Millard Fillmore: The Last Whig President

No one was more surprised than Millard Fillmore when the Whig Party chose him to be Zachary Taylor’s running mate in the 1848 election.

Working as the comptroller (essentially the treasurer) of New York State at the time, Fillmore was well known in Washington. He had been a New York congressman for a decade. But the VP slot? Fillmore didn’t see it coming.

And he didn’t hesitate to say yes when offered the job.

On the surface, Taylor and Fillmore seemed to be a good fit.

Taylor had never run for elective office. He was the great hero of the Mexican-American War. When he wasn’t soldiering, he lived on a plantation in the Deep South.

Fillmore, a northerner, spent his professional life in politics.

Both had grown up on the edge of the frontier. Both were entirely self-made.

It was a marriage made in machine-politics heaven.

And it worked.

Well, to be more accurate, it worked for Taylor.

It didn’t work for Fillmore.

When they won the 1848 election, Fillmore figured that as Vice President he could dispense lucrative federal jobs to his supporters, securing his future as a major force in New York and maybe even national politics.

He also figured that with his knowledge of Congress and his vast experience in the political arena, he would be a trusted Taylor advisor.

He figured wrong on both counts.

Taylor gave him no access to patronage. He wasn’t interested in boosting Fillmore’s career in New York or anywhere else.

And Taylor did not bring Fillmore into his inner circle. The two men didn’t even meet until after the election. And when they did, they didn’t much like each other. It seems that their many differences on political issues, though assets during the campaign, were detriments after it. For example, Taylor,