Millard Fillmore, President of the United States

Born in the Finger Lakes country of New York, Millard Fillmore (1880-1874) as a youth endured the privations of frontier life. In his rise from a log cabin to wealth and the White House, Millard Fillmore demonstrated that through methodical industry and some competence an uninspiring man could make the American dream come true. A member of the Whig Party, he was the 13th U.S. President from 1850 -1852. As the Whig Party disintegrated in the 1850s, Fillmore refused to join the Republican Party, but instead, in 1856, accepted the nomination for President of the Know Nothing, or American, Party. He participated in the 1856 presidential campaign, which was won by James Buchanan, the 15th U.S. President.