Franklin Pierce was a Democratic congressman, party leader, Mexican-American war hero, and #1 on our list of Top 5 Drunkest Presidents. He was nominated as a compromise candidate in 1852 and, taking office in the wake of a terrible family tragedy, promised not to let slavery re-emerge as a national issue after the sectional crisis of 1850. But when Senator Stephen Douglas came calling with a plan to organize the Kansas-Nebraska territory, Pierce dove headlong into a new sectional crisis and sparked a violent prelude to the coming Civil War. Also: Our list of Top 5 Would Be Presidents looks at some of the most interesting failed presidential candidates and speculates about what might've been had they occupied the White House.
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