Dead Presidents

You’re right, it doesn’t matter whether or not President Buchanan was gay, but for the historical record, we’d love to have a definitive answer.  Unfortunately, that’s never going to happen.  So, we have to use the evidence that we have and make our own personal conclusions.

I’ve answered this question in-depth before, so I’m just going to copy and paste that answer.  Since this a question that is asked frequently and a genuine mystery to historians, I, like many other historians, have looked at Buchanan’s life and have a personal opinion on the question. Personally, yes, I do think that James Buchanan was a homosexual.  Still, Buchanan has been dead for almost 145 years and contemporary opinions will always be speculation.  Here’s what I’ve previously written when asked about President Buchanan’s sexuality:

It is very difficult to say that this President or that President was gay or not without simply guessing or making baseless accusations.  My personal opinion is that it’s not our business to say that someone is or is not gay unless they choose to address it and make it our business.

It’s even more difficult to go back through history and say “so-and-so was obviously a homosexual because ___________”.  I mean, let’s be honest, the first five Presidents wore knee breeches, buckled shoes, and powdered wigs, so we’d already be overloaded with suspicion right there.

Without going too far and becoming gossipy and National Enquirer-ish, I will point out the evidence which some believe strongly suggests that James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, was homosexual. 

Buchanan was a lifelong bachelor — the only President to never marry.  Early in life, he had been engaged to Ann Coleman, the daughter of a wealthy Pennsylvania manufacturer who began worrying about rumors that Buchanan was marrying her for her money.  After a difficult period in their relationship, Coleman broke off the engagement in 1819 and died shortly thereafter, likely by suicide.  Buchanan was devastated by Coleman’s death and was shunned by Coleman’s family who blamed him for Ann’s demise.  At that time, Buchanan vowed to never marry and he retained Ann Coleman’s letters for the remainder of his life. 

It is possible that Buchanan was so devastated by the death of his first love that he couldn’t imagine spending his life with another woman.  However, that doesn’t explain why he spent so much of his life with another man.

In 19th Century Washington, D.C., it was not unusual for Members of Congress to room together in boarding houses while Congress was in session.  Many political deals were debated and decided in Washington’s boarding houses which were set up to appeal to a Congressman’s need for prepared meals and affordable housing.  Buchanan, however, was a fairly wealthy man for his age and time period.  The affordable housing that resulted from taking on a roommate wasn’t a necessity for Buchanan.  It was a choice.  And, instead of living with a variety of different colleagues over the years, Buchanan lived with one — Alabama Senator William Rufus DeVane King — for fifteen years.

The close relationship between Buchanan and King raised eyebrows even in their own time.  Contemporaries referred to them as “Siamese twins”.  Andrew Jackson called Buchanan and King “Aunt Fancy” and “Miss Nancy” respectively.  President Polk’s law partner, Aaron Brown, went further, referring to King as “Mr. Buchanan’s wife”.  The relationship between Buchanan and King was interrupted from time-to-time by each man’s foreign service (Buchanan as Minister to Russia during Jackson’s Presidency; King as Minister to France during Polk’s).

Unfortunately, the long letters that Buchanan and King wrote to each other throughout their lives are unable to explain their close relationship.  After each man’s death, their nieces burned almost all of their correspondence with one another.

There are hints which further the mystery in the few pieces of correspondence between the two men that have survived.  In 1844, President Tyler appointed King as the Minister to France and King wrote to Buchanan, “I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation.  For myself, I shall feel lonely in the midst of Paris, for here I shall have no Friend with whom I can commune as with my own thoughts.”

With King in Paris, Buchanan wrote an equally curious letter to a female friend of his in Washington, “I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me.  I have gone a-wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them.  I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection.”

Whether or not Buchanan and King were truly homosexual will likely never be known.  This much is true:  In 1852, King was elected Vice President and died of tuberculosis in April 1853, 45 days after his inauguration.  In 1856, Buchanan was elected President and served one term while his adopted niece, Harriet Lane, performed the duties of official White House hostess. 

To this day, Buchanan and King are the only lifelong bachelors to ever serve as President or Vice President.

Thank you, I’m glad to have helped.

I think I’ve confused a lot of people with my comments on Jimmy Carter.  I don’t believe that he was the worst President.  He was a bad President, but I can’t say he was the worst.  There are several Presidents worse than Carter, and as I recently explained, James Buchanan was much, much worse than Jimmy Carter was.

I’ve answered this question previously, so I’m just going to go ahead and link you to my earlier answer for details but the quick response is that I think James Buchanan was the worst President.

I’ve answered this question before, so let’s just revisit my original answer.

