Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
Join the @BobbleheadGeorge crew and Periodic Presidents for a look at POTUS #15, James Buchanan! James Buchanan had a lot of nicknames: "10-Cent Jimmy," "Old Buck," and "Old Public Functionary." Most historians, however, just call him the worst. On paper, Buchanan was highly qualified...serving as a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, Foreign Minister to both Russia and Great Britain, and as Secretary of State for president Polk. This didn't translate into a successful presidency. Presiding over a rapidly dividing Nation, Buchanan inadequately grasped the political realities of the time. Relying on constitutional doctrines to close the widening rift over slavery, he failed to understand that the North would not accept constitutional arguments which favored the South. In 1860, when seven Southern States seceded, President Buchanan was dismayed and hesitant. He denied the legal right of states to secede but held that the Federal Government legally could not prevent them. In March 1861 he retired to his Pennsylvania home Wheatland–where he died seven years later–leaving his successor to resolve the frightful issue facing the Nation.
Join the @BobbleheadGeorge crew and Periodic Presidents for a look at POTUS #15, James Buchanan! James Buchanan had a lot of nicknames: "10-Cent Jimmy," "Old Buck," and "Old Public Functionary." Most historians, however, just call him the worst. On paper, Buchanan was highly qualified...serving as a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, Foreign Minister to both Russia and Great Britain, and as Secretary of State for president Polk. This didn't translate into a successful presidency. Presiding over a rapidly dividing Nation, Buchanan inadequately grasped the political realities of the time. Relying on constitutional doctrines to close the widening rift over slavery, he failed to understand that the North would not accept constitutional arguments which favored the South. In 1860, when seven Southern States seceded, President Buchanan was dismayed and hesitant. He denied the legal right of states to secede but held that the Federal Government legally could not prevent them. In March 1861 he retired to his Pennsylvania home Wheatland–where he died seven years later–leaving his successor to resolve the frightful issue facing the Nation.
