The Source of National Security

American Minute from William J. Federer

His only son, 11-year-old Bennie, was killed when their campaign train rolled off its tracks. This happened to 14th President Franklin Pierce, who was born NOVEMBER 23, 1804.

Elected to Congress at age 29, Franklin Pierce was a Senator at 33. He resigned during the Mexican-American War, enlisted as a private and was eventually promoted to brigadier general. Pierce's leg was crushed at the Battle of Churubusco.

Franklin Pierce ran for President against General Winfield Scott, whom he had served under during the War.

Before he died, Franklin Pierce was baptized in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Concord.

His friends included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was with him the night he died.

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote in a biography of Franklin Pierce: "Whether in sorrow or success he has learned...that religious faith is the most valuable...of human possessions...With this sense, there has come...a wide sympathy for the modes of Christian worship and a reverence for religious belief as a matter between the Deity and man's soul."

President Franklin Pierce said in his Inaugural, March 4, 1853: "It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence."

William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.