Franklin Pierce had all the makings of a successful president - the experience, the military service, the charm - and yet he is often remembered as one of America's worst chief executives. So how did a man with such a fine resume plunge the nation deeper into crisis over the expansion of slavery? Colleen talks with Pulitizer Prize-winner author David W. Blight about Pierce's pedigree, the Northern Democrat's pro-Southern sympathies, and his misreading of national politics on the eve of the Civil War.
David W. Blight is the Sterling Professor of History at Yale University. He is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (2018).
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