Talk:James Buchanan

Question about factual statement

I have a question about the following statement in the article.

Buchanan remains most recent of the two Democrats (the other being Martin Van Buren) to succeed a fellow Democrat to the Presidency via election in his own right.

To cite two cases that seem to contradict this, Truman and Johnson both won elections to be president and both succeeded fellow Democrats. I think the author means the most recent who did not originally come into office upon assassination, but that is not the literal statement made.

A minor point perhaps. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Noetsi (talk • contribs) 22:53, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

He lived in the James Buchanan Hotel?

From November 5, 2009 to June 2, 2010, this article stated:

He spent his childhood living in the James Buchanan Hotel

For 7 months, nobody thought to edit that? Brings to question the Reliability of Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jms2000 (talk • contribs) 18:45, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Birth Date

The article says Buchanan was born on April 23, but the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission web site says it was April 21. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.143.253.141 (talk) 21:26, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Split section: Presidency of James Buchanan

Two reasons I propose the split:

1. The article establishes throughout that his presidency was one of the most significant and consequential in U.S. history, in that he presided over (and incited) a series of clashes over slavery that all culminated in secession, which also happened on his watch. The article cites Buchanan's status as among the worst (and in many polls the worst) President in history, and the historical consensus that his secession policies were the biggest presidential mistake in history. All of this is substantial enough in presidential history to warrant its own page, isn't it?

1. The Presidency section is already over half the article, and there's quite a bit of his presidency that's left out of it: controversy around the makeup of his cabinet; foreign policy, including intrigues with Britain and Latin America; the administration's dealing with the Panic of 1857; etc. It's stuff that deserves inclusion and would make the Presidency section even longer and more capable of standing on its own as an article.

Thoughts? Msclguru (talk) 16:17, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Counties named after Buchanan

The article says that Buchanan County, Virginia was named after President Buchanan, but the article concerning that county says that the county was named after John Buchanan, a surveyor. Moreover, the Virginia county is pronounced Buck-hannon County, which seems unlikely if it was named after the president.

William H. Wright, Jr. 148.170.241.1 (talk) 22:55, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

I read that Andrew Jackson referred to him as Buck-hannon but that was in jest.

Was James Buchanan HOMO-SEXUAL???

I recently found information from a book that James Buchanan had lived with Rufus King for sixteen years. At least two other references said that Buchanan had an INTIMATE relationship with King. Does this mean Buchanan is our first HOMO-SEXUAL president??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aruda556 (talk • contribs) 23:31, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Kansas

How could president Buchannan have had trouble with Kansas in 1854 if his presidency didn't start until 1857? Something's scrambled there, and with Buchannan in England for most of Pierce's presidency, it's probably the date. -- Jeffryfisher (talk) 20:01, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

good point. I fixed it. Rjensen (talk) 20:57, 9 December 2010 (UTC)