Was James Buchannan really gay

Nobody knows. There were suspicions about his supposed relationship with William R King of Alabama, another bachelor, and VP in 1853, with whom Buchanan shared lodgings for a time. But no real evidence. JAMES BUCHANAN 15th PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES James Buchanan was named after his father. During the summer of 1819, Buchanan, 28, became engaged to Ann C. Coleman, 23, daughter of millionaire, Robert Coleman, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. By all accounts, Miss Coleman was a lovely woman - shy, sensitive, and attractive. The couple quarreled frequently. She abrubtly called off the engagement and returned to Philadelphia to live with relatives. On December 9, 1819, she died suddenly. Her death is questionable, but most historians believe that she had commited suicide. Buchanan was devastated, saying, "I have lost the only earthly object of my affections." Buchanan also said, "...without whom life now presents to me a dreary blank...I feel that my happiness will be buried with her in the grave." That her father held him responsible for her death was made clear when he returned, unopened, Buchanan's request to be permitted to take part in Miss Coleman's funeral survices. Just what caused this quarrel between Buchanan and Miss Coleman's father is unknown. According to rumor, Miss Coleman called off the wedding because she came to believe that James Buchanan was marrying her for her family's money. Many years later, Buchanan let it be known that he had placed under a seal certain materials that would explain the trivial matter over which they ended their relationship. On his death, however, the sealed materials that Buchanan placed were discovered with a note ordering them to be destroyed- unexamined and unopened- upon the day of his death. Executors of President Buchanan's estate was fully complied, and thus, his document is forever lost to history. Before his fiance's death, James Buchanan had intended to build quietly, his law practice. But with Buchanan's future unsettled, he agreed to run for Congress, largely from distraction from his grief and, thus, became president. James Buchanan never married, becoming the only bachelor president in United States history. When he became president, he appointed his orphaned niece, Harriet Lane, as the official White House hostess - thus coining the official term "First Lady." During the Franklin Pierce administration, many aides have quoted Pierce as describing James Buchanan as, "...fruttier than an nutcake..." This could be in reference to his sexual orientation, but this is mere speculation. SCOTT MENZEL