The Utah War and the Civil War were not the only conflicts that arose on James Buchanan's watch. In the Pacific Northwest, another arose that became infamously known as "the Pig War" though somewhat fortunately, the only casualties in this one were porcine. The Pig War was a confrontation that took place in 1859 between the United States and the
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Alternate Presidents is a collection of 28 short stories edited by Mike Resnick, speculating on what history might have been like if the outcome of 28 presidential elections would have been different. This anthology was released on February 15, 1992. This book is a delight to read. Resnick, a Hugo Award winning science fiction writer, also
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In 1852 Millard Fillmore's term as president ended. He had become president in July of 1850, upon the death of the sitting President Zachary Taylor and he hoped to be the Whig Party's candidate for President in 1852, but unfortunately for him, that didn't pan out. Fillmore had become unpopular with northern Whigs for signing and enforcing the
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Harriet Lane was not technically a first lady in that she was not the wife of a president. She was the niece of President James Buchanan, the only bachelor president, and she served as official White House hostess during his administration and in that capacity was able to wield considerable influence in a time when such influence was rare.
On July 24, 1862 (162 years ago today), Martin Van Buren, the 8th President of the United States and the first President from New York, died in the same community where he was born, Kinderhook, New York, at the age of 79.
James Buchanan attended Abraham Lincoln's inauguration, and he left his successor a mess. As Buchanan rode in a carriage with Abraham Lincoln to Lincoln's inauguration, Buchanan is said to have remarked, “My dear sir, if you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed.”
It's almost a certainty that Franklin Pierce was an alcoholic. He died from cirrhosis of the liver, and he is quoted as saying "after being President, there's nothing left to do but get drunk." Whether this quote is authentic or apocryphal, the sentiment expressed in it appears to match Pierce's post-presidential life.
Millard Fillmore was the second Vice-President to become President upon the death of the incumbent. He would turn out to be the last President from the Whig Party and despite his desire to hold on to the job and run for re-election, his party had ideas. The Compromise of 1850 that Fillmore had supported made him unpopular in the north, especially
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Martin Van Buren served only one term as President. He lost his bid for re-election largely because the fiscal policies of his predecessor Andrew Jackson had led to a great recession known as the Panic of 1837, and because the Whigs ran a slick campaign against him, painting him as aristocratic and out of touch. At the end of his term, Van Buren
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Perhaps the most difficult presidential transition in history took place in 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected to succeed James Buchanan. It was a time when sectional strife and division rose to such a high level that it split the Democratic Party and caused many to worry that the president-elect would not live to see his inauguration.