Millard FillmorePost Presidency |
What personal tragedies befell Fillmore shortly after leaving office? |
Fillmore’s wife, Abigail, developed pneumonia after attending the inauguration of her husband’s successor, Franklin Pierce. She died less than a month after leaving the White House in March 1953. Then, Fillmore’s only daughter, Mary, died at the age of twenty-two in 1854 from cholera. Historians believe that these deaths may have inspired Fillmore to make a return to the national political stage.