James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, was born in a log cabin in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania in Franklin County, on April 23, 1791.
His parents both of Ulster Scots descent were James Buchanan, Sr. (1761–1821), a businessman, merchant, and farmer, and Elizabeth Speer, an educated woman (1767–1833).
Buchanan is the only US president to have military experience without having been an officer. He was a private in the Pennsylvania militia in 1814.
A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 17th United States secretary of state and had served in the Senate and House of Representatives before becoming president.
Buchanan helped draft the Ostend Manifesto, which laid down the framework for the U.S. to purchase Cuba from Spain.
He was a major contender for his party's presidential nomination throughout the 1840s and 1850s and was finally nominated in 1856. He defeated Republican John C. Frémont and Know-Nothing Millard Fillmore to win the 1856 election.
James Buchanan (1791-1868) was the only unmarried president of the United States. His orphaned niece, Harriet Lane, served as White House hostess.
Buchanan was engaged for a time to a certain Anne Colman. However, in 1819, after a fight between the pair, she called off the engagement. Anne Colman died later that year in what some have said was a suicide.
While his biographers argue that Buchanan was asexual or celibate, several writers have put forth arguments that he was homosexual or bisexual. A source of this interest has been the relationship Buchanan had with his close friend William Rufus King (who became Vice President under Franklin Pierce). Andrew Jackson nicknamed the two Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy.
Both the largest and the smallest dogs to live in the White House were during the tenure of President James Buchanan. The dogs in question were a Newfoundland named Lara and a tiny toy terrier named Punch.
James Buchanan owned a pair of bald eagles given to him by a friend who lived in San Francisco.
President James Buchanan got the nickname "Ten-Cent Jimmy" after he claimed that 10¢ a day was a fair wage for manual laborers.
Buchanan was certainly a good host. When England's Prince of Wales came to visit in the fall of 1860, so many guests came with him, it's said the president slept in the hallway.
James Buchanan was morally opposed to slavery, but believed it was protected by the constitution, and so he consistently bought slaves with his own money in Washington, D.C., and then set them free in Pennsylvania.
Buchanan caught a cold in May 1868, which quickly worsened due to his advanced age. He died on June 1, 1868, from respiratory failure at the age of 77 at his home at Wheatland and was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.
Source Greatfacts.com
Buchanan was engaged for a time to a certain Anne Colman. However, in 1819, after a fight between the pair, she called off the engagement. Anne Colman died later that year in what some have said was a suicide.
While his biographers argue that Buchanan was asexual or celibate, several writers have put forth arguments that he was homosexual or bisexual. A source of this interest has been the relationship Buchanan had with his close friend William Rufus King (who became Vice President under Franklin Pierce). Andrew Jackson nicknamed the two Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy.
James Buchanan owned a pair of bald eagles given to him by a friend who lived in San Francisco.
President James Buchanan got the nickname "Ten-Cent Jimmy" after he claimed that 10¢ a day was a fair wage for manual laborers.
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| James Buchanan (1859) by George Healy as seen in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC |
Buchanan was certainly a good host. When England's Prince of Wales came to visit in the fall of 1860, so many guests came with him, it's said the president slept in the hallway.
James Buchanan was morally opposed to slavery, but believed it was protected by the constitution, and so he consistently bought slaves with his own money in Washington, D.C., and then set them free in Pennsylvania.
Buchanan caught a cold in May 1868, which quickly worsened due to his advanced age. He died on June 1, 1868, from respiratory failure at the age of 77 at his home at Wheatland and was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.
Source Greatfacts.com
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