| Millard Fillmore - Biography of a President (1959) |
| Front Cover | Book Details | ||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notes/Review |
| Bookseller: The Bookroom Purchase Method: Visa Payment Processed By: Abebooks Bookseller Book No.: 9091 Price: US$ 45.00 Book Description: Clean and tight. Former owner's name on the front endpaper. Total Book Price: US$ 45.00 Updated Shipping: US$ 4.00 Updated Total Order Amount: US$ 49.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fillmore was one of our most obscure Presidents. Nobody I know knows anything about him. Heck, he's so obscure nobody even thinks to ask people what they know about him. I often find it difficult to select a good whole life biography when I decide to read about a President. In this case, it was a relatively easy task as there really is no choice. Fillmore was named Taylor's running mate in an attempt to give the ticket wider appeal. The two men had no common history. Almost immediately, Fillmore was pushed into the background by the machinations of his lifelong rival Thurlow Weed. When Taylor died, he basically had to build his government from scratch - he asked his cabinet to serve a month but they all quit within a week. Rayback does a good job detailing the main accomplishment of Fillmore's administration - the Compromise of 1850. He covers Fillmore's place in Buffalo society both before and after he was President. Fillmore was instrumental in the genesis of Buffalo's public library, art museum, hospital, and university. The book also serves as a pretty good history of the Whig party. Fillmore is typically though of as an appeaser of slavery. Rayback makes the case that the most important thing for Fillmore was the Union. He was against anything that threatened it, and Rayback ably presents Fillmore's case that his course was best. |