and i mean your subject, president james buchanan. he thought succession was illegal. what might he have done between january and march of 1861 to make sure the rebellion died maybe in 1860 but perhaps in the first two months and one week of the new year? >> i must preface my remarks by saying, whenever i tell people at social events, cocktail parties that i'm working on a biography of james buchanan i get sort of a blank stare. inevitably the question arises, what would james buchanan do? it's a very simple answer. nothing. but, seriously, he could have done something. obviously, we all know that he like his predecessor franklin pierce and pierce's predecessor were doe faces, northerners who had great sympathy for the south. buchanan was greatly conflicted with this whole crisis. he was a devoted to the union at the same time he had great emotional attachment to the south. he was a man with few friends. those friends were southerners. what he could have done differently, i think, is that he could have reached out to those faxes who he despisecxes who h . republicans,

harriet lane had been in england with her uncle, james buchanan, at st. james. she knew how to do it all. she -- mrs. grimsley claims that mrs. lincoln introduced fresh flowers. she didn't. harriet lane did. and there were fresh flowers. they had dances. one of the kind of dances they held, they used to put crash down in the east room and have an artist come in with colored pencils and do pictures of it and then they would dance the picture off. jefferson davis claimed at one time that he had the u.s. flag on his floor and danced it off. but that was always denied. so mrs. lincoln had a hard row to hoeaddition, she wasn't very good at it. she couldn't get along with the white house staff at all. the white house staff is unlike any other staff on earth. they're like a family. you know, when you see a memoir by a member of a white house staff, you'd better look twice because those people don't write memoirs. they have an utter loyalty to the house. well, because of the racial -- the north-south problems buchanan dismissed all of the african-american servants becau

i think one of the fascinating areas in terms of james buchanan is what in the terms of what he didn't do is the things he didn't do that could've made things far worse for lincoln coming in including recognizing the confederacy. just what was his motivation? was it shear passivity? or did he genuinely have few remaining principles that he was not going to put lincoln in a worse position than he already was? >> well, you -- is this on? you must keep in mind that he was making his decisions with only several months remaining. and he wanted to get out of town without -- no, seriously. he wanted to e get out of town without having the war started on his watch. he made it very clear that, and he states this that i will do nothing that will incite any kind of a war or conflict. and i think the prime example of this is even though he did send a message to the commissioners from south carolina that he would protect and respond militarily to any kind of attack on a fort or interfere with the carrying out of federal law when he did send a relief expedition to the west to relieve ft. sumter when

of all times he had seen the white house, the most brilliant was the time of harriet lane and james buchananer all lincoln did thank buchanan for holding the union together until he got there, but buchanan, you know, they got the tremor, the crack of the whip on all the sectional business, but it was actually very splendid white house. they sent a lot of stuff to auction that people would like to have today and some has come back. they refurnished rooms. they had parties. it was like the diplomatic community that they had been part of, he and his daughter had been part of. it was a very almost to cover up what was going on, but they had -- he split the cabinet, of course, over sectionalism, and he was a unionist, and they had to make dinner lists to be careful who they had because they had a fight over the dinner table, and, in fact, nikolay was sent, you probably all know this, throw me out, but nikolay was sent pi lincoln to washington early to meet with the secretary of state, and everything social passed through the secretary of state. one reason mrs. lincoln hated the secretary of state

wall recognizes buchanan's early career in the courtroom at a temperament more suited to the bench than the political arena. diplomacy pays tribute to his service as jamese k. ironically, buchanan's gifts of conciliation seemed to desert him in the white house. by encouraging pro slavery forces in kansas, he inadvertently split his own party ri

james and czarist russia. ironically buchanan'sonciliations seemed to desert him in the white house. by encouraging pro-slavery forces in kansas, he inadvertently split his own party right down the middle. following the election of abraham lincoln, buchanan looked on helplessly as several southern states left the union. although he opposed secession, his narrow reading of the constitution persuaded buchanan that the federal government had no right to prevent it by force. all of which helped to explain why there was no statue of our 15th president in the nation's capital until a devoted niece will it had almost a century after his presidency. ♪ listen to the

he lied saying that james buchanan who at the time was a pennsylvania congressman had acted as the go-between for clay and his camp. that's the jacksonian camp but clay came out and said, no, i didn't, publicly said, i did not do this for henry clay and it didn't matter. >> if you two were going to have a dinner and invite historical guests, would you rather have andrew jackson at your table or henry clay? >> henry clay. he was a fun man at a party. >> he'd stand for the drinks. >> what would you get if you had andrew jackson at your table? >> a courtly, withdrawn, and possibly sour person. jackson was very polite. chivalrious with women. after the 1829 speech he called on jackson to show that it wasn't anything personal and this was the way the game was played, like professional wrestling, you know, where they go out and have a drink after the bout and was somewhat surprised that jackson was so chilly and aloof. adam, john quincy adams, had the same impression. he and jackson were looking over a map about something and jackson just exploded about william h. crawford who was the secretary of

