In anticipation of the observance of Presidents’ Day on Monday, Feb. 17, we’ll revisit some of the “behind-the-scenes occurrences” associated with U.S. presidents over time, beginning with James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, the 15th president who served one term from 1857-61.
James Buchanan Jr. was born into a Scottish-Irish family on April 23, 1791, in a log cabin on a farm called Stony Batter, near Cove Gap in Franklin County, located in the Allegheny Mountains of southern Pennsylvania. He was the second of 11 children and the eldest son of James Buchanan Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth Speer Buchanan.
President James Buchanan never married. He is the only bachelor president in American history. Yet, Buchanan was once deeply in love with and engaged to Anne Caroline Coleman.
Their love story and its tragic ending is “one of the strangest mysteries in American history…a tale of blighted romance that ended with a pledge of lifetime bachelorhood by the future president,” said historian Dr. Philip Shriver Klein, a contributor to American Heritage magazine.
In late November of 1819, Anne Coleman bitterly called off her pending wedding with James Buchanan. She died unexpectedly a few days later.
Dr. Klein said: “How different might have been the course of American history had James Buchanan married Anne Coleman and devoted his life to rural domesticity and the practice of law?”
“Anne Coleman was the outstanding ‘catch’ of Lancaster, Pa., in 1819,” Dr. Klein said. “It was for that reason, perhaps, that she was still unmarried at 23. Her wealth and social position were enough to awe the timid; her father’s protective care created a shield against the overzealous.”
“She was…proud, gentle, full of sensibility, lovely in person, tender and affectionate, intelligent and thoughtful,” Dr. Klein wrote. Others said the young woman “was inclined to be high-strung, impetuous and occasionally giddy.”
The community of Lancaster has retained its historic character.
In 1809, Buchanan, at age 17, had moved to Lancaster to practice law, and the “handsome, fair-haired, six-footer began his daily treks past the Coleman home from his law office to the courthouse,” Dr. Klein said. “Little by little, Buchanan worked his way into the confidence of Lancaster society, and at length was admitted to its most exclusive echelon, the iron circle.”
“By 1819, Buchanan had built a fine reputation in politics and in the law. He and Anne became engaged in the summer of 1819,” Dr. Klein reported. “Buchanan apparently did not spend much time in his courtship. Always conscientious, he consumed his time in business, apparently to the neglect of Anne Coleman.”
When gossip got back to Anne that Buchanan was seen visiting with a younger woman, Anne flew off the handle and “penned an angry note and released him from his engagement.” (As it was, Buchanan was observed paying his respect to a visiting relative of a business associate.)
Anne left town in a huff to go see an older sister in Philadelphia on Dec. 4, 1819. They were to see a series of stage plays at the theater.
“Early morning Dec. 9, the thunderbolt struck. A special messenger brought the shocking news that Anne Coleman had died at her sister’s home,” Dr. Klein said. “The news swept through Lancaster like a soul-chilling wind.”
“It seems certain that Anne Coleman died of an overdose of laudanum, though no one could be sure whether it was taken by instruction, by accident or by intent.”
Buchanan’s reaction was: “I feel that happiness has fled from me forever.”
“From this time forth, politics absorbed his whole life,” Dr. Klein said. “While at first it was chiefly a distraction, an escape, a vindication in his home community, politics at length became his chosen profession, in place of the law.”
“Marriage he purposely shunned throughout the remainder of his life, though there were many who had hopes of leading him to the altar. To such, Buchanan had a standard reply: ‘Marry he could not, for his affections were buried in the grave.’”
The fact that Buchanan preserved Anne Coleman’s love letters throughout his life “suggests that he never fully recovered from the crushing effect of her death,” Dr. Klein said.
These he tied in pink ribbon and endorsed with instructions that upon his death, the letters should be burned without reading. Buchanan died in 1868, due to respiratory failure. He was 77.
President Buchanan’s niece was his White House hostess
Evan Andrews of History.com, reported: “Few first ladies have captured the public imagination like Harriet Lane.” She deserves more that a footnote in American history.
Harriet, the youngest of
four children, became an orphan in 1941. At age 11, she “attached herself
voluntarily” to her Uncle James of Lancaster, Pa., who was at the time serving in
the U.S. Senate.
When Harriet’s “favorite uncle and guardian” whom she called “Nunc,” was elected U.S. president, Buchanan invited her to accompany him to Washington, D.C., in 1857 and serve in the role of “presidential hostess.” Harriet was 27; Nunc was 65.
“Miss Lane entered a White House in need of cheer and vitality,” wrote historian Sarah Fling. Her predecessor, First Lady Jane Pierce, spent her tenure at the Executive Mansion in mourning, having lost her only surviving son two months before President Franklin Pierce’s inauguration.”
“In stark contrast, Harriet Lane was a young, single hostess whose charm and intelligence immediately endeared her to the American people.” Fling said.
Alida Black of the White
House Historical Association said: “The popular Miss Lane flirted happily with
numerous beaux, calling them ‘pleasant but dreadfully troublesome.’ Buchanan
often warned her against ‘rushing precipitately into matrimonial connections.’”
“She enlivened social gatherings with a captivating mixture of spontaneity and poise.” She filled the White House with gaiety and flowers and showed a great appreciation for the arts.
Harriet Lane also had a flair for women’s fashion and became a trendsetter. The mark of distinction in Harriet Lane’s formal gowns was an unusually low neckline, her bosom line veiled by a strip of lace known as a “bertha.”
Harriet Lane, was hailed as
the new “Democratic queen” who had enlivened the Washington social scene.
Yet, the political climate during the Buchanan administration was ominous, as the nation was becoming divided over slavery and a host of other issues.
“As sectional tensions increased,” Black said, “Miss Lane worked out seating arrangements for her weekly formal dinner parties with special care, to give dignitaries their proper precedence and still keep political foes apart.”
“Her tact did not falter, but her task became impossible – as did her uncle’s,” Black wrote. “Seven states had seceded by the time Buchanan retired from office in 1861.” They were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
Harriet Lane was married in 1866, at age 35…with her uncle’s approval. Her groom was Henry Elliot Johnston, a Baltimore banker and railroad executive.
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During her lifetime,
Harriet Lane Johnston amassed a significant private art collection, which she
bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. A museum official
lauded Mrs. Johnston as the “First Lady of the National Collection of Fine
Arts.”
In addition, the Johnston
family dedicated a generous sum over the years to endow a home for invalid
children at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. The Harriet Lane Home
became a pioneer pediatric treatment, teaching and research clinic.
Today, the Harriet Lane Clinic
serves as a training site for medical students, pediatric residents and
fellows, who provide comprehensive health care services for approximately 8,500
children and youth each year.
After Harriet Lane
Johnston died in 1903, the Lancaster Examiner editorialist proclaimed: “If her
uncle had done his part as well as she did hers, history of a different sort
would be written.”
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