On July 1, 1853 Benjamin Brown French began his tenure as the Commissioner of Public Buildings in Washington, D.C. He had been appointed to this significant administrative post by a fellow New Hampshire native, Franklin Pierce, who had been elected the 14th President of the United States in …
With the exception of Franklin Pierce himself, there was perhaps no one happier about Pierce’s victory in the 1852 presidential election than his friend of nearly 30 years, Benjamin Brown French.