Bucks
John Updike & James Buchanan
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Last week, Mighty Betsy and I attended a lecture and book-signing event in the state capital. Author John Updike spoke at the Hall of the House of Representatives before two hundred fans and presented his case for James Buchanan, Pennsylvania’s only U. S. President.
State Senator Rob Wonderling provided the tickets and as we waited in line for admission, we saw State Representative Paul Clymer. “Paul,” I exclaimed, “are you ready to hear about the President whom an American historians’ association proclaimed as the worst President ever?”
Now, Paul Clymer is a very kindly man and, to his credit, never has anything negative to say about anyone. I could tell by his facial expression that he thought that I was being unfair to the flawed, 15th President. But a few minutes later, that’s exactly what John Updike observed about James Buchanan.
It turned out that the Updike lecture was on April 23rd, the 216th birthday of James Buchanan, the one-term President who preceded Abraham Lincoln. Updike did not have an easy assignment this night. The two time Pulitzer Prize winner was asked to speak about the uninspiring Buchanan.
It would have been hard for Updike to say no. After all, Updike grew up in Shillington, PA. next to Reading. That’s just a stone’s throw from Lancaster County, Buchanan’s home. Updike’s first reporting job was with the Reading Eagle before heading off to Harvard and later, Oxford. Updike spent two years on the New Yorker magazine before turning to literature and the “Rabbit” series, which made him famous.
Updike tried to paint James Buchanan in the best light possible, but it wasn’t easy. “Buchanan was the only bachelor to occupy the White House,” Updike began. “An avowed celibate, Buchanan had priestly characteristics.” To Updike’s credit, he pulled no punches and described Buchanan as history shows him.
Buchanan was blamed for the nation’s death spiral into civil war. The southern states seceded while Buchanan was seemingly paralyzed. Buchanan believed that the south would not try to dissolve the nation because the U. S. Constitution held no provision for a state abandoning the union.
“Presiding over a rapidly dividing nation, Buchanan grasped inadequately the political realities of the time,” my Google search revealed. “Relying on constitutional doctrines to close the widening rift over slavery, Buchanan failed to understand that the North would not accept constitutional arguments which favored the South”
“Buchanan prayed, twittered and did nothing,” Updike continued, “but he performed the task that history assigned him.” It was interesting to learn that Updike considered writing a novel about Buchanan but thought better of it. Instead, Updike created a two-act play about Buchanan’s last days and he read several passages to his audience. I thought the paragraphs were as dreary as their subject. The play has not been produced, fortunately.
A few days later while preparing this column, I thought of Updike’s fellow author and journalist, David Halberstam who was killed in a car crash last week. Like Updike, Halberstam was very critical with his fellow journalists, observing that the media failed America twice in the days leading up to the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. Halberstam believed, correctly, that the press was neither vigilant nor strident enough to investigate and explain why American Presidents were rushing the nation into war.
It was Halberstam who likened America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 to punching a hole in the world’s largest hornet’s nest.
On the other hand, James Buchanan was the opposite of a Lyndon Johnson or a George W. Bush. Buchanan unfortunately sat on his hands and observed America dissolving into civil war.
The Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Dennis O’Brian, introduced Updike. “For only the eighth time in the 326 year history of the House of representatives, we open the chamber for a free, public lecture,” O’Brian said, patting himself on the back. Quite frankly, I was more impressed with seeing Dr. Robert Leight, a Quakertown school director in the audience. I’ll get Leight’s summary about the evening on another day.
Finally, friends, there is good news for anyone bearing the Buchanan name. His place in history as America’s worst President may change in just two years. Move over, Mr. Buchanan. George W. Bush is about to take your place.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith