james buchanon had announced at his swearing in that he would be a one-term president.do a regular presidential leadership survey and james buchanon always falls at the bottom of the list as the worst leader of american presidential history. how would you characterize his leadership skills and how he conducted his administration and how he left the country, as it moved toward the 1860 election. >> yes, and it does seem to be the way historians assess him in large part, of course, because the next thing we know it's the civil war, and so it feels like a categorical criticism of him. his administration came under a lot of criticism. he was sympathetic to the south. he championed the dread scott decision which many americans felt like was a complete abdecation of leadership and the betrayal of interest that drove the republican party against the abolition of slavery in the west, and i think he really earns that number one spot in terms of how he conducts the transition and that is a way in which he openly rejects secession. he believes in the union, but he also consistentl