Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 26: Hail to the future Chief

James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, was born on Saturday, April 23,1791. For a president who didn't appear to be that good at presidenting, there are a number of aspects of his presidency worth noting:

• Buchanan was the last president born in the 18th century.
• He was the only President with military experience who was not an officer
• He was the last President to have fought in the War of 1812
• And, as most people know, he was the only bachelor President (a source of rampant speculation about his sexual orientation, though he did profess sadness at the sudden death of his fiancee Anne Coleman)

Of course, none of this outweighs his performance as President, which saw him consistently act in sympathy with southern slave owners and do little, if anything, to prevent the secession of the states that made up the future Confederacy. This table of Presidential rankings will give you an idea of how he's veiwed relative to the other Presidents. Spoiler alert: it's not good.