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Health and Medical History of President Franklin PiercePresident #14: 1853-1857
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"The place overshadows him and he is crushed by his great duties and seeks refuge in..." 1a |
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This style... | ... means the event occurred while President. |
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![]() Small and slight |
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![]() College character |
A lifelong friend and admirer described Pierce in college as
"active, and always bright and cheerful. In character he was impulsive,
not rash; generous, not lavish; chivalrous, manly, and warm-hearted; and he was
one of the most popular students in the whole college"
2b.
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![]() Sleep schedule |
At age 20: "I make it my rule to retire about 11 o'clock & rise about 5 or
1/2 past 5"
2c.
As a busy attorney his mid-to-late 30s (circa 1842), he was able to sleep anywhere,
anytime (day or night), so that an hour's recess in court would allow him to nap
and awake refreshed. Colleagues spoke of his "wonderful recuperative powers."
2d.
Comment:
The unusual comment about recuperative powers suggests that Pierce was doing
more than just working hard, i.e. consuming alcohol to excess. Despite its
initial soporific effect, alcohol can disrupt sleep in the latter part of the
night and thereby leave a person sleepy during the day.
It is possible, therefore, that his ability to sleep on demand reflected a
high alcohol intake.
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![]() ![]() General health |
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![]() ![]() Whooping cough |
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![]() Bilious fever |
Had a violent attack of "bilious fever" in July 1832 (age 27).
There were transient fears for his life, but he recovered fully by the end of the month.
2g.
The illness recurred in February 1834: "The question for some time was to faint or
not to faint -- I at length succeeded in mustering sufficient energy to reach the
bell rope & ring up a servant." After taking calomel and other unspecified
medications, he recovered quickly
2h.
The term "bilious fever" is no longer used; its meaning is uncertain
1b.
It often indicated malaria, but New Hampshire and Maine were free of
malaria during Pierce's lifetime
6.
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![]() alcohol use |
The modern two-volume biography of Pierce does not identify when
Pierce's alcohol consumption began exceeding prudent levels.
In February 1836 (age 31), Pierce was, in the biographer's words,
"liberally plied" with alcohol before arriving at the theater
2i.
In 1841 he stopped drinking and became an enthusiastic supporter of the
temperance movement
2j.
A newspaper attacked him as a drunkard before an election in 1842
2k,
but in 1843 he was still making public temperance appearances
2j.
Pierce took a pledge stop drinking before leaving the Senate in 1842, but broke
it in Mexico during the war, when he was apart from his wife's puritanical influence.
2l.
There is no suggestion that alcohol impaired Pierce's military performance
2m,
but during the presidential election campaign of 1852 this did not stop someone from
writing a letter to his hometown newspaper calling him "the Hero of Many a
well-fought bottle"
2n.
Stories of Pierce's drinking persisted throughout the campaign
2o.
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![]() Pleurisy |
As a Congressman in February 1836 Pierce developed pleurisy,
with pain in his shoulder and side.
His physician, a Dr. Sewall,
bled 16 ounces of blood
from Pierce, providing some relief, followed a few days later by another 10 ounces.
2p. (There is no reason that bleeding would
have improved the inflammation in the chest that is normally the cause of pleurisy.)
By June, Pierce was back home in New Hampshire, engaged in vigorous physical work
on his farm 2q.
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![]() Cold |
"Cold and cough" in spring 1842
2d.
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![]() Excellent memory |
Pierce had an excellent memory. In closing arguments in court, it was not unusual
for him to speak eloquently for three or four hours, recalling
every fact or statement of testimony
2r.
He never forgot the name of anyone he met in court, be they witness or juror,
and "was known to cross a street to greet by name a man who had served on a jury
ten years before"
2s
(a talent William McKinley also had).
Even so, during the 1852 presidential campaign, Pierce's friend and official
campaign biographer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, remarked that "His talents are
administrative. ... There are scores of men in the country that seem brighter
than he is"
2t.
