Seventh-Worst Ever?

C-Span released their latest Presidential Historian’s Survey this week, and George W. Bush was ranked 36th of 42, just ahead of Millard Fillmore.

Excuse me?

I happen to have grown up in East Aurora New York, where Fillmore built his home and his law practice. While he’s not on Mount Rushmore, Fillmore was a self-made man who served four terms in Congress before being elected Vice-President and succeeding to the Presidency. No silver spoon case, Fillmore was actually born in a log cabin. Like Newt Gingrich, he married one of his schoolteachers, but unlike Newt, he didn’t throw her over for a younger model.

As Vice-President, Fillmore presided over the Senate debate over the legislation known as The Compromise of 1850. These bills, designed by Henry Clay, were moved through Congress by Stephen Douglas and Daniel Webster, and signed into law by Fillmore, who had assumed the presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor.

The compromise was an attempt to resolve the issue of slavery by preventing its spread into the territories while preserving it where already established. These measures postponed the break-up of the Union for ten years, but prevented Fillmore from running for re-election when his Whig party denied him their nomination in retaliation for his signing of the Fugitive Slave Law.

The Fillmore administration normalized post-war relations with Mexico, making it possible for Franklin Pierce to negotiate the Gadsden Purchase of the New Mexico and Arizona territories. His administration peaceably resolved conflicts with Portugal, Peru, England, France, and Spain. No “bring it on” from him.

Fillmore was one of the founders of The University of Buffalo, and after his presidency, he returned there to serve as chancellor. Fillmore met Abraham Lincoln when they were both Whigs in Congress, and hosted Lincoln when he stopped in Buffalo enroute to his inauguration.

Fillmore died in 1874, when the experimental aircraft he was piloting crashed into Lake Ontario.