I was recently watching Assume the Position 201 with Robert Wuhl.  In short, he’s a guest lecturer in a college classroom and provides a comedic take on U.S. history.

He mentioned that no matter what, Americans are resilient and can overcome anything, even bad presidencies; and he goes on to discuss President Franklin Pierce and how he was a pro-slavery alcoholic who helped lead the nation to Civil War and was arrested while in office after he drove over a woman with a horse-drawn carriage.

That last allegation was hard to believe, but after some online research it appears true.  I also found out he and his wife saw their only surviving child die in a train accident two months before his inauguration.  Maybe that lead to all the drinking.

Wuhl goes on to state that many presidential scholars consistenly list Pierce as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.  But then he goes on to reveal that Barbara Bush’s maiden name is Pierce, and that she is the great-great-great niece of Franklin Pierce.  I wasn’t sure of that fact either until I found it on Encarta.

History will eventually tell us if George W. Bush will be ranked as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history, and if that turns out to be the case, what an interesting sidenote to know that she would be related to two of the worst presidents in U.S. history.