Review of James Buchanan by Jean Baker

James Buchanan, the fifteenth president of the United States, was the third of a hapless trio of presidents who, for their lack of creative efforts to attempt to stave off secession and Civil War, consistently rank among in the bottom ten in historians’ rankings of US presidents.  Buchanan, more often than not, ranks dead last. Why was Buchanan, who entered into office as one of the most experienced US statesmen and diplomats in American history, such a failure as a president?

Many historians of the past have claimed that Buchanan’s failure was due primarily to his indecisiveness and his lack of assertiveness as a leader.  In James Buchanan, part of the “American Presidents” series of brief presidential biographies, historian Jean Baker argues just the opposite.  Baker claims that even though he did occasionally suffer from indecision, just as any leader does, Buchanan was normally a highly decisive and assertive leader.  These qualities, normally positive in a leader, proved to be negatives in Buchanan’s case, because in him they were wedded to a dogged pro-Southern orientation and an intense hatred for abolitionists and Republicans.

Among Buchanan’s many pro-Southern decisions, Baker especially highlights two.  The first is Buchanan’s support of the so-called “Lecompton Constitution” of 1857, which was approved by a minority of Kansas voters, all of whom who were pro-slavery, and some of whom did not even reside in Kansas. Although the Lecompton Constitution ultimately did not stand, Buchanan’s support of it emboldened southern “fire eaters” while simultaneously adding credence to the “Slave Power Conspiracy” held by an increasing number of northerners.  It was a clear failure to support fairness and legal procedure.

Another of Buchanan’s pro-Southern decisions that Baker views as key was his ordering Major Robert Anderson, the commander of Fort Sumter, to relocate the fort’s garrison to Fort Moultrie.  Due to Fort Moultrie’s location on South Carolina’s mainland, the fort and its garrison would easily have been captured by South Carolina forces.  Anderson knew this and wisely chose to disobey Buchanan’s orders, leading to the famous confrontation at Fort Sumter that began the Civil War.  As Baker points out, Buchanan’s order seems to indicate that he wanted the garrison to be captured.

Not only this, but Buchanan (willingly or not, we will likely never know) allowed certain of his cabinet officials to take measures that assisted the South and thereby made the Confederacy harder to defeat after war broke out.  Most notorious were the actions of Secretary of War John Floyd, who distributed cannon and small arms throughout the South immediately after secession.  If these actions occurred without Buchanan’s knowledge, he must be considered barely competent; if they occurred with his knowledge, he is guilty of treason.  In any case, Buchanan’s failure to stand up to the South prior to or after secession, clearly makes him one of the worst, if not THE worst, American presidents.

James Buchanan is well-written and persuasive.  Baker has provided students of American history with an excellent introduction to our fifteenth president.