He suffered a stroke in February 1874, and died on March 8, 1874, at the age of 74 after suffering a second stroke. Two days later, he was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo after a funeral procession including hundreds of others.[142] The U.S. Senate sent three of its members to honor its former president, including Lincoln's first vice president, Maine's Hannibal Hamlin.[143]

Legacy and historical view[edit]
Presidential dollar
Fillmore is ranked by historians and political scientists as one of the worst presidents of the United States.[1] Fillmore's handling of major political issues, such as slavery, has led many historians to describe him as weak and inept.[1] According to biographer Scarry: "No president of the United States ... has suffered as much ridicule as Millard Fillmore."[144] He ascribed much of the abuse to a tendency to denigrate the presidents who served in the years just prior to the Civil War as lacking in leadership. For example, President Harry S. Truman later "characterized Fillmore as a weak, trivial thumb-twaddler who would do nothing to offend anyone" and as responsible in part for the war.