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Franklin Pierce
1853 - 1857
Fourteenth President
Franklin Pierce was born in Hillsboro, New Hampshire on November 25, 1804.
Two months before his inauguration, the Pierce family was involved in a train wreck and their 11-year-old son, Benjamin, was thrown from the car and crushed to death before their eyes.
President Pierce did not use a bible to take the oath of office. He felt God had passed his judgement with the death of Pierce's son.
Franklin Pierce gave his inaugural address without notes. He gave the 3,319 speech from memory.
Franklin Pierce was arrested for running over a woman while driving his carriage in Washington, DC. The charges were later dropped.
Franklin Pierce served in the Mexican War.
When he took office, Pierce was the youngest and probably the handsomest president up to that time.
Franklin Pierce didn't have a Vice President. William Rufus DeVane King was elected VP, but died before assuming office, and was not replaced. He was the second President who didn't have a Vice President. Fillmore was the first.
He had a long battle with alcoholism. Heavy drinking over the years undermined his health.
President Pierce was the first president to have a Christmas tree in the White House.
Commodore Perry brought back two tiny "sleeve dogs" from Japan and gave them to President Pierce. The dog was small enough to sit on a saucer. The President kept one of the dogs and gave the other to Jefferson Davis. Davis later became president of the Confederacy.
He was the only president to not have any turnover in his cabinet.
His party did not nominate him for a second term.
Franklin Pierce died in Concord, New Hampshire on October 8, 1869. He was 64 years and 319 days old. He is buried in the Old North Cemetery in Concord, N.H.
Sources:
The Presidents of the United States. 22 September 2004 <http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/>
Davis, Gibbs and Ilus. David A. Johnson. Wackiest White House Pets. New York: Scholastic Press, October 2004
James, Barber and Amy Pastan. Smithsonian Presidents and First Ladies. New York: DK Publishing, 2002
Kane, Joseph Natan. Facts about the Presidents from Washington to Johnson. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1964.
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