Pierce recited his 33-minute inaugural speech from memory
2u.
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![]() ![]() horse injury + diarrhea |
During the Mexican-American war, Pierce, a brigadier general, narrowly escaped
injury on July 21, 1847 when his hat was shot off
2v.
He was not so lucky at the Battle of Contreras on August 19.
Riding his horse at top speed over a rocky lava bed, the horse suddenly reared up
(probably startled by the sound of Mexican artillery), throwing Pierce against
the pommel of the saddle before stumbling and falling onto him. Pierce was knocked
senseless. With intense pain in his groin and a debilitating knee
injury, Pierce sat amidst some rocks in the middle of the artillery fire for
half an hour, until he could stand. He then hobbled over to an American brigade
that was under heavy fire. The brigade surgeon,
^^ "ritchey4pierce"|doc43("Ritchey") ^^ reduced Pierce's dislocated knee and
bandaged his pelvis.
2w
1c
Pierce stayed in the field until 9 pm. The fighting had
stopped at nightfall, and Pierce now ordered his regiments to withdraw.
He took refuge from the rain in the back of an ammunition wagon.
2w.
Orders for the
next morning required rapid movement on foot, so Pierce ceded command to his
deputy and reported to the commanding general (Winfield Scott) for further orders
2x.
Scott later wrote that Pierce "was in such a sick, wounded, and enfeebled
condition, that he was `just able to keep his saddle!`"
2y. (Ironically, Pierce and Scott ran against
each other for the presidency in 1852.)
Scott ordered him to the rear, but Pierce successfully
protested and returned to lead his brigade in the next action, which required a
1.5 mile march through corn fields, marshes, and ditches. Pierce, again on
horseback, was able to jump several ditches, but when he dismounted to walk over
soft terrain, the pain in his knee caused him to pass out after about 300 yards.
Pierce once again ceded command, after ordering his men to leave him where he was.
His brigade saw heavy action later that day, without him.
2x
Hoisted into his saddle on the 22nd, Pierce rode 2.5 miles to participate in a
lengthy meeting that lasted through the night and ended with an armistice agreement.
He was then able to rest.
2z
By September 12, however, he was prostrate with diarrhea
2aa.
During the 1852 presidential election, his opponents
intimated that cowardice caused him to miss battles in the war
7a.
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![]() snored |
Reliability of this information is uncertain.
8
Given his alcohol intake, it would not be surprising for him to snore.
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![]() train accident |
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![]() depression |
The same train accident killed the sole surviving child of Franklin and Jane: their
11-year-old son, Benny.
Franklin found the body in the wreckage. The back of Benny's head had been torn off
by flying debris. Franklin quickly covered the body with his cloak, but not before
Jane glimpsed the terrible sight. A witness wrote that her "agony passes beyond
any description"
2ac.
Six days later, Franklin wrote Jefferson Davis (yes, that Jefferson Davis):
"Mrs. Pierce is more composed today, tho very
feeble and crushed to the Earth by the fearful bereavement"
2ad.
In the same
letter, Pierce wrote: "How shall I be able to summon my manhood and gather up my
energies for the duties before me it is hard for me to see"
2ad.
(Given Davis' future role, it would be interesting to study whether the
tragedy brought Davis and Pierce closer together.)
Two weeks after the accident, Pierce was back at work but with "a fixed expression
of sorrow & despondency"
2ae, seeming to be weak and easily manipulated
2af.
The Pierces were shattered and wracked with guilt. Jane
decided that God had taken their son so her husband would have no family distractions while
President. Franklin believed it was punishment for his sins. The Pierces never really recovered
from the tragedy
7b.
In his inaugural address, Pierce said to his listeners (which did not include
his wife, as she did not attend the ceremonies):
"You have summoned me in my weakness, you must sustain me by your strength"
2ag.
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![]() Chill and cold |
In late February or early March 1853, Pierce got soaked during a boat crossing
in New York harbor, resulting in a cold
2ah.
