Presidents in Retirement: Franklin Pierce
It's almost a certainty that Franklin Pierce was an alcoholic. He died from cirrhosis of the liver, and he is quoted as saying "after being President, there's nothing left to do but get drunk." Whether this quote is authentic or apocryphal, the sentiment expressed in it appears to match Pierce's post-presidential life.
Pierce certainly had his crosses to bear, ones that would make many people in his circumstances turn to the bottle. He had three sons, all of whom died in infancy. His son Benjamin (known as Benny) died horribly when the train that was carrying Pierce to Washington for his inauguration derailed and the child was decapitated in the crash, in front of his parents' eyes. Pierce's wife Jane believed this to be a punishment from God because of her husband's political ambition. Pierce stopped believing in God and took the presidential oath of office on a law book instead of on a bible. Then as President, Pierce was highly unpopular because of his undemocratic support of pro-slavery forces in Kansas and Nebraska, as well as a botched plan to annex Cuba that he was associated with. He left office unpopular and unhappy.
After leaving the White House, the Pierces remained in Washington for more than two months, staying with former Secretary of State William Marcy. Pierce's successor, James Buchanan, replaced all his Pierce's political appointees. The Pierces moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where Pierce had begun to speculate in property.
Seeking warmer weather, and perhaps an escape from political unpopularity, Pierce and his wife Jane spent the next three years traveling. This began with a stay in Madeira, followed by tours of Europe and the Bahamas. In Rome, Pierce visited his longtime friend, the famed author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The two men spent much time together and the author reported that Pierce was in good spirits.
Although Pierce never had his sights set on the Presidency again, he still kept an interest in politics back in the United States. He took notice of the nation's growing sectional conflict, but he blamed northern abolitionists for the conflict. He predicted that if civil war broke out it would "not be along Mason and Dixon's line merely, but within our own borders in our own streets". He was critical of the New England Protestant ministers, who supported abolition and of Republican Party candidates, whom he accused of "heresy and treason". Republicans had attacked Pierce for his pro-slavery policies, and during the Lincoln Douglas debates of 1858, Democratic Senate candidate Stephen Douglas called Pierce "a man of integrity and honor" in response.
Some Democrats thought Pierce would be a good candidate for President in 1860 and they asked him to run as someone who could unite the party, but Pierce was not interested. Pierce backed Caleb Cushing and then John C. Breckinridge as potential alternatives. When the divided Democrats lost the Presidency to Abraham Lincoln and as several southern states began plans to seceed, Pierce was asked by Justice Campbell to travel to Alabama and address that state's secession convention. Pierce was too ill to attend, but he sent a letter appealing to the people of Alabama to remain in the Union, and give the North time to repeal laws against southern interests.
After the Civil War began, Northern Democrats, including Douglas, endorsed Lincoln's plan to bring the Southern states back into the fold by force. Pierce wanted to avoid war at all costs. He wrote to another former President, Martin Van Buren, proposing an assembly of former U.S. presidents to resolve the issue, but this suggestion did not gain traction. Pierce wrote: "I will never justify, sustain or in any way or to any extent uphold this cruel, heartless, aimless, unnecessary war." He publicly opposed President Lincoln's order suspending the writ of habeas corpus, arguing that even in a time of war, the country should not abandon its protection of civil liberties. This stand won him admirers among Northern Peace Democrats, but others accused Pierce of disloyalty and of having a southern bias.
In September 1861, while Pierce was in Michigan, a Detroit bookseller, J. A. Roys, sent a letter to Lincoln's Secretary of State William H. Seward accusing Pierce of meeting with others as part of a plot to overthrow the government and establish Pierce as president. The pro-administration Detroit Tribune newspaper printed an opinion calling Pierce "a prowling traitor spy", and suggesting that he was a member of the pro-Confederate Knights of the Golden Circle. Seward ordered the arrest of possible "traitors" in Michigan. Seward wrote to Pierce demanding to know if the charges were true. Pierce denied them, and lacking any evidence, Seward withdrew his criticism. When Republican newspapers printed the a letter that was a hoax perpetrated by a man named Hopkins, Pierce wanted to clear his name publicly. When Seward refused to make a public acknowledgement, and Pierce had his friend California Senator Milton Latham read correspondence between Seward and Pierce into the Congressional record, showing that Seward knew that there was no substance to the charges.
When the war led to a draft in northern states, and to the arrest of outspoken anti-administration Democrat Clement Vallandingham, Pierce gave an address to New Hampshire Democrats in July 1863 attacking Lincoln. He said, "Who, I ask, has clothed the President with power to dictate to any one of us when we must or when we may speak, or be silent upon any subject, and especially in relation to the conduct of any public servant?" Pierce's comments put him in an unfavorable light among many northerners, especially as the were made in the wake of Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Pierce's reputation in the North was further damaged the following month when the Mississippi plantation of the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, was seized by Union soldiers and they found Pierce's correspondence with Davis, all written before the war. The letters revealed Pierce's close friendship with Davis. In the letters Pierce predicted that civil war would result in insurrection in the North. The letters were sent to the press, causing dislike for Pierce to increase even more.
Jane Pierce died from tuberculosis in Andover, Massachusetts in December 1863. She was buried at Old North Cemetery in Concord, New Hampshire. Pierce was saddened also by the death of his close friend Nathaniel Hawthorne in May 1864. Pierce was with Hawthorne when the author died. Hawthorne had dedicated his final book to Pierce, despite Pierce's unpopularity.
Some Democrats tried again to put Pierce's name up for consideration as the party's candidate in the 1864 presidential election, but Pierce once again was not interested. Lincoln won a second term, but was assassinated a month and a half after his inauguration. When news spread of Lincoln's death in April 1865, a mob gathered outside Pierce's home in Concord, demanding to know why he had not raised a flag as a public mourning gesture. Pierce grew angry, expressing sadness over Lincoln's death but denying any need for a public gesture. He told them that his history of military and public service proved his patriotism, and his words were able to calm the angry mob.
Pierce's drinking took its toll on his health and he grew increasingly spiritual. He had a brief relationship with an unknown woman in mid-1865. He also tried to use his influence to improve the treatment of Jefferson Davis, now a prisoner at Fort Monroe in Virginia. He also offered to help Hawthorne's son Julian, as well as to his own nephews.
On the second anniversary of Jane's death, Pierce was baptized in the Episcopal faith, the same as his wife's, at St. Paul's Church in Concord. He found this church to be less political than his former Congregational denomination, one in which Democrats were unwelcome. He took up the life of a farmer, and spent most of his time in Concord and his cottage at Little Boar's Head. He expressed support for Andrew Johnson's reconstruction policies and was critical of those wanting to impeach Johnson.
Pierce's health declined further in 1869. He was now drinking heavily. He returned to Concord that September, suffering from severe cirrhosis of the liver, which he soon came to realize would be a terminal condition. None of his family members were present in his final days and he died at 4:35 am on Friday, October 8, 1869, at the age of 64. President Ulysses Grant (who later defended Pierce's service in the Mexican-American War), declared a day of national mourning. Pierce was interred next to his wife and two of his sons in the Minot enclosure at Concord's Old North Cemetery.