James Buchanan Grave / The Peace Hat

            Tony is always picking on poor old James Buchanan, who he says was the SECOND worst President. He likes to take me along on his trips - but sometimes I find myself sitting on top of a grave instead of a head! We went to beautiful Lancaster County, Amish country, for "The Late Great Jimmy B". Here's some information about him - the President just before Abe Lincoln........

President (1857 - 1861), considered one of the worst ever, always rated at or near the bottom of the list of Presidents. 

Fom wiki:

James Buchanan, Jr. (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) was the 15th President of the United States from 1857–1861 and the last to be born in the 18th century. To date he is the only President from the state of Pennsylvania and the only president to remain a lifelong bachelor.

A popular and experienced politician prior to his presidency, Buchanan represented Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives and later the Senate, and served as Secretary of State under President James K. Polk. After turning down an offer for an appointment to the Supreme Court, he served as Minister to the United Kingdom under President Franklin Pierce, in which capacity he helped draft the inflammatory Ostend Manifesto, which suggested the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused to sell Cuba. The Ostend Manifesto was never acted upon and greatly damaged the Pierce administration.

Despite unsuccessfully seeking the Democratic presidential nomination several times, Buchanan's nomination in the election of 1856 was a compromise between the two sides of the slavery issue and occurred while he was away on business. His subsequent election was largely due to the even more divided state of the opposition. As President he was a "doughface", a Northerner with Southern sympathies who battled with Stephen A. Douglas for the control of the Democratic Party. Buchanan's efforts to maintain peace between the North and the South alienated both sides, and as the Southern states declared their secession in the prologue to the American Civil War, Buchanan's opinion was that secession was illegal, but that going to war to stop it was also illegal; hence, he remained inactive. By the time he left office, popular opinion had turned against him, and the Democratic Party had split in two. His handling of the crisis preceding the Civil War has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of the worst Presidents in American history.

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Taken on: November 7, 2009

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Groups appears in: • Visiting Famous Dead People • Presidential Gravesites more » • Historical and architectural gems • ***FLICKRPEDIA*** House of Knowledge/Please comment on 3 • Dead People Do Tell Tales • Loco por las fotossss « less

Camera: Nikon D300, f/5.0, 1/40 sec, 18mm (=27mm), ISO 160 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D300
Lens:	18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/5.0
Exposure Time:	0.025 sec (1/40)
Focal Length:	18mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
ISO:	160
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Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Contrast:	High
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	picnik.com
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