Millard Fillmore: The Last Whig President Is Millard Fillmor…
Millard Fillmore: The Last Whig President
Is Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States, the least substantial of all the leaders in chief? Jared Cohen, author of Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America, has the reaction.
Script:
No one was more stunned than Millard Fillmore when the Whig Party chose him to be Zachary Taylor’s running mate in the 1848 election.
Working as the comptroller (basically the treasurer) of New York State at the time, Fillmore was well known in Washington. He had actually been a New York congressman for a years. Nevertheless the VP slot? Fillmore didn’t see it coming.
And he didn’t be reluctant to say yes when provided the task.
On the surface area, Taylor and Fillmore seemed an excellent fit.
Taylor had never run for optional office. He was the great hero of the Mexican-American War. When he wasn’t soldiering, he survived on a plantation in the Deep South.
Fillmore, a northerner, invested his specialist life in politics.
Both had really grown on the edge of the frontier. Both were completely self-made.
It was a marriage made in machine-politics paradise.
And it worked.
Well, to be more precise, it worked for Taylor.
It didn’t work for Fillmore.
When they won the 1848 election, Fillmore figured that as Vice President he could provide economically fulfilling federal tasks to his fans, securing his future as a significant force in New York and maybe even nationwide politics.
He also figured that with his understanding of Congress and his substantial experience in the political arena, he would be a counted on Taylor advisor.
He figured wrong on both counts.
Taylor offered him no access to patronage. He wasn’t thinking about increasing Fillmore’s career in New York or anywhere else.
And Taylor did not bring Fillmore into his inner circle. Taylor, the Southerner, accepted slavery (however, to his credit, he did oppose its spread to new states), while Fillmore, the Northerner, opposed slavery.
Fillmore made one more error.
He never ever thought Taylor would pass away in office.
After dedicating the base of the Washington Monument on a very hot, moist day, Taylor returned to the White House with heat fatigue. Over the next couple of days, Taylor’s health ended up being worse. The medical professionals, attempting all way of nostrums, consisting of bleeding him from the wrist, efficiently cured him to death.
Fillmore– thanks to the precedent John Tyler developed ten years before– suddenly found himself the thirteenth President of the United States.
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Is Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States, the least substantial of all the commanders in chief? Working as the comptroller (essentially the treasurer) of New York State at the time, Fillmore was well understood in Washington. Fillmore didn’t see it coming.
And Taylor did not bring Fillmore into his inner circle. Taylor, the Southerner, accepted slavery (though, to his credit, he did oppose its spread to new states), while Fillmore, the Northerner, opposed slavery.
Is Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States, the least considerable of all the leaders in chief? Working as the comptroller (essentially the treasurer) of New York State at the time, Fillmore was well understood in Washington. Is Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States, the least considerable of all the commanders in chief? Working as the comptroller (basically the treasurer) of New York State at the time, Fillmore was well understood in Washington. Fillmore didn’t see it coming.
