THE INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN One hundred years ago, today, in the stately mansion just a stone's throw from the building where we are gathered, James Buchanan clad in a dressing gown and slippers, sat alone in his study trying to calm his nerves and to itemize a list of incidentals

throughout the United States swung its support to Mr. Buchanan. On January 8 there appeared on her masthead: For President JAMES BUCHANAN (subject to the decision of the Democratic National Convention)3 1 Auchampaugh, "Buchanan a Political Portrait," p. 12. 2 Minnigerode, "Presidential Years," p. 321. 3

of 1834, the new bridge at Columbia was opened for traffic, as previously mentioned; with Mr. Buchanan being elected the next month to the United States Senate, where he was destined to serve until 1845. With a pair of men like Messrs. Buchanan and Cameron at the throttle of the Mount Joy Road, the

1868 ; and finally during the few months after the publication of George Ticknor Curtis, biography of Buchanan in July, 1883. Most of the stories show some similarity in broad outline, but they vary greatly in detail and none of them make clear the sources of in- formation. Let me emphasize, before

active life." The newspapers the week of Forney's death, particularly the Intelligencer, were discussing the projected biography of a man who had died thirteen years earlier — James Buchanan. There was some concern that George Ticknor Curtis, Buchanan's official biographer, had the necessary acquaintance