A former Facebook executive says that for the company's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, one American president stands head and shoulders above the rest.
While traveling with his staff in Tokyo in 2014, Zuckerberg said the late President Andrew Jackson was the greatest president America ever had, Sarah Wynn-Williams wrote in her recently published memoir, "Careless People."
Wynn-Williams wrote that Zuckerberg admired Jackson for his ruthlessness and for being a populist and individualist who "got stuff done."
"What about Lincoln or Roosevelt?" Wynn-Williams recalled asking Zuckerberg then. In her book, Wynn-Williams didn't specify whether she was referring to President Theodore Roosevelt or President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"Wouldn't you say they got stuff done? Couldn't one of them be the greatest?" Wynn-Williams added, per her account.
"No," Zuckerberg was quoted as saying in response. "It's Jackson. It's not even close."
Wynn-Williams' book, released Tuesday, details her time working for Zuckerberg. The former New Zealand diplomat and international lawyer joined the company in 2011. She worked at the company — which is now called Meta — for about six years and became its director of global public policy.
A spokesperson for Meta told Business Insider that Wynn-Williams' employment was terminated in 2017 because of "poor performance and toxic behavior."
"This book is a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives," the spokesperson said of Wynn-Williams.
Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and won the presidency in 1828, securing both the electoral and popular votes.
The late president was a divisive figure. Jackson was a slave owner and enacted anti-Native policies, including the forced removal of the Cherokee from their lands.
But he's also revered as a military leader. Jackson was recognized as a war hero for defeating the British during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.
Jackson led the effort to decentralize America's banking system. In 1832, Jackson used his veto powers to dissolve the Second Bank of the United States, dismantling it in favor of smaller banks.
Interestingly, President Donald Trump also appears to be a fan of Jackson.
Trump placed a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office during his first term. And in 2016, he criticized the Treasury Department's decision to replace Jackson's portrait on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, an abolitionist.
"Well, Andrew Jackson had a great history, and I think it's very rough when you take someone off the bill," Trump said during a town hall event on NBC's "Today" show in April 2016.
"Andrew Jackson had a history of tremendous success with the country," Trump added.
Representatives for Zuckerberg at Meta didn't respond to a request for comment from BI.
