The "Fancy" President Buchanan: Our First Gay President?

[Better Believe It]

Weekend Edition
December 17 - 19, 2010

The Fancy Mr. Buchanan
Our Gay Commander-in-Chief
By HARVEY WASSERMAN

As "conservatives" scream and yell about gays in the military, they might remember that in all likelihood we have already had a gay Commander-in-Chief.

His name was James Buchanan. He was the 15th President of the United States.

A Democrat from Pennsylvania, Buchanan is discreetly referred to in official texts as "our only bachelor president."

In fact, many historians believe that he may well have been "married" to William Rufus King, a pro-slavery Democrat from Alabama who was our only bachelor Vice President.

The two men lived together for years. Andrew Jackson, never one to shy from bullhorn bigotry, was among those who variously referred to them as "Aunt Nancy" and "Mr. Fancy." Other Washington wags called them "Mr. & Mrs. Buchanan," and the like.


James Buchanan

Read the full article at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/wasserman12172010.html

[Radical Activist]

1. Probably.

I know there are people who argue that Lincoln was the first gay President. It's obviously tempting to do so with our most popular President, as opposed to Buchanan, who was one of the worst. But, the evidence is stronger that Buchanan was gay. The case for Lincoln is pretty thin.

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. Unfortunately, our first gay president was also probably the worst...

until W came along.

[Better Believe It]

3. Certainly one of the worst. That is true.

[Creative]

4. James Buchanan is indeed ranked as the worst...

Unfortunately, W didn't make the bottom 10.

http://www.usnews.com/listings/worst-presidents/james-buchanan

[TheWraith]

6. Ironically, both for similar reasons.

Incompetent men being run by their advisors. Although in Buchanan's case, this worked out well in the end--when the southern states started seceding, it was his hardline Northern Democrat cabinet that prevented him from making any moves of recognition that might have undermined later the case for treating the CSA as an illegal rebellion.

[TheWraith]

5. Yeah, in fact it's almost a given based on what we know of him.

His behavior was about as openly gay as it got for his era.

[monmouth]

11. Let's see what Pat Buchanan has to say....LOL...n/t

[Faygo Kid]

7. W was the worst; Andrew Johnson probably second. Buchanan was bottom 5.

He gets a pass because his dithering allowed time for Lincoln's election. If the South had seceded while Buchanan was president, things would be quite different today.

[Odin2005]

8. He was probably the worst president too, unfortunately.

[TroglodyteScholar]

9. Wow

William Rufus King is in my family tree, but I never knew any details of his personal life. Kinda crazy to stumble on this...thanks for posting. :hi:

[outerSanctum]

10. Not likely....

n/t