It's a beautiful Saturday morning, and it seems appropriate to say something nice about Franklin Pierce.
Selection of cabinet members was always a difficult process, what with the need to create geographical balance, satisfy feuding intraparty factions and the like - and that's before factoring in optional requirements like competence. Michael F. Holt suggests that Franklin Pierce did a pretty darn good job:
Carefully balanced by region, Pierce's cabinet would prove to be one of the most ethical and effective group of advisers to serve the nation in the nineteenth century. It was also the only cabinet during that century to remain intact for an entire four-year presidential term. By the end of the administration, the cabinet members had developed genuine esteem for Pierce, and some, like [Secretary of War Jefferson] Davis and [Secretary of State William L.] Marcy, possessed personal fondness for him.
I've enjoyed these posts about Pierce and Fillmore. I was surprised to learn about the competence of Pierce's cabinet and the esteem in which they held him personally. I would be interested in learning more, and wonder why history has given Pierce such a bum rap.
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