AH Challenge: Make Franklin Pierce a Contender for the Greatest US President

You may have declared Baseballfan's scenario as a winner but I'm not done mulling this over.

Pierce was a surprising compromise candidate in 1852. If he doesn't get the nomination then then he probably never will. This also means that any really big POD before 1852 probably dooms Pierce to an also-ran.

Bleeding Kansas and Ostead were not of his design, even if you change Pierce himself then you probably still get these two events.

So far, any attempt to make Pierce a great president have had to reverse Pierce's pro-south and pro-slavery opinions, I'm not sure how likely that is. Is it possible to have him keep his pro-south stance and still be great?

Don't sell him short: he was likable, fairly intelligent, handsome, well connected, ambitious, and a war leader - we've had worse individuals in the White House (he was defiantly the wrong man for the time, however). I'm surprised that we have a fairly interesting man who was president of the US at a crucial time but the most recent biography of him was published over 45 years ago.

Going from thin information on the internet, It's remarkable how much of a drag his wife was: she forced him away from Washington DC, she hated his political ambitions, he had to run for the nomination behind his wife's back, she was convinced Pierce was doomed by God, she spent every day of the first two years in the White House writing letters to her dead son --- what a drag! This would drive a lot of men to drink.

I'm thinking that to make Pierce great we need to bump off his wife sometime before 1852 (then again Lincoln's wife was no winner either).

The train accident that killed his son, how about it kills his wife instead and spares Benny?
 
The train accident that killed his son, how about it kills his wife instead and spares Benny?

Maybe Jane could die and Benjamin could be injured. Black servants in the White House help Benjamin convalesce and Pierce befriends the servants and becomes more anti-slavery (echoes of baseballfan's timeline).

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Here is an attempt to make Pierce a decision maker:
In the Battle of Chapultepec (September, 1847) General Pillow was injured in the leg. Let's give him a fetal injury instead. Brigadier General Pierce (our man) is next in line and finishes the battle as planned. He is kept in charge of the 3rd Division for a couple months and leads through the battles of Contreras (where he does not fall off his horse as in OTL), Churubusco, and Mexico City. The increased military responsibility makes him more decisive and confident through the rest of his life.
 
I think I prefer the two-Frances-Appletons scenario. It sounds a bit less... contrived than the "random black person saves Pierce's son's life" thing.
 
I think I prefer the two-Frances-Appletons scenario. It sounds a bit less... contrived than the "random black person saves Pierce's son's life" thing.

That's true, but part of Pierce's problem is that he was so divided. If he had a lower opinion of slavery, a strictly Southern institution, he would have at least managed to be remembered as SOMETHING. But, with his sympathies on both sides, he might actually be able to do something, as he can understand both sides.

Any way to avoid a civil war and still make him great?
 
That's true, but part of Pierce's problem is that he was so divided. If he had a lower opinion of slavery, a strictly Southern institution, he would have at least managed to be remembered as SOMETHING. But, with his sympathies on both sides, he might actually be able to do something, as he can understand both sides.

Any way to avoid a civil war and still make him great?
Possibly ...

Give him a More Illustrious Military Career, Spending a Whole Battle Under a Dead Horse did Very Little for his Self-Respect ...

Most Importantly, Keep Jefferson Davis OUT of his Cabinet; Davis' Status as Rebel President did as Much to Damage Pierce's Legacy, As Anything he himself Did!
 
Even if Bleeding Kansas and Ostead are avoided Pierce would not be considered "Great".
Even if the US Civil War was avoided Pierce would not be considered "Great"!
We judge men to be great by what they do - not by what they prevent from happening.

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Could a Spanish-American have taken place during his term?
Could America win such a war in a big way?

If not, what other big event could give Pierce a legacy of Greatness?
 
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