White House Christmas tree not ordered one by December 23. Additionally, other presidents never displayed a tree in the White House. First U.S. President George Washington held office at a time when there was no White House, thus it is impossible for him to have displayed a tree there. There is no evidence that Abraham Lincoln ever displayed a Christmas tree in the White House. In 1922 First Lady Florence Harding's illness led to a more subdued Christmas celebration at the White House and no Christmas tree. The official White House Christmas tree has several times been seen as controversial by some. In 1899
Franklin Pierce His Cuba and Kansas policies led only to deeper sectional strife. His support for the Kansas–Nebraska Act and his determination to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act helped polarize the sections. Pierce was hard-working and his administration largely untainted by graft, yet the legacy from those four turbulent years contributed to the tragedy of secession and civil war. Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) was the 14th President of the United States (1853–1857), a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation. He alienated anti-slavery groups by