Potus Geeks Book Review: Bosom Friends by Thomas J. Balcerski
Historians and others have speculated as to the sexual orientation of James Buchanan, the only bachelor president, and about whether he and his "messmate" William Rufus King were lovers. The consensus of most historians is that the trail of evidence is too cold for any meaningful sort of conclusion on this question. While author Thomas Balcerski comes to much the same conclusion, he nevertheless uses this premise as the teaser for his 2019 work Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King.
Speculation about Buchanan's possible homosexuality doesn't just stem from the fact that the 15th President never married, but rather from his very close friendship with Alabama Senator (and later Vice-President) Rufus King, a fellow lifelong bachelor, as well as the openly affectionate correspondence that the two men carried on. The flowery literary style of the two men's 19th century letters, their mutual confirmed bachelorhood, and the open teasing and mocking of both men in and out of earshot about by some of the leading members of Congress, who suggested that King and Buchanan were a couple, have all contributed to the hypothesis that these two political allies were intimate friends in every sense of the word. Contemporary references to King as "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy", both being derogatory terms for gay men in the 19th century and references to the two as "Siamese twins", which was another contemporary slang for gay couples, are more bricks on this wall of speculation.
When in 1844, President James K. Polk appointed King as Ambassador to France, King wrote Buchanan telling him "I hope you will find no one to replace me in affection." Buchanan later wrote to a female friend, a Mrs. Roosevelt, that "I am now solitary and alone having no companion in the house with me. I have gone wooing to several gentlemen but have not succeeded with any of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone, and I should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."
King also wrote with sadness of his separation from Buchanan. In a letter to Buchanan in 1844, King wrote "I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation. For myself, I shall always feel lonely in the midst of Paris, for here I shall have no Friend with whom I can commune as with my own thoughts."
Balcerski isn't buying any of the speculation that the two were lovers however, and he makes the case that each of these anecdotes are taken out of context. He argues that the friendship between the two men was a deep and abiding one, but not a sexual relationship. None of this prevents the author from entitling sections of his book with gay innuendo teasers such as describing Buchanan's presidency as "the Gayest Administration", or using headings such as "Mr. Buchanan and his wife" (meaning King), "Gone a-wooing" or "Peculiar Pleasures". He also refers to Buchanan's habit of befriending younger men, but stops short of suggesting that there was an ulterior motive behind this. Many times in the book, the author adopts a Seinfeld-like posture in referring to some behavior on the part of one or both men that matches a gay stereotype, accompanied by some sort of "not that there's anything wrong with that" follow-up.
In essence however this book is really a parallel biography of the two men from cradle to grave, detailing how their political interests converged (and occasionally diverged) despite one man being a northerner, the other a southerner, and how their bachelorhood shaped their friendship as well as their political compatibility. The story is told in 209 pages. Some aspects of the history of the times are glossed over, and in other cases, the significance of some important details are overlooked (for example Franklin Pierce becoming President immediately following the tragic death of his son, or how the election of Abraham Lincoln set southern secession in motion). It seems as if Balcerski develops a form of a historian's Stockholm Syndrome as he becomes a reluctant critic of his principal characters' support for slavery. His criticism of Buchanan's dithering and inaction as President is lukewarm at best.
The strength of the book is in description of the life of King as well as how it was that he and Buchanan came to become such "Bosom Friends." Here again however, it is difficult to discern if King is deserving of the his esteem that the author affords to him, or if King was just another self-interested antebellum southerner blind to the immorality of slavery. The book also offers an interesting epilogue about how a tradition of close male friendships among DC politicians is nothing new and continues to this day. The author deserves high marks for his academic attention to the importance of the relationship of these two pivotal political figures rather than simply focusing on pointless speculation about whether the two "messmates" were messing around in other ways.
Speculation about Buchanan's possible homosexuality doesn't just stem from the fact that the 15th President never married, but rather from his very close friendship with Alabama Senator (and later Vice-President) Rufus King, a fellow lifelong bachelor, as well as the openly affectionate correspondence that the two men carried on. The flowery literary style of the two men's 19th century letters, their mutual confirmed bachelorhood, and the open teasing and mocking of both men in and out of earshot about by some of the leading members of Congress, who suggested that King and Buchanan were a couple, have all contributed to the hypothesis that these two political allies were intimate friends in every sense of the word. Contemporary references to King as "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy", both being derogatory terms for gay men in the 19th century and references to the two as "Siamese twins", which was another contemporary slang for gay couples, are more bricks on this wall of speculation.
When in 1844, President James K. Polk appointed King as Ambassador to France, King wrote Buchanan telling him "I hope you will find no one to replace me in affection." Buchanan later wrote to a female friend, a Mrs. Roosevelt, that "I am now solitary and alone having no companion in the house with me. I have gone wooing to several gentlemen but have not succeeded with any of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone, and I should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."
King also wrote with sadness of his separation from Buchanan. In a letter to Buchanan in 1844, King wrote "I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation. For myself, I shall always feel lonely in the midst of Paris, for here I shall have no Friend with whom I can commune as with my own thoughts."
Balcerski isn't buying any of the speculation that the two were lovers however, and he makes the case that each of these anecdotes are taken out of context. He argues that the friendship between the two men was a deep and abiding one, but not a sexual relationship. None of this prevents the author from entitling sections of his book with gay innuendo teasers such as describing Buchanan's presidency as "the Gayest Administration", or using headings such as "Mr. Buchanan and his wife" (meaning King), "Gone a-wooing" or "Peculiar Pleasures". He also refers to Buchanan's habit of befriending younger men, but stops short of suggesting that there was an ulterior motive behind this. Many times in the book, the author adopts a Seinfeld-like posture in referring to some behavior on the part of one or both men that matches a gay stereotype, accompanied by some sort of "not that there's anything wrong with that" follow-up.
In essence however this book is really a parallel biography of the two men from cradle to grave, detailing how their political interests converged (and occasionally diverged) despite one man being a northerner, the other a southerner, and how their bachelorhood shaped their friendship as well as their political compatibility. The story is told in 209 pages. Some aspects of the history of the times are glossed over, and in other cases, the significance of some important details are overlooked (for example Franklin Pierce becoming President immediately following the tragic death of his son, or how the election of Abraham Lincoln set southern secession in motion). It seems as if Balcerski develops a form of a historian's Stockholm Syndrome as he becomes a reluctant critic of his principal characters' support for slavery. His criticism of Buchanan's dithering and inaction as President is lukewarm at best.
The strength of the book is in description of the life of King as well as how it was that he and Buchanan came to become such "Bosom Friends." Here again however, it is difficult to discern if King is deserving of the his esteem that the author affords to him, or if King was just another self-interested antebellum southerner blind to the immorality of slavery. The book also offers an interesting epilogue about how a tradition of close male friendships among DC politicians is nothing new and continues to this day. The author deserves high marks for his academic attention to the importance of the relationship of these two pivotal political figures rather than simply focusing on pointless speculation about whether the two "messmates" were messing around in other ways.