14. Franklin Pierce was a devotee of the bottle
Franklin Pierce was elected to the presidency in 1852, following the forgettable Fillmore, and spent his single term in office becoming even more forgettable. In fairness, much of his life had been filled with tragedy; his wife suffered with bouts of mental illness and their children all died young, the last of which in a train accident which occurred before Franklin’s eyes. His heavy drinking throughout his presidency was an open secret in Washington circles. After leaving office and following the Civil War, Pierce began to drink less for a brief period, but resumed drinking heavily in 1869 as his health worsened. He died in the fall of that year of cirrhosis of the liver.
