Dead Wake - From Left to Write

I've never been good at History. Never really even liked it. I know, I know...as Edmund Burke once said, "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." 

Maybe the reason I don't like History is because it seemed like every year we would start with the same old American History book and we never got beyond the Civil War. Or maybe I stopped listening after the Civil Way.

But I've been reading an excellent book by Erik Larsen called Dead Wake, The Last Crossing of the Lusitania and one of the things that has made an impact on me is when he writes about the death of the wife of then President Woodrow Wilson.

Photo Credit - National First Ladies Library

Ellen Axson Wilson died on August 6, 1914, just a couple of days after Britain entered the new war in Europe and a year and a half into President Wilson's first term. I stopped to think about how devastating that must have been, to go through his wife's illness with her and then her death and still have to be the President of the United States. It's just mind boggling.

This got me to thinking about tragedies that happened to other Presidents during their term in office.  

Photo Credit - The American Presidents

There was our drunkest president, Franklin Pierce. He was the 14th President of the United States and while he was likable and popular president during his term he struggled with his wife Jane's illnesses and depression. They lost two sons, one just a few days old and the other at the age of four. They had another son named Bennie who lived to the age of 11 and died horribly in a train accident when the train they were on went off the track and rolled down a hill. Bennie was instantly decapitated and the President and Mrs. Pierce witnessed the whole thing. President Pierce died March 4, 1857 of cirrhosis of the liver. 

Maybe this book has opened up an interest in me for History.

This post was inspired by Dead Wake by Erik Larson, a thrilling account of Lusitania’s last voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and the U-boat that attacked it. Join From Left to Write on March 26th as we discuss Dead Wake. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.