Melania Trump got dinged for being a lame First Lady. But those doing the dinging seem to have forgotten Jane Pierce, wife of Franklin Pierce, our fourteenth president (1853-1857).
Jane Pierce was the kind of First Lady who didn’t even attend her husband’s inauguration. In fact she didn’t show up at a White House function until the third year of her husband’s administration. She had her reasons though.
She was born Jane Appleton in Hampton, New Hampshire on this day in 1806. She is described as being petite, frail, shy, and melancholy. She was devoutly religious and loved literature. What she had in common with the charming and ambitious Franklin Pierce is a mystery.
He liked to drink. She supported the temperance movement. He was outgoing. She was reserved. Her family was opposed to the match because of his political ambitions. He was already a U.S. representative when they married in 1834 so she could not claim she didn’t know what she was getting into. They honeymooned in a boarding house in Washington, DC, a city she hated.
It is reported they were fond of each other, though they argued frequently, usually over Franklin’s career. After four years in Washington, Franklin did relent and they returned to New Hampshire. When the Mexican War broke out in 1846, He joined the army and attained the rank of brigadier general.
After the war, President Polk offered Pierce the job of attorney general, but respecting Jane’s wishes, he turned the position down. He also declined offers to become a U.S. senator and governor of New Hampshire.
When he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for president in 1852, Jane was blindsided. There was less of a to-do about the nominating process back then and Jane did not follow the political news. She reportedly fainted when she heard the news of Franklin’s nomination.
Jane was a dutiful wife and would have taken up her role as First Lady, but two months before the inauguration, their 11 year old son Benjamin was killed in a train accident. Their only two other children had died previously from illnesses. Jane took her son’s death as God’s punishment for being involved in politics.
Jane was never the same after Benjamin’s death. She retreated to the second floor of the White House where she wrote letters to Benjamin. She perked up a bit during the second half of their time in Washington, performing her duties as hostess.
These were difficult times for the country as well as for Jane. The country was divided between those who wanted to expand slavery into the new lands won from Mexico and those who wanted to confine slavery to the South.
Pierce lacked the skill to reconcile the forces that would lead in a few years to the Civil War. At the end of his term, the Pieces travelled in Europe for three years. Jane died of tuberculosis in 1863 in the middle of the Civil War. She was 57.
How does she compare to her successor? Well James Buchanan was a bachelor, so taking that into consideration she looks pretty good
There you go. Obviously, had Buchanan a wife, he would've developed a strong viewpoint, one way or another, whether or not it was his own, and created a real legendary name for himself -- other than Buchanan Bachelor For Life, and married a good-hearted woman "loving a good-timing man who loves him despite of his wicked ways . . ." You know, like President Clinton.
ReplyDeleteAs it is nobody remembers the bloke.
LOL. :) Good response, WW.
DeleteNice to have some political, blast-from-the-past gossip. We don't shine enough light on first ladies; they should be granted a high political office just for enduring the role which appears to be an outdated paradigm from the 19th century. But can they really do anything about their predicament? The white knight always needs his lady demurely by his side. Mrs. Clinton the exception.
ReplyDeleteBTW, when you say, "the Pieces travelled in Europe," I must inquire: which pieces?