David’s review of Millard Fillmore: Biography Of A President > Likes and Comments

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Know-Nothings

At the beginning of his career, Fillmore opportunistically joined the Anti-Masonic party, a fringe movement driven by hysteria and conspiracy theories.

With the collapse of the Whigs, most of the Southerners went to the Democrats, the new Republican Party was absorbing most of the Northern Whigs, but another fringe movement driven by hysteria and conspiracy theories was turning into a new third party: the "Know-Nothings."

The Know-Nothings (so-called because they met in secret, exchanged secret signs and handshakes, and when asked about the party claimed to "Know nothing about it") were a nativist movement opposed to the new wave of European immigrants, and especially Catholics. Officially they were the "Native American Party" and then just the "American Party."

Fillmore, never particularly religious, never particularly anti-immigrant, and never indicating he had feelings one way or the other about Catholics, mouthed the right words to join the Know-Nothings and became their presidential candidate in 1856. He campaigned on the American Party ticket while barely ever mentioning immigration or Catholics. (His running mate, Andrew Donelson, was the nephew and one-time campaign manager of former President Andrew Jackson, the great arch-nemesis of the Whigs.)

While Fillmore had the respect of many Whigs, most of his former allies regarded the Republican Party as an existential threat (as indeed, it was). Arguing that Fillmore couldn't win and they had to stop the anti-slavery Republican candidate John C. Fremont no matter what, they threw their support behind the Democrats. Fillmore's American Party still won a respectable 21% of the popular vote; not enough to save the country from what would be the disastrous presidency of James Buchanan.

Elder Statesman

Fillmore retired to Buffalo, where his concerns about supporting himself were addressed by marrying a rich widow. The two of them became the center of Buffalo high society, and Fillmore settled into a fairly respectable model of an ex-President, very active in civic activities and supporting libraries, schools, hospitals, even a humane society, in Buffalo.

During the Civil War, he supported the Union, but his old instincts towards "compromise" above all else once more got him into trouble. He did not like or trust the Republican administration, and while the war was going poorly for the Union and Lincoln was insisting on unconditional surrender, Fillmore delivered an ill-timed speech criticizing the progress and expense of the war and urging reconciliation and forgiveness of the secessionists.

This got him labeled (unfairly) as a "Copperhead" and for a while he was the target of nasty editorials all over the North. Fortunately, the country had bigger things to worry about than an elderly ex-President in Buffalo, and his reputation recovered. When Abraham Lincoln took a pass through Buffalo during his reelection campaign, Fillmore received the President at his home. What the two men said to each other is not recorded.

Fillmore was instrumental in establishing the University of Buffalo. Initially it consisted only of a medical school, and while during his lifetime he tried to expand it to add a liberal arts college and law school, this didn't happen until long after his death.

In a final, ironic episode, Fillmore had one last meeting with his old frenemy, Thurlow Weed. Fillmore ran into Weed's daughter by chance, asked her if her father would be amenable to meeting with him, and the two old political rivals, despite not having spoken to one another in over twenty years, had a cordial afternoon reminiscing about old times in Weed's quarters. Fillmore left feeling like bygones were bygones - unaware that Weed would screw him over one more time in his autobiography, in which he very much did not let bygones be bygones in his malicious appraisal of Fillmore and his presidency.

Fillmore was healthy until his death by stroke in 1874, at the age of 74.

Reviewing Fillmore and this biography

Millard Fillmore falls into the category of "Presidents less interesting than their times," and that only barely. He wasn't the worst president, but came nowhere near being one of the better ones. Reading this biography, like many previous ones, did not fill me with a new found appreciation of Millard Fillmore, but it did fill in a lot of blanks concerning American politics in the 19th century, and in particular, the many complex political factors that were in motion for decades prior to the Civil War.

This book was written in 1959. It's dense and dry and wordy, and Rayback's prose is not exactly mellifluous. He's wordy and praises almost every decision Fillmore made, even the questionable or bad ones.

I can't say whether a more critical biography would have been a better read. I wouldn't really recommend this book except to a historian researching the time period or someone who is, like me, proceeding through presidential biographies and wants to do them on HARD MODE. But having read it, I'll bet I now rank among the top 1% of Americans in knowledge of Millard Fillmore!

In this review, I've bashed my man Millard quite a bit for his, um, flexible principles. Today, of course, any historical figure who wasn't wholeheartedly anti-slavery tends to be viewed in a dim light, but I am generally willing to give a "man of his time" pass. That said, I am less willing to give a pass to someone who repeatedly mouthed words about fairness and generosity but never actually took a principled stand, and was willing to ally himself with literally anyone who'd help him win.

Rayback's biography, being so concerned with presenting Fillmore as a great guy, did succeed in giving a pretty good impression of what he was like as a man: cordial, pleasant, kind in person, probably wonderful dinner company. He was a nice man. But nice isn't always good. Did he ever regret siding with the Anti-Masons, the slaveholders, or the Know-Nothings? Rayback does not tell us he did.

So, I don't feel like it's a tragedy that he doesn't even have a high school named after him.

Kind of a proto-LBJ?

I don't know about that - they were very different in temperament. LBJ was boisterous and bullying, Fillmore was very polite and agreeable. They both had very flexible principles, and they both did a lot of backroom dealing, but LBJ was more willing to play dirty, and better at actually getting what he wanted. LBJ had charisma, and also lied shamelessly, whereas Fillmore was honest but didn't have much personality.