I hope you had a wonderful Hanukkah.

In my opinion, the worst President was James Buchanan because the nation literally fell apart during his term.  Sure, divisions had been running deep for decades and had become particularly violent during Franklin Pierce’s Administration (which directly preceded President Buchanan’s).  However, states seceded from the Union during Buchanan’s term and he did nothing about it, basically claiming that his hands were tied and he didn’t have the authority to prohibit or prevent secession.  The actual act of secession isn’t the reason he is the worst President; instead, it is his complete failure to take any actions whatsoever that place him solidly at the bottom of my list.  I doubt Buchanan could have changed anything, but he should have tried.  Instead, he made a half-assed attempt to stop an avalanche by throwing snowballs at it.

Grant was also a bad President, but not one of the worst.  Grant had a corrupt term and he was a horrific judge of character when it came to his Administration, but as you said, he was personally honest, incorruptible, and loyal to a fault.  While his Presidency was marred by scandals and the worst depression in the first century of American History, Grant’s signing of the Specie Act in 1875 strengthened American currency and rebuilt confidence in the American economic system.  Grant’s failures (besides the scandals) also include the ongoing Reconstruction efforts in the South following the Civil War — efforts which bred the Ku Klux Klan and dismantled the Freedman’s Bureau.  Grant exerted quite a bit of executive power with his Reconstruction policies, but there were excesses, including the threat of martial law, a harsh occupation of the South by Federal forces, the suspension of habeas corpus (that’s right…Grant did it, too), and mass arrests of former Rebels and/or their sympathizers.

Obviously, Grant was a poor President by the track record I just explained but I would still list him above Pierce, Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Warren G. Harding, maybe Herbert Hoover, and Jimmy Carter.  If I included the Presidents who served short terms before their untimely deaths, I would also rank Grant above William Henry Harrison and James Garfield since the latter two Presidents did very little in their brief time in the White House.    

I’ve answered this question previously, so I’ll just copy and paste that answer:

First of all, this is all going to be speculation, so take my opinion about this subject very lightly.  Secondly, please understand that I am socially liberal, so I don’t care whether or not a President is gay or straight as long as he or she can do the job.

It is very difficult to say that this President or that President was gay or not without simply guessing or making baseless accusations.  My personal opinion is that it’s not our business to say that someone is or is not gay unless they choose to address it and make it our business.

It’s even more difficult to go back through history and say “so-and-so was obviously a homosexual because ___________”.  I mean, let’s be honest, the first five Presidents wore knee breeches, buckled shoes, and powdered wigs, so we’d already be overloaded with suspicion right there.

Without going too far and becoming gossipy and National Enquirer-ish, I will point out the evidence which some believe strongly suggests that James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, was homosexual. 

Buchanan was a lifelong bachelor — the only President to never marry.  Early in life, he had been engaged to Ann Coleman, the daughter of a wealthy Pennsylvania manufacturer who began worrying about rumors that Buchanan was marrying her for her money.  After a difficult period in their relationship, Coleman broke off the engagement in 1819 and died shortly thereafter, likely by suicide.  Buchanan was devastated by Coleman’s death and was shunned by Coleman’s family who blamed him for Ann’s demise.  At that time, Buchanan vowed to never marry and he retained Ann Coleman’s letters for the remainder of his life. 

It is possible that Buchanan was so devastated by the death of his first love that he couldn’t imagine spending his life with another woman.  However, that doesn’t explain why he spent so much of his life with another man.

In 19th Century Washington, D.C., it was not unusual for Members of Congress to room together in boarding houses while Congress was in session.  Many political deals were debated and decided in Washington’s boarding houses which were set up to appeal to a Congressman’s need for prepared meals and affordable housing.  Buchanan, however, was a fairly wealthy man for his age and time period.  The affordable housing that resulted from taking on a roommate wasn’t a necessity for Buchanan.  It was a choice.  And, instead of living with a variety of different colleagues over the years, Buchanan lived with one — Alabama Senator William Rufus DeVane King — for fifteen years.

The close relationship between Buchanan and King raised eyebrows even in their own time.  Contemporaries referred to them as “Siamese twins”.  Andrew Jackson called Buchanan and King “Aunt Fancy” and “Miss Nancy” respectively.  President Polk’s law partner, Aaron Brown, went further, referring to King as “Mr. Buchanan’s wife”.  The relationship between Buchanan and King was interrupted from time-to-time by each man’s foreign service (Buchanan as Minister to Russia during Jackson’s Presidency; King as Minister to France during Polk’s).

