00:07 - Hi, I'm Joe Farley.

00:08 - And I'm Joe Farrell.

00:11 - And we're at Woodward Hill

00:11 - Cemetery in Lancaster,

00:13 - Pennsylvania at the grave of our

00:15 - 15th president, James Buchanan.

00:18 - Buchanan was the only president

00:19 - from Pennsylvania and the only

00:21 - president to never marry.

00:23 - Buchanan is widely considered to

00:24 - be one of the worst presidents

00:26 - in United States history.

00:27 - We looked at 15 polls that rated

00:29 - the presidents.

00:30 - In five of them, he was rated as

00:32 - the worst and he was never rated

00:34 - in any poll higher than fourth

00:37 - from the bottom of the list.

00:40 - In addition, in a poll of

00:42 - historians by Louisville

00:43 - University, Buchanan's feeble

00:45 - attempts to prevent the southern

00:47 - states from seceding was rated

00:49 - as the biggest blunder by any

00:51 - president ever.

00:53 - Buchanan was born in Cove Gap,

00:55 - Pennsylvania in 1791.

00:58 - He went to college at Dickinson

01:00 - College and after graduation,

01:01 - settled in Lancaster where he

01:03 - studied law and was admitted to

01:05 - the Pennsylvania Bar.

01:07 - His political career began at

01:08 - 1814 when he was elected to the

01:10 - Pennsylvania House of

01:11 - Representatives.

01:12 - He later went on to serve five

01:14 - terms in the U.S. House of

01:15 - Representatives and from 1832 to

01:18 - 1834, he was our ambassador to

01:20 - Russia.

01:21 - In 1834, Buchanan was elected to

01:23 - the United States Senate. In

01:26 - 1845, President Polk offered him

01:28 - a position on the United States

01:29 - Supreme Court.

01:31 - But he turned down that

01:32 - nomination.

01:33 - He did serve as Polk's Secretary

01:35 - of State throughout his

01:37 - administration.

01:39 - President Pierce appointed

01:40 - Buchanan Minister to the United

01:42 - Kingdom.

01:43 - He served in that position until

01:44 - 1856. In 1856 at the Democratic

01:48 - convention, Buchanan secured the

01:50 - nomination for president on the

01:51 - 17th ballot.

01:53 - He went on to defeat John

01:54 - Fremont, the first Republican

01:56 - candidate for president. Two

01:58 - days after Buchanan took office,

02:00 - the United States Supreme Court

02:01 - issued the Dred Scott decision.

02:04 - This decision held that the

02:05 - federal government had no power

02:07 - to limit the spread of slavery

02:08 - in the United States.

02:10 - Buchanan was thought to be a

02:11 - supporter of that decision and

02:12 - in fact Abraham Lincoln accused

02:15 - Buchanan of supporting slave

02:17 - power.

02:18 - Buchanan's sympathies divided

02:20 - the Democratic Party between the

02:22 - Northern Democrats and the

02:23 - Southern Democrats.

02:25 - In 1858, Republicans gained

02:27 - control of Congress and blocked

02:29 - everything Buchanan wanted to do

02:31 - including the purchase of Cuba,

02:33 - which ironically would have

02:35 - avoided the Spanish-American

02:36 - War.

02:37 - Buchanan didn't run for

02:38 - re-election in 1860, but he had

02:40 - divided his party, which allowed

02:42 - Abraham Lincoln to become the

02:44 - first Republican president. When

02:46 - he met Lincoln, when Lincoln

02:47 - moved into the White House,

02:49 - Buchanan told Lincoln "I hope

02:50 - you're as happy moving in as I

02:52 - am moving out."

02:53 - Buchanan died here in Lancaster

02:55 - in 1868 at the age of 77.

02:59 - Ironically, directly across from

03:02 - his grave faces the grave stone

03:05 - of Lieutenant Elie Bostwick.

03:08 - Bostwick died in the Battle of

03:10 - Antietam.

03:11 - He was 25 years old and it was

03:13 - his 19th battle.

03:15 - You can learn more about James

03:16 - Buchanan in our book "Keystone

03:18 - Tombstones Vol. 1" available at

03:20 - sunburypress.com.