Millard Fillmore
The last president from the forgotten Whig Party prior to it falling apart, Millard Fillmore grew up in poverty but succeeded in educating himself enough to ascend through the ranks and become vice president while Zachary Taylor was still president. After President Taylor died due to cholera, Fillmore succeeded to the presidency in 1850, but after Taylor’s death, all of the White House cabinet members resigned immediately, leaving the 13th president to form a new cabinet completely. He signed the Compromise of 1850 to try and keep a rift between the South and the North from developing (but he failed) from 1850 to 1853. Fillmore helped develop a relationship between the US and Japan, who had previously banned all international relations including international trade, which led to Japan allowing American ships to dock in Japan during his presidency if there were emergencies.
Millard Fillmore
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover was America’s 31st president and he was in office during a very trying time in US history. Originally from Iowa, he moved to Oregon, then attended Stanford University when it first opened in 1891, and eventually married his college sweetheart, Lou Henry. Even though Hoover spent a lot of time working in China prior to his political career, he was in Europe during the eruption of World War I and he gained recognition when he helped evacuate roughly 120,000 American tourists who were in Germany and France at the time. He was in office from 1929 until 1933, and at some point during his term there was a stock market crash and the Great Depression began. Even during the trying circumstances, Hoover tried various tactics to help his country, including lowering taxes and convincing businesses to keep their employees, and he was forced to remain strong while the US economy was in the worst shape ever since change happens slowly.
Herbert Hoover