Unfortunately, the long letters that Buchanan and King wrote to each other throughout their lives are unable to explain their close relationship.  After each man’s death, their nieces burned almost all of their correspondence with one another.

There are hints which further the mystery in the few pieces of correspondence between the two men that have survived.  In 1844, President Tyler appointed King as the Minister to France and King wrote to Buchanan, “I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation.  For myself, I shall feel lonely in the midst of Paris, for here I shall have no Friend with whom I can commune as with my own thoughts.”

With King in Paris, Buchanan wrote an equally curious letter to a female friend of his in Washington, “I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me.  I have gone a-wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them.  I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection.”

Whether or not Buchanan and King were truly homosexual will likely never be known.  This much is true:  In 1852, King was elected Vice President and died of tuberculosis in April 1853, 45 days after his inauguration.  In 1856, Buchanan was elected President and served one term while his adopted niece, Harriet Lane, performed the duties of official White House hostess. 

To this day, Buchanan and King are the only lifelong bachelors to ever serve as President or Vice President.

Buchanan’s Presidency wouldn’t be vindicated.  If McCullough could illuminate some aspects of Buchanan’s life that stand out (his diplomatic record, his long service to the country, the fact that he would buy slaves in Washington so that he could release them into freedom in Pennsylvania) or highlight that Buchanan felt helpless or tortured because of the secession crisis during his Presidency, then I think it could help repair Buchanan’s reputation. 

The problem with Buchanan is that he wasn’t tortured.  He felt he did the best he could and even attempted to defend his record in a book that he wrote in retirement, Mr. Buchanan’s Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion.  With Adams and Truman, their reputations were certainly improved by McCullough but Adams was a Founding Father who helped build the nation.  His Presidency was so-so, but I don’t think it defined his life.  Truman’s reputation began improving almost immediately after his term ended.  In the 1960’s, he was earning respect from historians for his Presidency.

Plus, Adams and Truman were both giant personalities.  Andrew Jackson likened James Buchanan to an “old maid”.  What the hook would be on Buchanan would be his romantic life and the long-standing rumors that he may have been a homosexual.  McCullough wouldn’t have the source material to draw from on Buchanan, unfortunately.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying that Pierce and Buchanan had one-issue to deal with with their Presidencies, but the secession crisis dominated both Administrations, so it’s hard to even take a look at their respective terms without including that issue. 

It’s much easier to look at LBJ without Vietnam, Nixon without Watergate, and Clinton without impeachment than it is to view Pierce and Buchanan without secession or slavery.  At least with LBJ, Nixon and Clinton, they had accomplishments (and even failures) outside of the issues which dominated their Presidencies.  Pierce and Buchanan had slavery and the secession crisis and not much else.  Buchanan’s term was almost wholly dominated by bloodshed in Kansas and the actual secession of Southern states.

Pierce had a solid Cabinet.  They didn’t work together terribly well, but individually, Pierce’s Cabinet members was among the strongest of the first 150 years of the Presidency.  Pierce’s Administration negotiated the Gadsen Purchase, which filled out the 48 contiguous states of the U.S. as we know it today.  The Ostend Manifesto was an ambitious attempt to annex Cuba.  It failed, but it showed some real initiative and was ahead of its time since President Pierce showed a recognition of Cuba’s significance full century prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Buchanan faced crisis after crisis, which eventually led to the secession of seven states before Buchanan left office.  The other major event of Buchanan’s Administration was the Panic of 1857, which was a serious economic depression that didn’t end until after the Civil War.  Much like his “response” to secession, Buchanan did nothing to combat the Panic or the ensuing depression.

It’s no comparison.

Watergate was terrible for the country, but it wasn’t an actual Civil War.

Nixon did some important things before Watergate crippled him and the institution of the Presidency, Ford wasn’t as bad as people might think — he helped heal the country — and Carter was just ineffective, not outright bad.

Fillmore was an accidental President and if Zachary Taylor had lived, Fillmore wouldn’t have had the opportunity to help the slide towards Civil War occur more quickly.  Taylor and Fillmore disagreed on slavery even though Taylor was a Southern slaveholder and Fillmore was from New York.  Taylor felt that all of the new states added to the Union should be free states, but Fillmore was supportive of extending slavery to the territory gained during the Mexican-American War. 

Pierce was another “Doughface” — a Northerner with Southern sympathies — and he did nothing to stop the tension before the Civil War, continuing to appease the South and anger the North.  Buchanan was the worst President in American History.  States seceded from the Union during Buchanan’s Presidency and he made absolutely no attempt to stop secession. 

It’s no contest, Fillmore-Pierce-Buchanan was an atrociously bad trio of Presidents.