workers. Together, we will protect the wages of American workers and stop the Chinese Communist Party from building their middle class on the backs of American citizens.

Though born more than two centuries apart, Alexander Hamilton and JD Vance share much in common, especially the positive personal attributes which attracted father-figure mentors to them, just as honey attracts bees. Those mentors took them from poverty to the heights of American government.

Howard Richman co-authored the 2014 book Balanced Trade published by Lexington Books, and the 2008 book Trading Away Our Future published by Ideal Taxes Association.

Image: JohnTrumbull/Gage Skidmore