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![]() ![]() Pneumonia, maybe |
CHECK REFERENCE ON FIRST PARAGRAPH ^^
In summer 1853, Pierce developed a severe respiratory infection while traveling
to the world's fair in New York.
He experienced pleuritic pain, and spoken words felt like "a pain in his lungs,"
forcing him to cancel some speeches. He was able to make a long speech in
New York, but a storm soaked the subsequent parade... and Pierce.
Arriving for another speech later that day, he looked "tired and old."
Back in Washington the next day, he took to bed.
Around this time he looked "broken and wretched" and one of his friends
observed
"The place overshadows him and he is crushed by his great duties and seeks refuge in..."
suggesting that Pierce was drinking alcohol to excess
1d
Comment:
Though called a severe cold, this illness was obviously something more,
possibly pneumonia 1e. Alcohol over-use
increases the risk of several types of pneumonia.
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![]() alcoholic |
"Pierce was an alcoholic, as everyone close to him was well aware; a fondness for drink
was not something to hide in those times"
9a.
At the end of his term, when asked what a President should do after leaving office, he sighed:
"There's nothing left... but to get drunk"
7c.
Comment:
In view of Pierce's alcohol abuse, it is reasonable to ask whether that had a
hand in shaping the disastrous slavery-coddling policies of his presidency,
especially given his deep roots in anti-slavery New Hampshire.
Certainly, there must have been some effect, but Pierce's anti-anti-slavery
attitudes had been formed in the early 1840s, as a result of two factors:
(1) It offended him that a moral consideration might supersede the Constitution,
and (2) It offended him that anyone who disagreed with abolitionists was
labeled a sinner in a manner that amounted to "religious bigotry."
2ai.
Pierce personally disdained slavery
2aj.
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![]() malaria |
Chills and fever, most likely malaria, afflicted Pierce in summer 1854,
fall 1856, and perhaps episodically until he died.
He could certainly have become infected during his time in Mexico.
1f
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![]() ![]() tuberculosis |
Pierce had a chronic cough, attributed at the time to the dampness and poor
heating in the White House.
Tuberculosis has been raised as a possibility because his wife had the condition.
1g
One source says thatboth Pierce and his wife had hemoptysis (coughing up blood) --
a classic symptom of tuberculosis
9a.
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() decline |
The death of Pierce's wife in 1863 crushed him. He no longer attempted to
curb his alcohol use. His health deteriorated, suffering gastritis,
malnutrition, and liver damage. Never before religious, in
1865 he became devout and stopped drinking. But it was too late. He went
on to develop weakness, appetite loss, nausea, abdominal pain, and
(in November 1866) neuralgia.
1h
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![]() ![]() death |
In his last months Pierce developed two classic complications of liver cirrhosis:
abdominal fluid accumulation ("ascites") and coma. He died in a coma at age 64.
1f
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a p.83. From John W. Forney, who accompanied Pierce to the 1853 New York World's Fair b p.80 c p.82. Pelvic fracture seems unlikely given Pierce's extended time in the saddle after the injury d pp.82-83 e pp.83 f p.83 g pp.83-84 h p.83-84
Comment: Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.
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![]() | Comment: "Chincough" is not an anatomical term. It instead comes from "Quintana" -- thought to indicate a cough occurring at 5-hour intervals. |
![]() | Comment: One would have to review Pierce's complete travel history to determine that he was never in a malaria zone before going to Mexico. |
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a p.114 b p.115 c p.116
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![]() | Comment: Credibility is dubious. Just before a list of Presidents, the article states: "Twenty of the 32 Presidents ... are proved or believed on a thick web of circumstance to have been nocturnal nuisances in the White House." |
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a p.19
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a p.265
Comment: Maps -- in great detail -- the ancestors and descendants of American presidents through Ronald Reagan. They would have had an exhausting time with President Obama's family tree! MORE
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