James Buchanan Part I: Safe Choice, Dangerous Moment

James Buchanan didn’t sneak into the presidency. He arrived with a résumé longer than most 19th-century novels.By 1856, he’d been a congressman, senator, Secretary of State, and diplomat to both Russia and Great Britain. He wasn’t a dark horse. He wasn’t a gamble. He was the Democratic Party’s safe, experienced, establishment choice in a country that was very much not stable.In this episode of The Buck Starts Here, we trace Buchanan’s rise through decades of Washington politics and examine the moment he steps into: Bleeding Kansas, a rising Republican Party, sectional tension hardening by the day, and a Supreme Court decision that will set the country on fire.Buchanan believed in process. In compromise. In constitutional restraint. He believed the system would hold.This episode is about what happens when a man built for stability walks into instability at full speed.He had the experience.He had the confidence.He did not have the moment.🎙️ The Buck Starts HereHistory, but we follow the incentives.Music: Military March Drums by KimyF. from Pixabay