President-elect James Buchanan had no idea what was happening to his body. But political Washington had its suspicions.

Buchanan left Washington by train on the day after the inaugural and arrived in Lancaster on March 6. Buchanan’s carriage driver, Pat Sherry, was the first to greet him when he stepped off the ...

So when Buchanan became gravely ill before his inaugural address, it wasn’t a stretch to suspect an assassination attempt. The presidential entourage all stayed at the posh National Hotel on ...

But inaugural addresses and analysis of the speeches ... until photography became more frequently used. James Buchanan was the first president to have a photograph taken at his swearing-in.

Buchanan was the only first-term president to use his inaugural address to declare himself a lame duck. Given that the country fell apart and slid into the tragedy of the Civil War on his watch ...

Buchanan said his most enduring inaugural memory involves Inhofe. “In 2017, it was pouring down rain. We were guests of Jim Inhofe, sitting very close to the front. I look up, and way at the ...

The inaugural parade of 1857, on a March day that was surprisingly warm, celebrated President-elect James Buchanan with something new to Washington parades: floats. There was the “Goddess of ...