Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President

Rating:
Summary: Millard Fillmore: A President Redeemed
Review: History has portrayed Millard Fillmore as a weak and pompous president; when instead 'he possessed extraordinary strength of character and an enviable tenacity of purpose --as well as an admirable personality.' The cause for this discrepancy is because most history books have been based on the reports of his enemies, most notably Thurlow Weed and William Seward. Fillmore, who assumed the presidency upon Zachary Taylor's unexpected death, rose above factional politics, allayed sectional strife by promoting the Compromise of 1850 and was a respectable, if at times indecisive, president.

Rating:
Summary: Filling an important gap
Review: Milliard FIlmore served in interesting times. He lived duringt he time of the Whigs in american politics. He became an anti-mason candidate at one point which in itself was an american phenomenon. Fillmore is largely forgotten, he became president by accident. He finally became a Know-nothing candidate. In his many shades he was essentiallyn an American classic. During his tenure as president he gudied America in its pre civil war period trying to find compromise between the nroth and the South.

This odyssee through the odditites of American politics helps one relive america prior to the Civil War. A sluightly flat read, not very entertaining but interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Good Portrait of a Forgotten President
Review: Serving only two and a half years as president, it is not surprising that Millard Fillmore has been given short shrift among historians. This book helps history rediscover the importance of Fillmore's brief tenure. Fillmore assumed office with the country in turmoil over the question of extending slavery to the territories acquired after the war with Mexico. His predecessor, President Taylor, was presumably on an course which would have led to civil war in 1850. Fillmore carefully guided the country toward compromise and away from war. Although his enemies argue that there should be no compromise with slavery, Fillmore's prudent, but politically unpopular stance did preserve the union. Unfortunately, future presidents did not follow Fillmore's example and the country was split in two as a result of uncompromising sectionalism. This book is an excellent study of both President Fillmore and the rise and fall of the Whig Party. The book traces Fillmore's career along with the founding of the Whig party in New York as a protest again the secret organization of the Masonic Lodge, to the accession of a Whig president, to the party's degeneration into a nativist, secret organization of "Know-Nothings."