this defense belongs in the housing bubble credit card debt and of course the government to end james buchanan's observation that apparently politicians are a force for dust under pressure to expand it more than they are going to tax. we know what they have to do. how do we get them to do it? they had a new inflation in the johnson poverty war is a much more serious recovery at us about the credit that we seek an end. where does that fit into your equation? >> first of all, getting into this mess i think was because of too much debt, but it was encouraged by government policy and in my book i focused a lot on the period from 2003, 2004, she doesn't fight for the federal reserve took interest rates quite low compared to the policies they followed in the 80s and 90s and i believe that was the fact there in excesses of mortgages, very low teaser rates to get people to adjusted rate mortgages and a search for yield at its peak for people to come higher risks in more deaths and other aspects of policy. fannie mae and freddie mac are actively up on the list. so there were these dead issues, but a larg

the two that i am particularly involved with in freedom's cap, franklin pearce and james buchanan were really good though. so most of the action took place in the senate, where you could see henry clay, john c. calhoun, daniel webster, thomas hart bandstand, stephena douglas, jefferson davis, sam houston, the names everybody knew. not only did everybody know them, but they stayed and were in washington all time. they came and went. but the senators were forever and they were the stars. people love to be able to get seats in the gallery there and watch the debate. there is another thing that was wrong and besides having not too much space, with the senate was very hot in the summer, very cold in the winter. there were 20 that fat he hind the vice president's chair because the vice president was actually served as the president of the senate. senator walked behind the president of the senate in these old guys with hands on behind walking around and standing in front of this does, warming their hands. when they were doing that, they were sitting in chairs wrapped in buffalo robes and wrap

james buchanan. best of you are absolutely right. we do not elect a first lady. once they are elected, and they are a partner, the spouse is a partner in the process. has a tremendous opportunity and a platform immediately to talk about issues that they care about. we have an increasingly greater expectation as americans that the president and spouse do something with this time that they have of living in the white house. host: the role of spouses and first lady is in presidential elections. the comments of michelle obama the generated a lot of attention as she was campaigning for her husband. [video clip] >> what we have learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. it is making a comeback. let me tell you something. for the first time in my adult lifetime, i am proud of my country. and not just because barack obama has done well, but because i think people are hungry for change. host: people are hungry for change, first time being proud. that generated a lot of political buzz in 2008. guest: i remember it as well. we had just touched down in sloveni

james and darus bradshaw. ironically, buchanan'sonciliation seemed to dessert him in the white house. he inadvertently split his own party right down the middle. following the election of abraham lincoln, buchanan looked on helplessly as several states left the union. his reading of the constitution persuaded buchanan that the federal government had no right to prevent it by force. all of which helped to explain why there was no statue of our 15th president in the nation's capital until a devoted niece wielded it almost a century after his presidency. ♪ listen to the mocking bird listen to the mocking bird ♪ ♪ they're singing with a hallowed wind ♪ >> this week on the civil war. historians and authors discuss the battle of shiloh, fought 150 years ago in harden county, tennessee, april 6 and 7th, 1852. the battle resulted in a union victory over confederate forces attempting to defend two major western railroads, serving the strategically important mississippi valley region. nearly 110,000 troops took part in the fighting which prod

host: only one single president since james buchanan. guest: you're right.e do not elect the first lady but we elect the president but once they are elected and they are a partner and the spouse is a partner in the process and has a tremendous opportunity and a platform neimmediately to talk about issues that they care about and raise issues that they care about and we have an increasing expectation as americans that the president's spouse step up there and do something with this privilege and this time that they have of living in the white house. host: the role of spouses and the role of first ladies in american presidential politics and i want to share with you again, one of the moments from the 2008 campaign, the comments of michelle obama that generated a lot of attention as she was campaigning for her husband. [video clip] but what we've learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. it is making a comeback and let me tell you something, for the first time in my adult lifetime, i'm really proud of my country. and not just because barack has d

diplomacy pays tribute to his service as james k poke secretary of state and u.s. minster to the court. buchan buchanan'sift seemed to desert him in the white house. he split his own party right down the middle. following the election, they left the union. he opposed his section, his now reading of the constitution persuaded the federal government that they had no right. they were almost a century after the presidency.