Book Reviews
by American Way Staff
The Remarkable Millard Fillmore: The Unbelievable Life of a
Forgotten President
By George Pendle
(Three Rivers Press, $10)
In real life, Millard Fillmore served as the 13th president of the
United States. Today Fillmore is thought of mostly as a joke, if he
is thought of at all. Part of the reason is his name - it sounds
funny in 2007. Another part of the reason is that Fillmore was
affiliated with the Whig political party, which expired soon after
his presidency ended (1853). Other reasons for his lack of
popularity include: (1) Fillmore is usually evaluated in the shadow
of President Zachary Taylor, who died in office during 1850, nearly
halfway through his term. Elected as Taylor's vice president,
Fillmore, a
Buffalo,
New York, politician-lawyer, became president
via the president's death, not through the ballot box. (2) Although
personally opposed to slavery, Fillmore tolerated it politically
because he feared a civil war if Northerners forced abolition on
Southerners. As a result, he is viewed, in retrospect, as something
of an unprincipled politician. (3) He ran for United States
president in 1856 on the American Party ticket, a movement
unfortunately nicknamed the Know-Nothing Party. He lost.
George Pendle uses the facts of Fillmore's life to write an
imagined biography, turning the dead president into a hero of
American history. Although Pendle's motivation for writing the
send-up is unclear, his book is a scathing satire of revisionist
history in general, and of presidential biography in particular.
Some readers are quite likely to chuckle or even to laugh out loud.
Others, who take American history and presidential biography at
face value, might puzzle about why an author would prick either. In
any case, the satire might have the effect - unintended or intended
- of driving readers to learn more about the real-life career of
Fillmore. - Steve Weinberg
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