14th President of the United States
Franklin Pierce
“Handsome Frank”
- In office
- March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857
- Party
- Democratic
- Home state
- New Hampshire
- Lived
- 1804–1869
- Days in office
- 1,461
- In order
- No. 14: after Millard Fillmore, before James Buchanan
- Vice president
- William R. King
Key achievements & events
- Completed the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico (1853), today's southern Arizona and New Mexico
- Signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), leading to violence in "Bleeding Kansas"
- His term saw sectional tensions rise sharply toward civil war
Remember: He is the only elected president whose party refused to nominate him for a second term.