Health Leader - Franklin Pierce: Death of three children

STORY BY

Shannon Rasp

As Americans prepare to elect a new president in November, everything about the candidates will be open to public scrutiny, including their medical histories. Each week until the election, HealthLeader will focus on the medical histories of a variety of presidents. This week, we will learn more about Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States.

A handsome, engaging man, Franklin Pierce had many friends, came from a solid, wealthy family, and was very well-educated. However, he experienced unimaginable tragedy in his personal life that led to a dependence on alcohol which would ultimately cost him his reputation, and his life.

Pierce married Jane Appleton, the daughter of a former president of Pierce’s alma mater, Bowdoin College, in 1834. Jane was the polar opposite of her new husband – shy, dour, and deeply religious. The couple, while ill-suited, produced three sons. The first, Franklin Pierce Jr., died after only three days in 1836. The second, Frank Robert Pierce, died at the age of four in 1843 from typhus. The third, Benjamin Pierce, survived early childhood, only to be crushed to death at age 11 in front of his parents during a railway accident just weeks before his father took office in 1853.

Jane sought solace in religion, her husband in alcohol. Pierce spent much of the remainder of his life, including his presidency, drunk.

“Self-medicating with alcohol is common,” said Patricia Averill, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and the director of research program evaluation at the UT Harris County Psychiatric Center. “Alcohol can reduce people’s anxiety, and since it’s a depressant it seems to deaden the most painful of experiences. It helps numb emotional pain, so that a person doesn’t have to go through the grieving process.”

An abject failure as a president, Pierce frustrated his advisors with his inability to concentrate on problems and make sound decisions. Despite being from New England, Pierce had strong southern sympathies that alienated many, and he tried to open up the west to slavery, an unpopular move with many Americans. Meanwhile, his continued (and worsening) dependence on alcohol made him sickly, weak and unable to demonstrate the leadership expected from the president.

“The impact of alcoholism on a person’s health wasn’t understood then the way it is now,” said Averill. “People didn’t know how it could ravage their bodies, especially the liver. Frequent drinking wasn’t really seen as a problem, especially by the upper classes of society. Because it’s always been a legal substance – with the exception of the Prohibition years, which came after Pierce’s time – alcoholism has been tolerated, perhaps more than it should be. People have blamed unacceptable behavior on their drinking, rather than taking responsibility for their behavior. In recent years, however, that’s been changing.”

After failing to receive his party’s nomination for re-election in 1856, Pierce quipped to a reporter, “There’s nothing left to do but get drunk.” That’s precisely what he did. His post-White House years were marked by wild behavior in public, running over an elderly lady with his carriage while inebriated, and refusing to hang a flag in mourning for Abraham Lincoln when he was assassinated in 1865 (Pierce was an outspoken supporter of the Confederacy during the Civil War and maintained a long friendship with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had been his secretary of war). Pierce died, depressed and drunk yet again, of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 64 on Oct. 8, 1869.

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Last Updated: 10-01-2008

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Packing Bag Lunches Safely

If you pack lunches for your child to take to school, be careful that you do not accidentally expose them to foodborne illness.

Bagged lunches, especially those containing perishable foods, need to be packed and handled properly in order to keep the food safe. In general, perishable foods should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours. If left out too long, the temperature of the food can enter the danger zone where bacteria grow most rapidly, which is between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Below are some tips to help families pack bagged lunches safely:

Pack foods that are nonperishable and won't require refrigeration.
If you do pack perishable foods such as luncheon meats or prepackaged cheese and crackers, include a frozen gel pack or a frozen juice carton with the food in an insulated lunch bag or box.
Pack only the amount of perishable food that your child can eat at lunch.
Preparing lunches the night before and storing them in the refrigerator until you pack your child's lunchbox in the morning can help keep food cold longer the next day.
Don't reuse packaging materials such as paper or plastic bags, aluminum foil, etc. as they can contaminate other foods and cause foodborne illness. Have your child discard all used food packaging and paper bags after lunch.

Before eating lunch or snacks at school, make sure your child washes his or her hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. If your child's school does not have a handwashing program in place, encourage them to adopt a such a program, as handwashing is one of the best ways kids and parents can protect health and stop the spread of germs.