| Description | Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th President of the United States (1850–53), the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former U.S. Representative from New York, Fillmore was elected the nation's 12th Vice President in 1848, and was elevated to the presidency by the death of Zachary Taylor. He was instrumental in getting the Compromise of 1850 passed, a bargain that led to a brief truce in the battle over slavery. He failed to win the Whig nomination for president in 1852; he gained the endorsement of the nativist Know Nothing Party four years later, and finished third in that election. He is often considered to be one of the worst presidents, but some historians defend him as conscientious in enforcing the law and effective in resolving conflicts. Fillmore was the first president to return to private life without being independently wealthy or in possession of a landed estate, and at at that time presidents did not receive a pension. Millard Fillmore in Wikipedia |
