Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) became the 13th President upon the unexpected death due to illness of President Zachary Taylor in 1850. He served as the president from 1850-1853. Fillmore admitted California as a state as part of the Compromise of 1850, sent Commodore Perry to Japan, and was president during the Gold Rush to California. Fillmore was the last Whig to hold the presidency, and he failed in his presidential candidacy in 1856 as the nominee of both the Know Nothing (American) Party and the Whig Party. The Whig Party did not even nominate him for reelection in 1852.

On July 10, 1850, Fillmore declared, "I dare not shrink; and I rely upon Him who holds in His hands the destinies of nations to endow me with the requisite strength for the task." He is considered by many to be one of the greatest American Presidents.

Fillmore also stated in his Annual Message of 1852, "We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the Constitution and Government ... bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit ... to our children."

Mencken's "Bathtub hoax"

In 1917, the acerbic journalist H. L. Mencken published a newspaper article that claimed to be a history of the bathtub. Among other things, it stated that initially there was widespread public opposition to bathtubs; that Millard Fillmore ordered the first bathtub installed in the White House; and that his support of the invention helped to popularize it. The article was completely false from beginning to end, but was widely believed and the "fact" about Fillmore made its way into many reference books.

See also

• Mallard Fillmore, conservative-themed newspaper comic strip by Bruce Tinsley