Franklin Pierce Video & Book Review
I found this interesting three minute video about Franklin Pierce, who is one of my favourite obscure Presidents. The video is a narration of Pierce's life by Shannon Berry, one of his biographers. Some people rate him as one of the worst, but that's not a unanimous opinion. The video is only 3 minutes long, check it out:
While we're on the subject of Pierce, below is a book review I wrote of Gary Boulard's brief biography of Pierce's post-presidency entitled The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce. I entitled the review "Sympathy for a Non-Devil."
"Franklin Pierce is vilified in history for being too much of an enabler of slavery, too sympathetic of southern interests and too damaged a human being to be an effective president. In this concise yet captivating history, Gary Boulard paints a picture of a much different man: likable and genial, principled, and with a solid vision dedicated to keeping the union together. Pierce is presented as someone not afraid to swim upstream politically. His vision is in stark contrast to that of Abraham Lincoln, and in fact Lincoln is portrayed as an enemy of civil liberties, intent on rushing the nation into a bloody civil war. Pierce's vision in contrast is presented as one in which slavery eventually dies by attrition while the nation remains united. Whether it is revisionist history bent on making Pierce look heroic, or whether it is an uncovering of the true state of political affairs in the 1860s is hard to tell, although the author does an excellent job of providing reference sources for his claim. The book does little to explore the affect that the tragic death of his last child had on Pierce, or about reputed stories of Pierce's alcoholism, but despite this, it is a fascinating read with considerable detail that provides seemingly reliable insight into the ex-President's innermost thoughts on the troubling issues of his day. For me, reading this book raised my estimate of Franklin Pierce and called for a reconsideration of the relegation of his place in presidential history. Was Pierce incompetent, misguided or just plain wrong, or was he a voice of reason at a time when dissent was being discouraged in the strongest possible manner? I highly recommend this book for any student of history open to another point of view and to giving consideration to challenging mainstream history."
Another one of the reviewers came up with a better title. He called it "Ode to a Beautiful Loser."
While we're on the subject of Pierce, below is a book review I wrote of Gary Boulard's brief biography of Pierce's post-presidency entitled The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce. I entitled the review "Sympathy for a Non-Devil."
"Franklin Pierce is vilified in history for being too much of an enabler of slavery, too sympathetic of southern interests and too damaged a human being to be an effective president. In this concise yet captivating history, Gary Boulard paints a picture of a much different man: likable and genial, principled, and with a solid vision dedicated to keeping the union together. Pierce is presented as someone not afraid to swim upstream politically. His vision is in stark contrast to that of Abraham Lincoln, and in fact Lincoln is portrayed as an enemy of civil liberties, intent on rushing the nation into a bloody civil war. Pierce's vision in contrast is presented as one in which slavery eventually dies by attrition while the nation remains united. Whether it is revisionist history bent on making Pierce look heroic, or whether it is an uncovering of the true state of political affairs in the 1860s is hard to tell, although the author does an excellent job of providing reference sources for his claim. The book does little to explore the affect that the tragic death of his last child had on Pierce, or about reputed stories of Pierce's alcoholism, but despite this, it is a fascinating read with considerable detail that provides seemingly reliable insight into the ex-President's innermost thoughts on the troubling issues of his day. For me, reading this book raised my estimate of Franklin Pierce and called for a reconsideration of the relegation of his place in presidential history. Was Pierce incompetent, misguided or just plain wrong, or was he a voice of reason at a time when dissent was being discouraged in the strongest possible manner? I highly recommend this book for any student of history open to another point of view and to giving consideration to challenging mainstream history."
Another one of the reviewers came up with a better title. He called it "Ode to a Beautiful Loser."