After serving as president Franklin Pierce settled in his home state of New Hampshire. During the Civil War, President Pierce was known as a "doughface" which was a person who had southern sympathies but supported the fighting cause of the north. As a former member of the democratic party he did not support the policies of Republican President Abraham Lincoln. Publicly Pierce blamed Lincoln for causing the war and his fondness for liquer made his political situation even worse.
After Lincoln was murdered in April 14, 1865 a mob surrounded Pierce's home. To save his home he gave a impassioned speech to the crowd, urging them to disperse peacefully, and they did. Pierce died in 1869 and little has been written of him since. In 2009 the channel C-Span gathered several historians together and excluding President Obama, the station had them rank all 42 presidents. Lincoln was ranked first and Franklin Pierce was ranked 40th out of 42 presidents.
As a side note, Millard Fillmore ranked 37th out of 42 presidents.
Guess they were forgoetten.
Sources
http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/pierce/essays/biography/6
http://www.c-span.org/PresidentialSurvey/Overall-Ranking.aspx
1 comment:
"Pierce died in 1869 and little has been written of him since."
I'm doing my best to see that our 14th President, Franklin Pierce, is not forgotten.
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