Who was Nathaniel Hawthorne's friends?

Edgar Allan Poe was a great friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

New Answer: Well, Poe was not really a friend of Hawthorne. You might be thinking of Franklin Pierce, a college buddy and drinking partner, who had Hawthorne write a very flattering biography of him while he was running for President. Pierce was elected, some say primarily on the strength of Hawthorne's endorsement of him. Nate was a big literary star during the 1840s to 1860s, and his big boost to Franklin Pierce, an otherwise completely undistinguished politician, would be like having Tom Clancy recommend Dennis Kuchinich for President and write a book about him.