James Buchanan (1857-1861)

I had a terrific and funny High School teacher who said it best- James Buchanan is the only president from Pennsylvania. . .and we aren't proud of him. I know a few small historical anecdotes. . .but in summation it seems that everything this guy touched wilted.

Worst President in our nation's history. The guy was horrible.

A strong case can be made for this guy as the worst president in history. With the country lurching from crisis to crisis, and plodding with grim but unsteady steps towards civil war, he and his administration did precisely nothing. Hell of a way to discharge the oath of office.

James Buchanan was actually the only president who never married.  I learned that off of an old re-run of 'Welcome Back Kotter.'  All the sweathogs went to Buchanan High if you didn't know already.

Not strong or forceful said session was wrong but keeping those states in the Union was wrong also.

Just because he was gay doesnot mean he was bad.

He could have done more. He let the country slide into chaos.   He generally was bad news although the situation was probably hopeless.

There is only one U.S. president worse than Buchanan, and that is George W. Bush. Buchanan should have been tried for treason; there is no doubt his slave-owner sympathies and inaction brought on the calamitous U.S. Civil War.

He should definately be ranked below average because of incompetent crisis leadership but I'm not as hard on him as most historians. He tried his best to keep the union together during his term and avoid a horrible war. He was a lame duck when the first states seceeded. He was unsure of Lincoln's intentions and the public was not overwhelmingly in favor of the war prior to Ft. Sumter. A pre-emptive strike could have caused all of the border states to seceed and make the task nearly impossible for Lincoln.

this is my government project on james buchanan and i want to know if u guy/girls think it is "A" quality Less than average president ( James Buchanan ) The only president who never married, Buchanan was almost 66 years old when he succeeded his presidency. He was president when the fight over slavery began. President Buchanan was a prominent figure in American political life for nearly half a century, holding some of the nation's highest offices. With his diplomatic experience, Buchanan also became involved with foreign policy in the Senate, eventually chairing the Foreign Relations Committee. By the end of his ten terms in the senate, he was one of the most powerful senators in Congress. At the Democratic convention in 1856, Buchanan won the presidential nomination on the 17th ballot. In the fall he won an electoral victory, although he failed to get a popular majority over John C. Fremont, the Republican, and Millard Fillmore. Millard Fillmore was known as the know... Read more

Writer Christopher Buckley said it best, The Greatness That Was the Buchanan Era included Dred Scott, the economic panic of 1857, secession, and Fort Sumter. You have to look hard to find four more dismal nodes in American history. Open the Buchanan file to any random page and you'll find such accolades as: never regarded as a brilliant speaker, neither a brilliant nor visionary thinker, and even expelled from college. Ouch!

Think stating that one person or one factor started the Civil War is an oversimplification. Still, Buchanan was an inadequate administrator and president.

He tried his best to keep America out of war, I don't think that's wrong or bad at all.

simply ineffective

The most do nothing president the U.S. has ever had. Was more interested in himself than he was doing anything for the country. The pompous twit actually declared himself the last President of the United States at one point, apparently feeling that the Union would fall to the CSA. I don't know if he was gay or not, and I have no idea why some people feel the need to paint everyone in history as potentially gay, but I do know he was not a good president, gay or straight.

For those of us who went to school, the south started the civil war, not Buchanan. Although he was a democrat, he was not a bad president

Not the worst, but close there to. Did nothing, and thus he'll recieve nothing. He wrote a book defending his presidency. I would have read it, but I really don't want to read about his defending what he did not do.

He was from PA. And he wasn't named Bush. That makes him O.K. in my book.

MUCH better than W. I don't care if he was gay.

America's Neville Chamberlain. Did nothing to avert the Civil War (maybe he was too busy packin' Da Fudge). Pity that he was Pennsylvania's only president. Frank Rizzo would have been a better President.

A moral and diplomatic failure. There might not have been a Civil War if he had acted strongly. Yes, he was our worst president.

Really caused the Civil War.

does anybody know this guy??

Superb leader, paved the way for the Civil War which he left Lincoln to clean up. If we had Liberalism like Buchanan's still rife in the world we would be able to sort our conquests out much quicker. Didn't have a wife, interesting.

All in all an ineffective leader, but liberals make like the fact that he is considered the first homosexual president. There are several documented stories about his long-term relationship with Senator Rufus King of Alabama. In fact, they were known in some circles as Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy.

Horrible... putrid... I could go on for days with adjectives about this president, some even that I can't say on this site. Along with all his panic policies and his constant brown nosing towards the south, he also was the first president without a wife, and add all that together, you have the worst president of all time.

James Buchanan was elected President just as the bloodshed in Kansas was raging and the nation was on its way to Civil War. He made no secret of his feelings on slavery- he believed it to be a states' rights issue. His predacessor had made the same mistake, and lives were lost because of it. (1)Crisis Leadership: 1 out of 5 stars- Buchanan was just another one of those Presidents in the 1850s who did nothing to stop the war. His narrow-minded views on slavary brought us even closer to Civil War. The battle raged in Kansas, and Buchanan, in a narrow-minded move, begged Congress for Kansas's admission as a slave state. This failed and the issue of slavery in Kansas would not be resolved until 1861, when it was admitted as a free state. He also sided with the South when he offered a reward for the capture of John Brown, a black abolishionist who had been murdering pro-slavery advocates in the South. Brown's execution angered Northerners everywhere. The South, also was angered because it s... Read more

one

He did nothing but put off the enetible

Tough tim to be president. Did his bet. Love that Ostend Manifesto!

The only thing that kept me from rateing him a 1 is that he hung a man while in office. That took some balls with plublic image

"He never did anything to harm this nation." I saw that in one comment. Answer--he did plenty. Probably the worst president (and has been rated so by scholars) his arrogance and foolishness crippled the country. Firstly, we have the Panic of 1857--a panic for the North and not the South, which he did nothing to end, which served to cripple the unity of the country. Secondly, we have the Dred Scott Decision which Buchanan tried illegally to influence form the White House. Thirdly, we have his standby leadership when the Union was crumbling. Although he was in a tough spot, Buchanan could have done SOMETHING. By far a scholarly and intelliegtn man, he was ineffective and weak as a president and chosen unenthusiastically by the Democrats as a candidate in 1857 with "nothing on him."

I agree with abichara, not a good leader.

Should have been neutered.

A president is supposed to be a leader; Buchanan was not. His main goal was to appease the South, a leader does not appease, he tells the nation what has to be done in bad times. One of the worst presidents.

He didn't particularly do anything wrong during his tenure. In fact, he is a member of a small fraternity of presidents that have been elected to multiple terms (not that such is a prerequisite for greatness). Nonetheless, he never robbed Americans of their liberties or their Constitution. He oppossed Southern succession, but he (correctly) assumed that he didn't have any Constitutional right to prevent such action. While he doesn't deserve a full four stars, I will grant him this to counter the rather unfair lower ratings.

Left the country in shambles for Lincoln.