Monday Mumblings Contemplates Millard Fillmore
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Julie Barrett
Monday, February 21, 2011
Today we celebrate Presidents' Day in the US. We used to celebrate George Washington's birthday on the 22nd of February. Lincoln's was the 18th, but never an official holiday. We all know George Washington crossed the Delaware River in order to defeat the British and become our first President*, so I suppose it was fitting that nearly 200 years later we stole the idea of the Monday bank holiday from the British and moved the celebration to the third Monday in February. We now call the holiday Presidents Day in order to honor all chief executives equally and cause unending confusion to grammarians everywhere.**
Rather than wax lyrical about Washington, I'm going to spend a few words on the most misunderstood president in our history, Millard Fillmore. With a name like that, he was bound to be misunderstood. While it's a myth that he installed the first bathtub in the White House, it's true that he was the last Whig president. The city in which I live was nearly named after Millard Fillmore. The stories vary, but essentially in order to get a Post Office, the settlement had to have a name. Apparently it was decided to name it after the president. Depending on which story you want to believe, the Post Office responded that there was already a town with that name or they were told they couldn't name the town after a presiding president. Or maybe it was just entirely too silly. The only reminders of that bit of town history are a couple of streets (one name Millard, another named Fillmore) and a pub.
Fillmore succeeded Zachary Taylor, who only served a year and a half or so before he died. This makes the alternate history buff in me drool. What would have happened had Taylor lived? What if Fillmore hadn't spearheaded a diplomatic effort to avoid a couple of nasty wars with foreign countries? That brings in the whole question of what would have happened in the South. Would the Union have stayed together longer or disintegrated sooner? Plenty of questions and no answers. Do I smell a book? Oh, there probably is one. What am I thinking?
Anyway, so today I honor the memory of Millard Fillmore. And if the pub hadn't been closed for lunch on Mondays I'd have raised a pint.
*Why yes, history books in Texas are watered down. Why do you ask?
**Both "Presidents" and "Presidents'" are correct, but you can get three "President's" for a dollar at the grocery store.
Filed under: Monday Mumblings Alternate History
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