James Buchanan

President of the United States from 1857 to 1861

  • Fame76.7
  • Momentum0.9
  • Politicians rank#231
Source-basedStable
  • Fame76.7
  • Momentum0.9
  • Politicians rank#231
  • Wikipedia106.6K
Lived 1791–1868, aged 77United States
  • Wikipedia
    132 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1791–1868
    Aged 77
Summary
Updated 2026-06-08

The only president historians consistently rank as the worst. Buchanan watched the Union fracture and did almost nothing — advocated for states' rights on slavery, intervened to tilt the Dred Scott case, then froze as the South seceded.

Biography

About

Born in Pennsylvania in 1791, Buchanan was a lawyer who climbed steadily: five terms in the House, eleven years in the Senate, secretary of state under Polk, minister to Russia and later to the United Kingdom. He chased the Democratic nomination for years before finally winning the presidency in 1856. Two days after his inauguration in 1857, the Supreme Court handed down Dred Scott — a pro-slavery ruling he'd quietly lobbied for. He pushed to admit Kansas as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution and pledged to serve only one term. In 1860 he backed his vice president, but the Democrat…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from James Buchanan

James Buchanan
said
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.
Said to Abraham Lincoln on the ride back from Lincoln's inauguration as president (4 March 1861); as quoted in James Buchanan (2004) by
James Buchanan
said
It is said that serious apprehensions are to some extent entertained (in which I do not share) that the peace of this District may be disturbed before the 4th of March next.
Speech to Congress (8 January 1861).
James Buchanan
said
All agree that under the Constitution slavery in the States is beyond the reach of any human power except that of the respective States themselves wherein it exists.
Inaugural address (4 March 1857).
James Buchanan
said
I am now ‘solitary and alone,’ having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them.
Letter sent to a friend regarding his loneliness following his friend, William R. King, leaving for Paris. (1844). —
James Buchanan
saidundated
You have lost a child, a dear, dear child. I have lost the only earthly object of my affection.... I have now one request to make,... deny me not.
Letter returned to him unopened, to the father of his former fiancée Ann Coleman, written after her death, rumored to have been suicide
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By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
76.7
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum0.9
Historical27.8
Now attention5.0
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
Global rank
Country rank
Category rank
#231
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence