01764cam a2200265 4500 759821870 TxAuBib 20210902120000.0 ||||||s2015||||||||||||||||||||||||und|u 9781491759615 pbk. $16.95 1491759615 pbk. $16.95 (OCoLC)907194932 TxGR TxAuBib Boulard, Garry. The worst President [Book] : the story of James Buchanan / Garry Boulard. Bloomington, IL : iUniverse, 2015. xviii, 183 pages ; 23 cm. In this exploration of the presidency of James Buchanan, 1857-61, Garry Boulard revisits the 15th President and comes away with a stunning conclusion: Buchanan's performance as the nation's chief executive was even more deplorable and sordid than scholars generally know, making his status as the country's worst president richly deserved. Boulard documents Buchanan's failure to stand up to the slaveholding interests of the South, his indecisiveness in dealing with the secession movement, and his inability to provide leadership during the nation's gravest constitutional crisis. Using the letters of Buchanan, as well as those of more than two dozen political leaders and thinkers of the time, Boulard presents a narrative of a timid and vacillating president whose drift and isolation opened the door to the Civil War. 20210902. Buchanan, James 1791-1868. Presidents United States Biography. Politics and government. United States Politics and government 1857-1861. RV8