January 6th was Epiphany.  Epiphany is traditionally the last day of Christmas so that we can officially now say that Christmas and the holidays are over. 
The old year has past and we are still here.  We all seem to have survived the Millennium by at least two years. We have survived dubious elections, presidential scandals, and terrible times.  Hopefully, we can now look forward to a new year and a new future; a future that has much in store for us both in the way of new problems and new blessings.  This January is a good time for all of us to look back and take note of our cherished and historic past and of the greats who have helped to shape our past and make our country what it is today.

May I be the first to wish you all a happy Millard Fillmore's Birthday.  Perhaps it is a sign of our busy times but I was saddened to see that Millard Fillmore's  name still has been omitted from the pages of the new St. Joseph's Calendar and Almanac.  It is understandable that his name should be overshadowed by such greats as Franklin Pierce, James Garfield, James Polk, John Tyler, Warren Harding, and Gerald Ford.  Yet it should not be said that Fillmore did not have coals of greatness smoldering within his breast.

Millard Fillmore, if he had not died in 1894, would have been 202 years old this January seventh.  He was the 13th president of the United States and he won his way to high office through his own integrity, zeal, honesty, and the death of the incumbent. 

Fillmore was a man of strong convictions, a man who did not yield to the popular conventions of his time.  In a time when the abolitionist movement was growing, he enforced the Fugitive Slave Laws. In a time of western growth, he stood for deporting the Chinese and the Irish (After all, everyone knew that the Irish would never be able to be completely integrated into American Society). In a time of rural and frontier living, he was a most elegant dresser. Fillmore was given the title of "Best Dressed President of the United States".

His most daring flaunting of conventions was when he

More of Bill's Writings