2
James Buchanan: Lifelong Bachelor
The 15th president never married, and lived for more than a decade with his best friend, William Rufus King. Contemporaries called them “the Siamese twins,” and teased that King—nicknamed “Aunt Fancy”— was the president’s “better half” and “wife.”
When King, reportedly something of a fop, was appointed ambassador to France, Buchanan wrote a friend:
“I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them.”
He added that he didn’t think it was good for him to be alone and “I should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick … and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection.”
Buchanan actually made King his vice president (the only bachelor VP in American history), but King died of tuberculosis six weeks after being sworn in.
“I’m sure that Buchanan was gay,” says historian James W. Loewen. “There is clear evidence that he was gay. And since I haven’t seen any evidence that he was heterosexual, I don’t believe he was bisexual.”
No comments:
Post a Comment