James Buchanan (#15)

James Buchanan (1791–1868) was the 15th President of the United States and is consistently ranked by historians as the worst president in American history. A Pennsylvania Democrat and lifelong bachelor, Buchanan was the most experienced man to enter the White House — having served as Secretary of State, Minister to Britain and Russia, and Senator — yet his presidency was a masterclass in paralysis. He faced the secession crisis head-on and blinked: arguing that secession was unconstitutional but that the federal government had no power to stop it, he left Lincoln a nation already falling apart.

Buchanan's defining failure was his response to the months between Lincoln's election in November 1860 and his inauguration in March 1861. Southern states began seceding; Buchanan's Cabinet members resigned to join the Confederacy; federal forts and arsenals in the South were seized. Buchanan did almost nothing. He also supported the Dred Scott decision — which declared that Congress had no authority to restrict slavery in territories — and tried to impose a pro-slavery constitution on Kansas against the wishes of its majority settlers. He is the only president from Pennsylvania and the only lifelong bachelor to hold the office.