Ah, the nineteenth century, when presidents were executives rather than emperors. (Well, excepting Lincoln.) -=Steve=-
Most libertarians like him because he only lasted one month, March 4, 1841 to April 4, 1841. After all, he who governs least governs best. Or something like that.
Millard Fillmore, 13th president of the United States, was born on January 7, 1800 and died on March 8, 1874. He served as president from July 9, 1850 to March 4, 1853.
Bruce: "...More importantly.....when is Millard Fillmore's birthday?" John: More importantly indeed. Can this be something else Bruce and I agree on? Johnny Carson always used to do some Fillmore shtick on that important day. Back in the days when we were having fun with the Millard Fillmore Institute (named in honor of the only president who had a policy of rejecting offers of honorary doctorates), we sponsored a contest on the topic, "How would the world be different, had it not been for Millard Fillmore?" We actually got a bunch of serious and semi-serious entries, generally on the theme of how Fillmore dithered so much on slavery issues that he may have delayed the Civil War by 5 or 10 years, thus making Lincoln possible. Others revived the story, first told by Mencken and not exactly true, that he was the one who installed indoor plumbing in the White House. (But he may have installed the first bathtub.) The winner was a short essay on how Fillmore sent Admiral Dewey to (as encyclopedias had it then) "open up Japan," and if it weren't for that, Japan might still be closed.
