From the time he left office in 1853, President Millard Fillmore has become increasingly shrouded in mystery and stereotyped by anecdotes with slender connections to facts. The real Fillmore was not the weak and boring figurehead many Americans believe he was.
This account of Fillmore’s life is drawn largely from his family’s personal papers, many of which have previously been suppressed or were unavailable or believed lost. It presents Fillmore as his own letters do, and as his friends, family members, and contemporaries saw him, as a distinguished and honorable man who was also a strong and effective president. This comprehensive work includes photographs, a genealogy of the Fillmore family, a chronology, a bibliography, and an index.

The late Robert J. Scarry was a high school American history teacher. He lived in Moravia, New York.

Robert J. Scarry
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 432
Bibliographic Info: photos, chronology, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010 [2001]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4340-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1398-7
Imprint: McFarland

Preface     1

Millard Fillmore’s Ancestors     5

Millard Fillmore Chronology     7

1 Fillmore’s Ancestors     11

2 Cayuga Roots     15

3 On the Road to Politics     26

4 The Assembly Years     36

5 The Young Congressman     46

6 Gaining Attention     55

7 The Election of 1840     64

8 The Fillmore Tariff     71

9 Interlude     80

10 State Comptroller     92

11 Loving Parents     98

12 Parental Advice     115

13 The Election of 1848     129

14 Taylor-Fillmore Inauguration     141

15 Vice-President     146

16 Battle Over Patronage     156

17 Frustration     160

18 A Strong President     168

19 The White House     187

20 Foreign Policy     203

21 Diverse Events     217

22 Election of 1852     231

23 Smooth Transition     237

24 Tragedy     244

25 Southern Journey     247

26 The Grand Excursion     255

27 Another Shock     263

28 A European Venture     267

29 The Election of 1856     274

30 Romance: Myth or Reality     290

31 Civil Disorder     303

32 Civil War     311

33 Distinguished Citizen     322

34 Into Obscurity     331

Epilogue     341

Appendix: Three Letters in Facsimile     345

Chapter Notes     347

Bibliography     409

Index     417

“meticulously researched…. This definitive life story will round out often-incomplete collections of presidential biographies”—Booklist.