The Perception of U.S. Presidents
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about the president of the United States. You tend to associate a few acronyms with it like freedom, gratefulness and pride. These are some of the attributes you associate with both the United States of America and the also the President of the USA. He/she must be a person of great authority, exceptional speaking skills and dominance for sure.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Presidency | 15th President of the United States |
| Term | 1857 – 1861 |
| Born | April 23, 1791, Cove Gap, Pennsylvania |
| Died | June 1, 1868, Wheatland, Pennsylvania |
| Profession | Lawyer, Diplomat, Politician |
| Party | Democratic |
| Vice President | John C. Breckinridge |
| Known For | Controversial decisions, Inaction during the Civil War, Only bachelor president |
| Other Positions Held | Secretary of State, Minister to Russia, Minister to the United Kingdom, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative |
Popular Presidents vs. James Buchanan
With popular names of US presidents of recent times including barrack Obama, Donald trump and Joe Biden you would sure find these qualities and traits to quite an extent in them. Eash of them have their strong cult following and they sure gather a strong audience whenever they are expressing their opinions or coming live on tv. But there has been a US president that was not so popular and did not have the full support of its party members and indeed lacked true political power. We are talking about Mr. James, Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States of America from the year 1875 to the year 1861. By Profession he was a lawyer, and as a lawyer he sure had excellent physical and intellectual qualities that made him successful as an advocate, but he unfortunately could not use his qualities and skills to become a prominent and renowned political leader.
Early life, education, and political career
James Buchanan was born on April 23, 1971, to a Scottish/Irish family in a farm called Stony Batter located in the mountains of Southern Pennsylvania. He was the eldest son of his father and had ten siblings. His Father’s name was James Buchanan Senior, and his mother’s name was Elizabeth Speer. Both his parents immigrated to the United States from a place called Derry in Northern Ireland. The major reason for immigrating to the United States of America was the persecution and poverty that they had to face by the crown due to their presbyterian faith. His father worked as a farmer, a merchant and a real estate investor and was quite successful in his endeavors and subsequently became the region’s wealthiest resident. James Buchanan widely acknowledged his mother and father for their excellent upbringing and parenthood. His mother used to talk about politics with him due to which he developed a strong interest in it while his father worked hard to improve his character and personality.
Early Life & Political Career
By Education Buchanan was a lawyer, whereby he passed his bar exam in the year 1812 and started practicing law in Lancaster. He became well known in the community and used to engage with people over legal matters often and slowly established a strong name for himself. He started making good money too. But his entry into politics came in the year 1814 when he contested for a seat in the House of Representatives in Pennsylvania in which he was successful, but shortly after his victory tragedy struck and his father died in a car accident. Although he was dejected and depressed by his father’s death he continued his journey in politics and later served as a member of the US house of representatives from the year 1821 to 1831 .He was later elected to the Senate in 1834 until 1845 and after completing his term he was appointed as the US minister to the United Kingdom from 1845 to 1849. He was loved by many, and people regarded him as a great negotiator and diplomat.
In 1856 he was selected as the nominee for the president in which he was successful and won significantly against his competitor from the republican party, Mr. John Fremont along with Mr. Millard Fillmore from the Know nothing party.
Challenges & Controversies
As president from 1857 to 1861 he had his fair share of challenges which were dominated by the rising tensions of the North and the South where things escalated, and a civil war initiated. Secession started and this is where James Buchanan’s approach to it was not well received by the people. What he said was that the states had the authority to withdraw whilst the federal government did not have the authority to force people to join the union again and this did not go well with the people, and they labelled it as a weak stance.
This started a series of acts of Buchanan which were not well received by the general public at large and the next controversial decision of Buchanan was his support to the controversial decision Of Dred Scott which was the denial of citizenship and legal rights to African Americans and also that the Congress did not have any authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. This escalated tensions and was perceived by people as an act of promoting slavery by the president.
To add to that his administration was regarded as one of the most corrupt and ill managed administration ever in history whereby government officials were engaged in varying scandals.
In Short, his lack of leadership skills and ineffective conflict management expertise led to him being unpopular amongst the masses, a prominent example being his inability to manage the civil war where he was unable to de escalate the tensions that were arising. All this led to him losing his credibility and popularity amongst the people who initially brough him into power.
Lessons to be learnt from the story.
The foremost lesson to be learnt from this story of the Presidency of James Buchanan is that when people trust you , and see you as a true representative of the manifesto of their part, then you hold a responsibility towards them to give your best and enforce upon them that that decision to initially nominate you and eventually to select you was the best decision they could make. When you are entrusted to be the President, no matter it be of a club or a country, you must exhibit inspirational leadership skills, authoritative ability, and the traits to keep the trust and belief of your followers. A position if authority demands excellent leadership, resilience , respect compassion, integrity and conflict management. If any of these are compromised in any way you would not realize how quickly you would lose the trust of your closest people.
The Importance of Self-Improvement
What I believe is that you might not have all these skills in you, but you can always work hard to build them, and make them a part of your personality. This is beautifully summed up in the quote from the popular Spiderman movie “With great power comes great responsibility”. One should realize that there are people with more obvious skillsets or personalities, but destiny chose you, and it is your duty to make the most of it.
Seize Opportunities
What you can do on your part is to see an opportunity to improve upon yourself, identify your areas of interest, and work upon them. Some examples would include joining a declamation contest, which would immensely improve your confidence, or leading a club or a team which would teach you confidence, conflict management, strategy development and teamwork. Look for opportunities at your school/college/university or volunteer at a society or a club near you. You will see yourself change for the better and let me tell you this is one of the best feelings you can have and can surely be proud of!
