in his coffin, but rest assured it was big
and tall-sized. Taft—chief justice after
serving as president—was buried in
his judge’s robe because that was the
role he far preferred. He and JFK are
the only presidents buried at Arlington. (As you can tell, some of these
pictures are self-portraits.)
FRANKLIN PIERCE
Old North Cemetery, Concord, N.H.
Pierce was good-looking, and his
campaign biography was written by
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Those are
pretty much the only good things that
can be said about his presidential
career. He was a pro-slavery Northerner whose policies hastened the
outbreak of the Civil War. He all but
declared his support for the Confederacy after he left office. He was an
alcoholic who died from dropsy, a
swelling of the body from excessive
fluids. On the other hand, he lost all
three of his children before he even
took office. You gotta cut the guy
some slack.
