Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the thirteenth President of the United States, serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the Whig Party to hold the nation's highest office. He succeeded from the Vice Presidency on the death of President Zachary Taylor, who died of acute indigestion, becoming the second U.S. President to gain the office in this manner. Fillmore was never elected President in his own right; after serving out Taylor's term he was not nominated for the Presidency by the Whigs in the 1852 Presidential election, and in 1856 he failed to win election as President as the Know Nothing Party candidate.

Later Life

Upon completing his presidency, Fillmore returned to Buffalo, where he served as chancellor of the University of Buffalo. As the Whig Party disintegrated in the 1850s, Fillmore refused to join the Republican Party; but, instead, in 1856 accepted the nomination for President of the Know Nothing, or American, Party. Throughout the Civil War he opposed President Lincoln and during Reconstruction supported President Johnson. He died at 11:10 p.m. on March 8, 1874 of the after effects of a stroke, with his last words alleged to be, upon being fed some soup, "the nourishment is palatable."

Related Topics:
Chancellor - University of Buffalo - 1850s - Republican Party - 1856 - Know Nothing, or American, Party - Civil War - President Lincoln - Reconstruction - President Johnson - Stroke

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To this day Millard Fillmore remains the last U.S. president who was neither a Democrat nor a Republican.

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The myth that Millard Fillmore installed the White House's first bathtub was started by H. L. Mencken in a joke column published on December 28, 1917 in the New York Evening Mail. See Bathtub Hoax for more. More factual is, having found the White House devoid of books, Millard Fillmore initiated the White House library.

Related Topics:
White House - Bathtub - H. L. Mencken - December 28 - 1917 - New York Evening Mail - Bathtub Hoax

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On January 7 each year a ceremony is held at his gravesite in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo.

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Cabinet

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Supreme Court appointments

Fillmore appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

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• Benjamin Robbins Curtis - 1851

States Admitted to the Union

• California – September 9, 1850