Posted on 11/23/2004 9:38:06 PM PST by Borges
Franklin Pierce birthday celebrated
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Tuesday is the 200th birthday of the only U.S. president from New Hampshire, and the state’s Historical Society is throwing a party, complete with cake, and history.
In his lifetime, President Franklin Pierce was written off as a failure. And through the years, scholars dismissed Pierce, who served from 1853 to 1857, as a weak, ineffectual leader who was wrong on the overriding issue of his time: slavery.
"He was often treated by the majority of people in New Hampshire like that crazy uncle you lock in the attic and you don’t want to talk about," said Jayme Simoes, president of the Franklin Pierce Bicentennial Commission, which planned events commemorating the bicentennial of Pierce’s birth.
The events have included a seven-part exhibit featuring his clothes, furniture and documents, forums on the issues of his day, concerts and an 1850s-era ball.
"At a time when so many Americans know so little about their own nation’s past, the bicentennial of Pierce’s birth is a new opportunity to reopen the book on the enigma of a president and who we are as a nation," Simoes said.
Pierce’s big concern was preserving the union, an ideal he had in common with many politicians, including Abraham Lincoln, said Wesley Balla, curator of the Pierce exhibit. So he took a middle-ground stand on many issues.
Balla said he tended to view Pierce as "really flat" before he got involved with the exhibit. Today, he has a greater respect for what was motivating Pierce, that "we were a young nation ... something that was hard-won and needed to be preserved and nurtured and not torn apart by differences."
According to the Bicentennial Commission, Pierce was the only president to have said "I promise" instead of "I swear" at his inauguration and was the first to have a Christmas tree in the White House.
The exhibit, Franklin Pierce: Defining Democracy in America, explores his life, times and legacy through more than 100 objects, paintings, photographs and documents.
The birthday party will be Tuesday noon to 1 p.m. at the Historical Society’s Tuck Library in Concord. In addition to cake, the society will offer a tour of highlights of the Pierce exhibit.
Being a born and bred Na Hampsha native, I can say in all seriousness that my family had one, maybe two, of those, too...
Thank you so much for this. When I was in Middle School, we were all given a President to do a report on. Mine was Franklin Pierce, so I've always had a special interest in him. In all honesty, I didn't know he was the first President to have a Christmas tree at the White House. I don't know how I missed that. But at least my report was three pages long. The boy who did a report on Abe Lincoln had half a page.
Of all the past historical presidents, there's probably very very few I loathe more then Pierce.
Isn't he the ancestor of Barbara Bush, the mother? So, it makes W his descendant as well...
I'm sorry you see him in that light! Because our current President and family are related and descended from him through wife/mother, Barbara(Pierce)Bush! If you ever see a portrait of him; look, and you can see a resemblance between him, and his present-day relatives!
By the way; why is it that you loathe him? I've heard that he might not have been the strongest pres.. However, he was a veteran of the Mexican War, and was wounded. Surely, there must've been something he did right?
As is stated above, he was a strong supporter of keeping the country together as a union. And that was something that deeply concerned the Founding Fathers. They were worried that someday, there could be a conflict that would divide the nation, and it did happen!
When I was a kid, I did a paper on him. The more I researched him, the more I hated him. I got the idea to do a project on him based on the story of the tradegy of one of his sons who died before Pierce was sworn in. I would later realize that after that turning point he would become something of a monster to all who knew him.
Pierce believed it was a punishment from God (his wife thought it was a message from god, and a way for Pierce not to be distracted). Pierce decided to hold a grudge against God. Strange as that may sound. He became a full fledged alcoholic (no president, before or after, ever became as consumated with the bottle as he, including Grant).
His pro-slavery views started to form around this point, despite having come from the whig party and the anti-slavery faction no less. Not only did Pierce become pro-slavery, he wanted to spread it, far and wide. He repulsed his own party, and even came across as bitter to his opponents. It was the equivalent of going from pro-life to pro-abortion, to openly encouraging abortion and trying to evangalize it.
After Pierce left office, he remained bitter, and angry, at the party he destroyed, his remaining family, God himself, and anyone he came into contact with. While he had started out a fine man and a patriot, he turned into something hidious. He was not nominated again (though he was the incumbant), and considered revolting as a person by many if not most. Even the southern dems considered him heinious. At the end of his days, all who knew him, refused to be near him, especially when he was drunk (which was 24/7, interesting famous quote and Pierce was asked what he would do after he left office, he answered "drink, there's nothing else to do").
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