![]() ![]() ![]() Google James Buchanan and you inevitably discover the assertion that American history has declared him to be the first gay president. The problem, of course, is that James Buchanan, our nation’s only bachelor president, had no woman to call his “better half.” But, as Brown’s letter implies, there was a man who fit the bill. Buchanan looks gloomy & dissatisfied & so did his better half until a little private flattery & a certain newspaper puff which you doubtless noticed, excited hopes that by getting a divorce she might set up again in the world to some tolerable advantage.” In a “confidential” letter to future first lady Sarah Polk, Brown savaged Buchanan and “his better half,” writing: “Mr. A recent spat in the Washington Daily Globe had stirred his political rivals into full froth-Aaron Venable Brown of Tennessee was especially enraged. ![]() Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942Īt the start of 1844, James Buchanan’s presidential aspirations were about to enter a world of trouble. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution transfer from the National Gallery of Art gift of the A.W. Detail of portrait of President James Buchanan by artist George Peter Alexander Healy ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |