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In the U.S., "Professors" commonly occupy any of several positions in academia, typically the ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or full Professor.

Research and education are among the main tasks of professors with the time spent in research or teaching depending strongly on the type of institution. Publication of articles in conferences, journals, and books is essential to occupational advancement.^[1] As of August 2007 teaching in tertiary educational institutions is one of the fastest growing occupations, topping the U.S. Department of Labor's list of "above average wages and high projected growth occupations," with a projected increase of 524,000 positions between 2004 and 2014.^[2]

Demographics[link]

Most professors in the U.S. are male,^{[citation needed]} liberal (in the American political sense),^[3][4][5] and upper middle class.^[6] A slight majority of professors ranked among the top 15% of wage earners, in 2005.^[7]

According to a study by Robert Lichter, a professor at George Mason University, "The vast majority of professors in the United States identify themselves as liberal, and registered Democrats commonly outnumber registered Republicans." This varies across departments.^[3] Despite the liberal leaning of most professors, political scientist Brett O'Bannon of DePauw University has pointed out that the liberal opinions of professors seem to have little if any effect on the political orientation of students.^[8] In terms of education, the vast majority hold doctorate degrees. Professors at community colleges may only have a master's degree while those at four year institutions are commonly required to hold a doctorate degree.^[1]

Tenure-track faculty ranks[link]

Although the term "professor" is often used to refer to any college or university teacher, there are different 'tiers' of being a professor ranging from an entry level position as an "assistant professor" to "full professor," a rank reserved for professors who have established themselves as experts within their academic fields. Contrary to some beliefs, assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors are all, in fact, technically professors. Usually students who have completed their doctoral studies seek positions as assistant professors in colleges and universities. As the progress in their established fields through research, teaching, and service, they can make bids for promotion and tenure, which elevates them to the rank of associate professor. Associate professors who continue to establish high profiles and become experts in their fields of study may bid for a promotion full professor, which is considered an esteemed position reserved for the most successful professors working in their fields. College and university teachers who hold the rank of lecturer or instructor are not tenured/tenure-track faculty, and typically focus on teaching undergraduate courses, and are generally not involved in research, nor are they typically involved in department and university decision-making.

Assistant professor[link]

The rank of assistant professor generally is held for a probationary period of three to seven years, after which the individual must either earn tenure and promotion to associate professor or find other employment. As of 2007, 23.1% of academics held the rank of assistant professor.^[9]

Competition for assistant professor positions in many fields is rapidly growing; the number of PhD graduates is rising, while the number of assistant professor openings remains roughly constant.^[10] The opposite is true, however, in business disciplines, where the anticipated shortfall of business faculty may reach 2,400 openings by 2012.^[11] The U.S. Occupation Outlook Handbook notes that a significant proportion of any growth in academic professor jobs will be due to "part-time and non tenure-track positions."^[1] As of 2003, the average age at which scientists received tenure in the United States was 39.^[12]

The tenure process[link]

After several years at the rank of Assistant Professor, individuals are considered for a promotion and tenure. Tenure generally constitutes a lifetime employment agreement, and is generally thought of as a means of protecting faculty whose research may be socially, politically, or scientifically controversial. Rates for achieving tenure vary, depending on the institutions and areas of study; in most places at least 50% of assistant professors will eventually become tenured and promoted to associate professors; however, this number can be as low as 10% in natural sciences departments of top universities or in non-PhD-granting schools.^{[citation needed]} In unusual circumstances, it is possible to receive tenure but to remain as an assistant professor, typically when tenure is awarded early.

Associate professor[link]

Upon successfully receiving tenure, an assistant professor usually is promoted to the rank of associate professor. The mid-level position is usually awarded after a substantial record of scholarly accomplishment (such as the publication of one or more books, numerous research articles, receiving a large external research grant, successful teaching and/or service to the department^[13]); however the specific requirements vary considerably between institutions and departments. As of 2007, 22.4% of academics hold the rank of associate professor.^[9]

Alternatively, a person may be hired at the associate professor level without tenure (which is a typical practice at some universities, often done as a financial inducement to attract someone from outside the institution, but who might not yet meet all the qualifications for tenure). If an associate professor position is awarded to a non-tenured person, the position is usually tenure-track with an expectation that the person will soon qualify for tenure.

At some institutions, individuals are promoted to the rank of associate professor prior to receiving tenure. In these situations, the individual may eventually apply for tenure at that institution or, optionally, seek a tenured position elsewhere.

(Full) professor[link]

Upon a sustained and distinguished track record of scholarly achievement within one's university and academic discipline, an associate professor may be promoted to professor (sometimes referred to as "full professor"). In most traditional colleges and universities, this position is always tenured; however, this may not be the case in a for-profit private institution or certain church-affiliated universities and colleges.

The rank of professor is the highest of the standard academic ranks in the United States, and is held by 29.5% of U.S. academics.^[9] Advancement past the rank of Professor typically involves administrative duties (e.g., department chair, dean, or provost) or selection for an honorary title or endowed chair.

The absence of a mandatory retirement age contributes to "graying" of this occupation. The median age of American full professors is currently around 55 years. Very few people attain this position before the age of 40. The annual salary of full professors averages at $99,000, although less so at non-doctoral institutions, and more so at private doctoral institutions (not including side income from grants and consulting, which can be substantial in some fields); in addition, institutions in major cities or high cost of living areas will pay higher salaries [2]. Full professors earn on average about 70% more than assistant professors in the same institution. However, particularly in scientific and technical fields, this is still considerably less than salaries of those with comparable training and experience working in industry positions.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to increasing salary, each promotional step also tends to come with increased administrative responsibilities. In some cases, these changes are offset by reduced teaching or research expectations.

Special academic ranks (tenured)[link]

Professor emeritus and emerita[link]

A full professor who retires in good standing may be referred to as a professor emeritus, or professor emerita for women. This title is also given to retired professors who continue to teach and to be listed; they may also draw a very large percentage of their last salary as pension. The title may also be given to full professors who have left for another institution but are still working full time. The concept has in some places been expanded to include also tenured associate professors, or also non-tenure-track faculty. In some systems and institutions the rank is bestowed on all professors who have retired in good standing, while at others it needs a special act or vote. Depending on local circumstances, professors emeritus may retain office space or other privileges.

The word is typically used as a postpositional adjective ("professor emeritus") but can also be used as a preposition adjective ("emeritus professor"). There is a third, somewhat less common usage, following the full title (e.g.,"professor of medicine, emeritus".) In the United Kingdom, "emeritus professor" is the more common form.

Distinguished (teaching / research) professor[link]

These titles, often specific to one institution, generally are granted to the top few percent of the tenured faculty (and sometimes to under one percent, although at wealthy schools, such as Harvard Business School even close to half may hold such titles).^{[citation needed]} Examples include generic titles such as President's Professor, University Professor, Regents' Professor, or more university-specific titles such as M.I.T.'s Institute Professor and Stanford University^{[clarification needed]} and Duke University's James B. Duke Professor.

Some academic and/or scholarly organizations may also bestow the title "distinguished professor" in recognition of achievement over the course of an academic career. For example, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture annually recognizes up to five faculty at architecture schools in the United States and Canada with the ACSA Distinguished Professor Award.^[14]

Named / endowed chair[link]

A "named" or "endowed chair" is a full professor who is awarded a specific, endowed chair that has been sponsored by a fund, firm, person, etc. Named chairs are usually similar to the European model, in that they are a position rather than a career rank.

Other designations[link]

For non-tenure track teaching positions in the US, academic institutions use a wide array of different job titles depending on if the position is temporary or permanent, if the work is full-time or part-time, and numerous other factors. Adding to the confusion over the formal names of non-tenure track positions, in almost every case the common-noun descriptor "professor" is used informally for people who teach at a college or university, regardless of their formal job title, and the terms are often loosely interchanged by faculty and administrators. For example, US President Barack Obama is commonly referred to as having been a Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, when in fact he formally held the title of Senior Lecturer, causing some controversy during the 2008 US Presidential Election. The faculty of the University of Chicago Law School eventually published a statement noting that it is common for lecturers to be referred to as professors, and that they support the use of the term professor to describe Obama's role with the university ^[15].

Lecturer / Instructor[link]

"Lecturers" and "Instructors" in the US can work full-time or part-time, but in either case have less prestige than "Professors" except in rare hierarchies at certain institutions. They teach as their primary purpose, but they can also serve on academic committees. Since these positions are non-tenure track, they often do not involve a research or publishing requirement, although many of these professors do publish, research, and consult. While both terms are used quite variably in the US, those with the title of "Lecturer" tend to have comparatively greater advancement potential and typically must have a PhD or a terminal master's degree (i.e., MFA, etc.) as opposed to a regular master's degree (i.e., MA, MS, etc.).

Visiting Status[link]

An individual hired with a college or university to teach for a limited time is sometimes referred to as a "visiting professor" or "visiting lecturer"; this may be someone who is a professor elsewhere, or a scholar or practitioner who is not. The term may also refer simply to terminal (usually 1 to 3 years) teaching appointments and/or post-doctorate research appointments. The title can mirror the naming conventions used in tenure-track positions, for example the professor in question could be called a "visting assistant professor", "Distinguished Visiting Professor," etc.

Adjunct professor[link]

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2010)

Note that "Adjunct Professor" can have different significance in other countries; this section only discusses its US use.

An adjunct professor is a professor who does not hold a permanent or full-time position at that particular academic institution. This may be someone with a job outside the academic institution teaching courses in a specialized field, or it may refer to persons hired to teach courses on a contractual basis (frequently renewable contracts). It is generally with a teaching load below the minimum required to earn benefits (health care, life insurance, etc.) although the number of courses taught can vary.

An adjunct is generally not required (or permitted) to participate in the administrative responsibilities at the institution expected of other full-time professors, nor do they generally have research responsibilities.

Adjuncts provide flexibility to the faculty, acting as additional teaching resources to be called up as necessary. However, their teaching load is variable: classes can be transferred from adjuncts to full-time professors, classes with low enrollment can be summarily canceled and the teaching schedule from one semester to the next can be unpredictable. In some cases, an adjunct may hold one of the standard ranks in another department, and be recognized with adjunct rank for making significant contributions to the department in question. Thus, one could be an "associate professor of physics and adjunct professor of chemistry."

In some universities, there are different ranks of adjunct faculty. For example, at the University of Iowa, the ranks are adjunct instructor, adjunct assistant professor, adjunct associate professor, and adjunct full professor; the University states that “the expectations at each rank are similar to those for the same rank on the tenure track”^[16]

Adjunct Professor Compensation and Academic Use[link]

Hiring adjuncts was, a generation ago, done primarily to fill in courses that would add to an academic department's offerings; an example might be an IBM computer scientist coming into a university to teach a single course on mainframe computing. In this respect, it can also be a way to supplement the predominantly "theoretical" focus of traditional full-time academics with a more pragmatic "real world" perspective.

In the last twenty to thirty years, however, universities have increasingly utilized adjuncts (along with the trend towards hiring more full-time "Lecturers") to cover courses in fundamental undergraduate skills, such as beginning mathematics and freshman composition. Due to the considerably lower salaries of adjunct professors, many universities in North America have reduced hiring of tenure-track faculty in favor of recruiting more adjuncts (and/or Lecturers) on a contractual basis. "Contingent faculty" (non-tenure-track faculty) now make up more than half of all faculty positions in the United States.^[17] Some English departments are now staffed by a majority of adjunct teachers. Various problems result from this expediency on the part of university administrations, such as a general reduction in research accomplished by the overall faculty, increased departmental administration duties spread among fewer full-time faculty, and a reduction in academic freedom due to adjuncts' generally precarious job security. It has also raised the competition among PhDs, especially in the humanities, to find tenure-track assistant professorships (see above), calling into question the existence and value of many PhD programs that produce graduates unable to find positions in their fields.

The pay for these positions is usually minimal, even though adjuncts typically hold a PhD, requiring most adjuncts to hold concurrent positions at several institutions or in industry if seeking to make a living from it.

Adjunct pay in state and community colleges, including some private institutions on the East Coast hovers around $3,000–4,000 for a 3-credit hour course. By contrast, tenure-track faculty at major universities often only teach two or at most three 3-credit-hour courses per semester but earn vastly higher salaries. However, at many institutions, tenure track faculty are also typically required to produce a wide array of research, attend academic conferences, provide in-depth mentoring of graduate students, obtain continuous stream of grant funding, perform administrative duties, and other responsibilities that adjunct faculty do not have. In practice, many adjunct faculty are highly experienced as teachers and are very effective at it.

It is commonly thought that if the university makes a good faith offer to an adjunct professor of teaching during the following semester depending on enrollment, the adjunct generally cannot file for unemployment benefits during breaks. This varies from state to state. In California, as a result of the 1989 Cervisi decision, adjunct professors who do not have "reasonable assurance" of returning to work can receive unemployment compensation during breaks in employment. Virtually all appointment offers to adjunct professors are contingent upon meeting minimum enrollment, funding levels, or program continuation. The 1989 Cervisi decision confirmed that such contingent offers do not constitute "reasonable assurance" of reemployment as defined in state unemployment code.

Professor by Courtesy / affiliated professor/adjunct professor[link]

A professor who is primarily and originally associated with one academic department, but has become officially associated with a second department, institute, or program within the university and has assumed a professor's duty in that second department as well, could be called a "professor by courtesy." Example: "Dan Jurafsky is Professor of Linguistics and Professor by Courtesy of Computer Science at Stanford University". Usually, the second courtesy appointment carries with it fewer responsibilities and fewer benefits than a single full appointment (for example, affiliated professors rarely have voting rights in their courtesy department). Because affiliated professors are often listed following a partition in the catalog copy or web page for the department, they are often called "professors below the line" or "below the diamonds"^{[citation needed]} or a similar phrase.

Research professor[link]

A professor who does not take on all of the classic duties of a professor, but instead focuses on research. At most universities, research professors are not eligible for tenure and must fund their salary entirely through research grants, with no regular salary commitment from internal university sources. In parallel with tenure-track faculty ranks, there are assistant and associate research professor positions.

Assistant or associate teaching professors[link]

These types of professors focus on teaching and supervising teaching assistants.

Clinical professor[link]

A Clinical Professor engages in practical instruction (of professional students) typically with an emphasis on practical skills as opposed to theory. This generally is not a "tenure track" position, but can be either full or part time.

Honorary professor[link]

This is a title normally granted to those who have contributed significantly to the school and community (for example, by donation for furtherance of research and academic development), but may or may not have earned a PhD

Salary[link]

Most professors are paid by a college or university on nine or ten month contracts. Salary data for professors is typically reported as a "9 month" salary, not including compensation received (often from research grants) during the summer. The overall median 9 month salary for all professors was $73,000, placing a slight majority of professors among the top 15% of earners at age 25 or older.^[7] Yet, their salaries remain considerably below that of some other comparable professions (even when including summer compensation) such as lawyers (who earned a median of $110,000) and physicians (whose median earnings ranged from $137,000 to $322,000 depending on speciality).^[18][19] According to the U.S. Department of Labor,

[Academic year] salaries for full-time faculty averaged $73,207. By rank, the average was $98,974 for professors, $69,911 for associate professors, $58,662 for assistant professors, $42,609 for instructors, and $48,289 for lecturers. Faculty in 4-year institutions earn higher salaries, on average, than do those in 2-year schools. In 2006–07, faculty salaries averaged $84,249 in private independent institutions, $71,362 in public institutions, and $66,118 in religiously affiliated private colleges and universities.^[20]

Salaries varied widely by field and rank ranging from $45,927 for an assistant professor in theology to $136,634 for a full professor in "Legal Professions and Studies."^[21] Another study by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources found the average salary for all faculty members, including instructors, to be $66,407, placing half of all faculty members in the top 15.3% of income earners above the age of 25. Median salaries were $54,000 for assistant professors, $64,000 for associate professors and $86,000 for full professors 2005.^[22] During the 2005–06 year, salaries for assistant professors ranged from $45,927 in theology to $81,005 in law. For associate professors, salaries ranged from $56,943 in theology to $98,530 in law, while salaries among full professors ranged from $68,214 in theology to $136,634 in law.^[21] During the 2010–11 year, associate professor salaries vary from $59,593 in theology to $93,767 in law.^[23] Full professors at elite institutions commonly enjoy six-figure incomes, such as $123,300 at UCLA or $148,500 at Stanford.^[24] The CSU system, which is the largest system in the U.S. with over 11,000 faculty members, had an average full-time faculty salary of $74,000, scheduled to increase to $91,000 by 2011.^[25] Professors in teacher education sometimes earn less than they would if they were still elementary classroom teachers. In one case study report, it was shown that a beginning full-time tenure-track assistant professor in elementary teacher education at California State University, Northridge was hired in 2002 at a salary of $53,000., which was $15,738. less than she would have earned in her previous position as a 9-month public school kindergarten teacher, ($68,738). See Gordon, L. M. (2004, January 6). From kindergarten teacher to college professor: A comparison chart of salaries, work load, and professional preparation requirements. Published proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on Education. ISSN# 1541-5880. Adjunct college instructors often make $20,000–$35,000/year, even while teaching at several institutions.^{[clarification needed]} However, adjunct college instructor salaries can range between $40,000 – $100,000/ year in states with higher costs of living. Adjunct instructors generally have to teach at several institutions to earn higher salaries.

See also[link]

	United States portal
	University portal

• Academic discipline
• Academic rank
• Lecturer
• Scholarly method
• School and university in literature

References[link]

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (March 2012)

Philip Kotler
Born	(1931-05-27) May 27, 1931 (age 81) Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American
Occupation	Marketing Professor and Consultant
Signature

Philip Kotler (born 27 May 1931 in Chicago) is an American academic focused on marketing. The author of Marketing Management among dozens of other textbooks and books, he is the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.^[1] The nine volume Legends in Marketing: Philip Kotler published in 2012 collects over 150 of his articles, with critical commentary.

Notes[link]

References[link]

"Guru" books that contain a complete chapter on Professor Kotler's contributions and accomplishments:

• Stuart Crainer (1998) The Ultimate Book of Business Gurus: 110 Thinkers Who Really Made a Difference (New York: AMACOM).

• Carol Kennedy (1998) Guide to the Management Gurus: Shortcuts to the Ideas of Leading Management Thinkers (London: Century Business).

• Marcia Layton Turner (2000) How to Think Like the World's Greatest Marketing Minds (New York: McGraw-Hill).

• Tom Brown, Stuart Crainer, Des Dearlove, and Jorge N. Rodrigues (2002) Business Minds (London: Financial Times/Prentice-Hall).

External links[link]

• Philip Kotler biography at Kellogg School of Management
• Kotler’s Business Educators Member Profile

Dan Shechtman דן שכטמן
Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman, 2011 Nobel Laureate, at Stockholm University in 2011.
Born	(1941-01-24) January 24, 1941 (age 71) Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine
Residence	Israel
Citizenship	Israel
Fields	Materials Science
Institutions	Wright Patterson Air Force Base Johns Hopkins University NIST Iowa State University Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Alma mater	Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Known for	Quasicrystals
Notable awards	Israel Prize (1998) Wolf Prize in Physics (1999) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2011)

Dan Shechtman (Hebrew: דן שכטמן; born January 24, 1941 in Tel Aviv)^[1] is the Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, an Associate of the US Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, and Professor of Materials Science at Iowa State University. On April 8, 1982, while on sabbatical at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., Shechtman discovered the icosahedral phase, which opened the new field of quasiperiodic crystals.^[2] He was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the discovery of quasicrystals".^[3] Shechtman is the fourth Israeli to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in under a decade.^[4]

Technion President Peretz Lavie, Dan Shechtman and Wayne Kaplan at the Nobel Prize press conference at Technion, Israel.

Biography[link]

Interview with Dan Shechtman after his Nobel lecture

Dan Shechtman was born in Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine. He is married to Prof. Tzipora Shechtman, Head of the Department of Counseling and Human Development at Haifa University, and author of two books on psychotherapy.^[5][6] They have a son Yoav Shechtman (a PhD student in physics) and three daughters: Tamar Finkelstein (an organizational psychologist at the Israeli police leadership center), Ella Shechtman-Cory (a PhD in clinical psychology), and Ruth Dougoud-Nevo (also a PhD in clinical psychology).^[7][8]

Academic career[link]

After receiving his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the Technion in 1972, where he also obtained his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in 1966 and M.Sc. in Materials Engineering in 1968,^[1] Prof. Shechtman was an NRC fellow at the Aerospace Research Laboratories at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, where he studied for three years the microstructure and physical metallurgy of titanium aluminides. In 1975 he joined the department of materials engineering at Technion. In 1981–1983 he was on Sabbatical at Johns Hopkins University, where he studied rapidly solidified aluminum transition metal alloys, in a joint program with NBS. During this study he discovered the Icosahedral Phase which opened the new field of quasiperiodic crystals.

In 1992–1994 he was on sabbatical at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he studied the effect of the defect structure of CVD diamond on its growth and properties. Shechtman's Technion research is conducted in the Louis Edelstein Center, and in the Wolfson Centre which is headed by him. He served on several Technion Senate Committees and headed one of them.

Shechtman joined the Iowa State faculty in 2004. He currently spends about five months a year in Ames on a part-time appointment.^[9][3]

Work on quasicrystals[link]

Meeting at NIST in 1985 where Shechtman (left) explains the atomic structure of quasicrystals

Shechtman's Nobel Prize winning work was in the area of quasicrystals, ordered crystalline materials lacking repeating structures, such as this Al-Pd-Mn alloy.^[10]

From the day Shechtman published his findings on quasicrystals in 1984 to the day Linus Pauling died, Shechtman experienced hostility from him toward the non-periodic interpretation. "For a long time it was me against the world," he said. "I was a subject of ridicule and lectures about the basics of crystallography. The leader of the opposition to my findings was the two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling, the idol of the American Chemical Society and one of the most famous scientists in the world. For years, 'til his last day, he fought against quasi-periodicity in crystals. He was wrong, and after a while, I enjoyed every moment of this scientific battle, knowing that he was wrong."

Linus Pauling is noted saying "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists."^[11]). Pauling was apparently unaware of a paper in 1981 by H. Kleinert and K. Maki which had pointed out the possibility of a non-periodic Icosahedral Phase in quasicrystals^[12] (see the historical notes). The head of Shechtman's research group told him to "go back and read the textbook" and then "asked him to leave for 'bringing disgrace' on the team."^[when?] Shechtman felt rejected.^[11] Later,^[when?] other scientists began to confirm and accept empirical findings of the existence of quasicrystals.^[13][14]

The Nobel Committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that "his discovery was extremely controversial," but that his work "eventually forced scientists to reconsider their conception of the very nature of matter."^[11] Through Shechtman's discovery, several other groups were able to form similar quasicrystals,^[when?] finding these materials to have low thermal and electrical conductivity, while possessing high structural stability. Quasicrystals have also been found naturally.

Quasicrystalline materials could be used in a large number of applications, including the formation of durable steel used for fine instrumentation, and non-stick insulation for electrical wires and cooking equipment.^[15][16]

The prize is worth 10-million swedish Krona ($1.5-million).^[11]

Awards[link]

• 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of quasicrystals
• 2008 European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) 25th Anniversary Award
• 2002 EMET Prize in Chemistry
• 2000 Muriel & David Jacknow Technion Award for Excellence in Teaching
• 2000 Gregori Aminoff Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• 1999 Wolf Prize in Physics.^[17]
• 1998 Israel Prize, for Physics.^[18]
• 1993 Weizmann Science Award^{[citation needed]}
• 1990 Rothschild Prize in Engineering^{[citation needed]}
• 1988 New England Academic Award of the Technion^{[citation needed]}
• 1988 International Award for New Materials^{[citation needed]} of the American Physical Society
• 1986 Physics Award of the Friedenberg Fund for the Advancement of Science and Education^{[citation needed]}

Published works[link]

• "Metallic Phase with Long-Range Orientational Order and No Translational Symmetry". Physical Review Letters 53 (20): 1951. 1984. Bibcode 1984PhRvL..53.1951S. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.53.1951. 
• "Nuclear γ-ray resonance observations in an aluminum-based icosahedral quasicrystal". Physical Review B 32 (2): 1383. 1985. Bibcode 1985PhRvB..32.1383S. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.32.1383. 
• "Pauling's model not universally accepted". Nature 319: 102. 1986. Bibcode 1986Natur.319..102C. DOI:10.1038/319102a0. 
• "The Icosahedral Quasiperiodic Phase". Physica Scripta 49: 49. 1988. Bibcode 1988PhST...23...49S. DOI:10.1088/0031-8949/1988/T23/008. 

See also[link]

• List of Israel Prize recipients
• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• D. P. DiVincenzo and P. J. Steinhardt, eds. 1991. Quasicrystals: The State of the Art. Directions in Condensed Matter Physics, Vol 11. ISBN 981-02-0522-8.
• T. Janssen. 2007. Quasicrystals: Comparative dynamics. Nature Materials, Vol 6., 925-926.

External links[link]

• Biography and Bibliographic Resources, from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy
• Story of quasicrystals as told by Shechtman to APS News in 2002.
• Biography/CV Page – Technion
• TechnionLIVE e-newsletter
• Dan Shechtman (Iowa State faculty page)
• 2012 interview with The Times of Israel

James Buchanan
15th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861
Vice President	John Breckinridge
Preceded by	Franklin Pierce
Succeeded by	Abraham Lincoln
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office April 11, 1853 – March 15, 1856
President	Franklin Pierce
Preceded by	Joseph Ingersoll
Succeeded by	George Dallas
17th United States Secretary of State
In office March 10, 1845 – March 7, 1849
President	James K. Polk
Preceded by	John Calhoun
Succeeded by	John Clayton
United States Senator from Pennsylvania
In office December 6, 1834 – March 5, 1845
Preceded by	William Wilkins
Succeeded by	Simon Cameron
United States Ambassador to Russia
In office January 4, 1832 – August 5, 1833
President	Andrew Jackson
Preceded by	John Randolph
Succeeded by	Mahlon Dickerson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 4th district
In office March 4, 1823 – March 4, 1831
Preceded by	James Mitchell
Succeeded by	William Hiester
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 3rd district
In office March 4, 1821 – March 4, 1823
Preceded by	Jacob Hibshman
Succeeded by	Daniel Miller
Personal details
Born	(1791-04-23)April 23, 1791 Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	June 1, 1868(1868-06-01) (aged 77) Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S. Cause of death: Respiratory Failure
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Dickinson College
Profession	Lawyer Diplomat
Religion	Presbyterianism
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	Volunteer
Battles/wars	War of 1812

Buchanan statue in National Portrait Gallery

James Buchanan, Jr. (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868, English pronunciation: /bjuːˈkænən/) was the 15th President of the United States (1857–1861). He is the only president from Pennsylvania and the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor. His niece Harriet Lane played the role as lady of the house.

Buchanan (often called Buck-anan by his contemporaries) was a popular and experienced state politician and a successful attorney before his presidency.^[1] He represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the Senate, and served as Minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson. He was also Secretary of State under President James K. Polk. After he turned down an offer for an appointment to the Supreme Court, President Franklin Pierce appointed him Minister to the United Kingdom, in which capacity he helped draft the controversial Ostend Manifesto.

Buchanan was nominated in the 1856 election. Throughout most of Franklin Pierce's term he was stationed in London as a Minister to the Court of St. James's and therefore was not caught up in the crossfire of sectional politics that dominated the country. Buchanan was viewed by many as a compromise between the two sides of the slavery question. His subsequent election victory took place in a three-man race with John C. Frémont and Millard Fillmore. As President, he was often called 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 the Southern states declared their secession in the prologue to the American Civil War. Buchanan's view of record was that secession was illegal, but that going to war to stop it was also illegal. Buchanan, first and foremost an attorney, was noted for his mantra, "I acknowledge no master but the law."^[2]

When he left office, popular opinion had turned against him, and the Democratic Party had split in two. Buchanan had once aspired to a presidency that would rank in history with that of George Washington.^[3] However, his inability to impose peace on sharply divided partisans on the brink of the Civil War has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of the worst Presidents. Buchanan biographer Philip Klein puts these rankings into context: "Buchanan assumed leadership ... when an unprecedented wave of angry passion was sweeping over the nation. That he held the hostile sections in check during these revolutionary times was in itself a remarkable achievement. His weaknesses in the stormy years of his presidency were magnified by enraged partisans of the North and South. His many talents, which in a quieter era might have gained for him a place among the great presidents, were quickly overshadowed by the cataclysmic events of civil war and by the towering Abraham Lincoln."^[4] Buchanan was the last president born in the 18th century.

Early life[link]

James Buchanan was born in a log cabin in Cove Gap (now Buchanan's Birthplace State Park), Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 1791, to James Buchanan, Sr. (1761–1833). He was a well-to-do businessman, merchant, and farmer, and married Elizabeth Speer, a literate and smart woman (1767–1833). His parents were both of Scots-Irish descent, the father having emigrated from Donegal, Ireland in 1783. He was the second of eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. Buchanan had six sisters and four brothers, only one of whom lived past 1840.^[5]

In 1797, the family moved to nearby Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. The home in Mercersburg was later turned into the James Buchanan Hotel.^[6]

Buchanan attended the village academy (Old Stone Academy) and later Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Expelled at one point for poor behavior, after pleading for a second chance, he graduated with honors on September 19, 1809.^[7] Later that year, he moved to Lancaster, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1812. A dedicated Federalist, he initially opposed the War of 1812 because he believed it was an unnecessary conflict. When the British invaded neighboring Maryland, he joined a volunteer light dragoon unit and served in the defense of Baltimore.^[8]

An active Freemason, he was the Master of Masonic Lodge No. 43 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.^[9]

Political career[link]

Buchanan began his political career in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1814–1816, serving as a Federalist.^[10] He was elected to the 17th United States Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1821 – March 4, 1831), serving as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary in the 21st United States Congress. In 1830, he was among the members appointed by the House to conduct impeachment proceedings against James H. Peck, judge of the United States District Court for the District of Missouri, who was ultimately acquitted.^[11] Buchanan did not seek reelection, and from 1832 to 1834 he served as Minister to Russia, appointed by Andrew Jackson.

With the Federalist Party long defunct, Buchanan was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy and served from December 1834; he was reelected in 1837 and 1843, and resigned in 1845 to accept President James K. Polk's nomination of him as Secretary of State. He was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations (24th through 26th Congresses).

After the death of Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin in 1844, Buchanan was nominated by President Polk to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court. He declined that nomination because he felt compelled to complete his collaboration on the Oregon Treaty negotiations. The seat was filled by Robert Cooper Grier.^[12]

Buchanan served as Secretary of State under President Polk from 1845 to 1849, despite objections from Buchanan's rival, Vice President George Dallas.^[13] In this capacity, he helped negotiate the 1846 Oregon Treaty establishing the 49th parallel as the northern boundary of the western U.S.^[14] No Secretary of State has become President since James Buchanan, although William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States, often served as Acting Secretary of State during the Theodore Roosevelt administration.

In 1852, Buchanan was named president of the Board of Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and he served in this capacity until 1866,^[15] despite a false report that he was fired.^[16]

He served as minister to the Court of St. James's (Britain) from 1853 to 1856, during which time he helped to draft and then signed, with Pierre Soulé and John Mason, a memorandum that became known as the Ostend Manifesto. This document proposed the purchase from Spain of Cuba, then in the midst of revolution and near bankruptcy, declaring the island "as necessary to the North American republic as any of its present ... family of states." Against Buchanan's recommendation, the final draft of the Manifesto suggested that "wresting it from Spain" if Spain refused to sell would be justified "by every law, human and Divine."^[17] The Manifesto, generally considered a blunder overall, was never acted upon but weakened the Pierce administration and support for Manifest Destiny.

Presidential election of 1856[link]

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage for Buchanan in each county.

The Democrats nominated Buchanan ("Old Public Functionary") in 1856. He had been in England during the Kansas-Nebraska debate and thus remained untainted by either side of the issue. Pennsylvania, which had three times failed Buchanan, now gave its full support in its state convention. Though he never formally threw his hat into the ring, it is apparent from all his correspondence, that he was aware of the distinct possibility of his nomination by the Democratic convention in Cincinnati, even before heading home at the finish of his work as Minister to England. Nathaniel Hawthorne, then serving as American Consul in Liverpool, recorded in his diary that Buchanan visited him in January 1855:

He returns to America, he says, next October, and then retires forever from public life....as regards his prospects for the Presidency, [h]e said that his mind was fully made up, and that he would never be a candidate, and that he had expressed this decision to his friends in such a way as to put it out of his own power to change it....that it was now too late, and that he was too old...although, really, he is the only Democrat, at this moment, whom it would not be absurd to talk of for the office.....I wonder whether he can have had any object in saying all this to me. He might see that it would be perfectly natural for me to tell it to General Pierce.^[18]

Jonathan Foltz told Buchanan in November 1855: "The people have taken the next presidency out of the hands of the politicians...the people and not your political friends will place you there." While Buchanan did not overtly seek the office, he most deliberately chose not to discourage the movement on his behalf, something that was well within his power on many occasions.^[19]

An anti-Buchanan political cartoon from the 1856 election

Former president Millard Fillmore's "Know-Nothing" candidacy helped Buchanan defeat John C. Frémont, the first Republican candidate for president in 1856, and he served from March 4, 1857, to March 4, 1861. Buchanan remains the most recent of the two Democrats (the other being Martin Van Buren) to succeed a fellow Democrat to the Presidency by election in his own right. President-elect Buchanan stated about the growing schism in the country: "The object of my administration will be to destroy sectional party, North or South, and to restore harmony to the Union under a national and conservative government".^[20] He set about this initially by maintaining a sectional balance in his appointments and persuading the people to accept constitutional law as the Supreme Court interpreted it. The court was considering the legality of restricting slavery in the territories and two justices had hinted to Buchanan what the decision would be.

Presidency 1857–1861[link]

Inauguration of James Buchanan, March 4, 1857, from a photograph by John Wood. Buchanan's Inauguration was the first one to be recorded in photographs.

Dred Scott case[link]

In his inaugural address, besides promising not to run again, Buchanan referred to the territorial question as "happily, a matter of but little practical importance" since the Supreme Court was about to settle it "speedily and finally," and proclaimed that when the decision came he would "cheerfully submit, whatever this may be." Two days later, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the Dred Scott Decision, asserting that Congress had no constitutional power to exclude slavery in the territories. Part of Taney's written judgment has been characterized as obiter dictum—statements commonly made by a jurist that are not central to the decision in the case, and thus not legally binding. Such comments delighted Southerners and incited anger in the North^{[citation needed]}.

Buchanan, in his view, preferred to see the territorial question resolved by the Supreme Court. He had written to Justice John Catron in January 1857, inquiring about the outcome of the case and suggesting that a broader decision would be more prudent.^[21] Catron, who was from Tennessee, replied on February 10 that the Supreme Court's southern majority would decide against Scott, but would likely have to publish the decision on narrow grounds if there was no support from the Court's northern justices—unless Buchanan could convince his fellow Pennsylvanian, Justice Robert Cooper Grier, to join the majority.^[22][23] Buchanan then wrote to Grier and successfully prevailed upon him, allowing the majority leverage to issue a broad-ranging decision that transcended the specific circumstances of Scott's case to declare the Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional.^[24][25] The correspondence was not public at the time; however, at his inauguration, Buchanan was seen in whispered conversation with Chief Justice Roger B. Taney; when the decision was issued two days later, Republicans began spreading word that Taney had then told Buchanan what the forthcoming result would be.^[26] Abraham Lincoln denounced him as an accomplice of the Slave Power, which Lincoln saw as a conspiracy of slave owners to seize control of the federal government and nationalize slavery.

Chaos in Kansas[link]

In 1854 President Pierce faced massive violence in Kansas, dubbed Bleeding Kansas by the Republican Party. During its development in the Pierce administration, Kansas saw escalating violence and political fraud between abolitionist and proslavery factions of settlers. The proslavery settlers decided to establish a seat of government in Lecompton, while the abolitionists organized a rival government in Topeka. Nevertheless, to achieve statehood the territory needed to submit to Washington one state constitution adopted by all Kansans. Toward this end, Buchanan appointed Robert Walker as Governor and dispatched him to the territory. It was Walker's mission to reduce the divisiveness and ensure a fair and full vote by all the people in forming a constitution. Walker acted poorly in tamping down the partisanship. The result was a census and vote corrupted by partisans on both sides. Kansans thus adopted the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution which was rejected by the anti-slavery forces.^[27]

Buchanan's goal was the legal admission of Kansas to the United States and the end of dueling governments in the territory. He threw the support of his administration behind congressional approval of the proslavery Lecompton Constitution. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, leader of the Democrats in the Senate, denounced Lecompton and the battle over Kansas escalated into a battle over the control of the Democratic Party. Buchanan made every effort, legal or not, to defeat Douglas and secure Congressional approval for Kansas statehood, offering favors, patronage appointments and even cash in exchange for votes. The Lecompton bill passed through the House, but it was blocked by Douglas. Congress voted to call a new vote on the Lecompton Constitution, a move which infuriated Southerners. Buchanan and Douglas engaged in an all-out struggle for control of the Democratic party in 1857–60, with Buchanan using his patronage powers and Douglas rallying the popular base. Douglas emerged victorious, and Buchanan was reduced to a narrow base of southern supporters.^[28][29]

Buchanan's political views[link]

President Buchanan and his Cabinet
From left to right: Jacob Thompson, Lewis Cass, John B. Floyd, James Buchanan, Howell Cobb, Isaac Toucey, Joseph Holt and Jeremiah S. Black, (c. 1859)

Buchanan considered the essence of good self-government to be founded on restraint. The constitution he considered to be "...restraints, imposed not by arbitrary authority, but by the people upon themselves and their representatives... In an enlarged view, the people's interests may seem identical, but "to the eye of local and sectional prejudice, they always appear to be conflicting ... and the jealousies that will perpetually arise can be repressed only by the mutual forbearance which pervades the constitution."^[30]

One of the greatest issues of the day was tariffs. Buchanan condemned both free trade and prohibitive tariffs, since either would benefit one section of the country to the detriment of the other. As the Senator from Pennsylvania, he thought: "I am viewed as the strongest advocate of protection in other states, whilst I am denounced as its enemy in Pennsylvania."^[31]

Buchanan, like many of his time, was torn between his desire to expand the country for the benefit of all and his insistence on guaranteeing to the people settling the expanded areas their rights, including slavery. On territorial expansion, he said, "What, sir! Prevent the people from crossing the Rocky Mountains? You might just as well command the Niagara not to flow. We must fulfill our destiny."^[32] On the resulting spread of slavery, through unconditional expansion, he stated: "I feel a strong repugnance by any act of mine to extend the present limits of the Union over a new slave-holding territory." For instance, he hoped the acquisition of Texas would "be the means of limiting, not enlarging, the dominion of slavery."^[32]

Nevertheless, in deference to the intentions of the typical slaveholder, he was quick to provide the benefit of much doubt. In his third annual message Buchanan claimed that the slaves were "treated with kindness and humanity... Both the philanthropy and the self-interest of the master have combined to produce this humane result".^[33]

Historian Kenneth Stampp wrote: "Shortly after his election, he assured a southern Senator that the "great object" of his administration would be "to arrest, if possible, the agitation of the Slavery question in the North and to destroy sectional parties. Should a kind Providence enable me to succeed in my efforts to restore harmony to the Union, I shall feel that I have not lived in vain." In the northern anti-slavery idiom of his day, Buchanan was often considered a "doughface", a northern man with southern principles.^[34]

The President, however, also felt that "this question of domestic slavery is the weak point in our institutions, touch this question seriously ... and the Union is from that moment dissolved. Although in Pennsylvania we are all opposed to slavery in the abstract, we can never violate the constitutional compact we have with our sister states. Their rights will be held sacred by us. Under the constitution it is their own question; and there let it remain."^[35]

Buchanan was irked that the abolitionists were preventing the solution to the slavery problem. He stated, "Before [the abolitionists] commenced this agitation, a very large and growing party existed in several of the slave states in favor of the gradual abolition of slavery; and now not a voice is heard there in support of such a measure. The abolitionists have postponed the emancipation of the slaves in three or four states for at least half a century."^[35]

Buchanan's indifference to educational issues was demonstrated by his veto of a bill passed by Congress to create more colleges, for he believed that "there were already too many educated people."^[36] In fact, the bill he vetoed was a ruse for a federal land donation act designed to benefit Rep. John Covode's railroad company, and fashioned to appear as a land grant for new agricultural colleges.^[37]

Near the end of his administration he had a serious exchange with the Rev. William Paxton. After what Paxton described as quite a probative discussion, Buchanan said, " Well, sir ... I hope I am a Christian. I have much of the experience you have described, and as soon as I retire, I will unite with the Presbyterian Church."

Paxton asked why he delayed, to which he replied, "I must delay for the honor of religion. If I were to unite with the church now, they would say 'hypocrite' from Maine to Georgia."^[38]

Panic of 1857[link]

The Panic of 1857 began in summer of that year, brought on mostly by the people's over-consumption of goods from Europe to such an extent that the Union's specie was drained off, overbuilding by competing railroads, and rampant land speculation in the west. Most of the state banks had overextended credit, to more than $7.00 for each dollar of gold or silver. The Republicans considered the Congress to be the culprit for having recently reduced tariffs.

Buchanan's response, outlined in his first Annual Message to Congress, was "reform not relief." While the government was "without the power to extend relief,",^[39] it would continue to pay its debts in specie, and while it would not curtail public works, none would be added. He urged the states to restrict the banks to a credit level of $3 to $1 of specie, and discouraged the use of federal or state bonds as security for bank note issues. The economy did eventually recover, though many Americans suffered as a result of the panic.^[40] The South, due to an agriculture-based economy, was considered to have been less severely affected than the North, where manufacturers were hardest hit. Buchanan, by the time he left office in 1861, had accumulated a federal deficit of $17 million.^[41]

Utah War[link]

In March 1857, Buchanan received conflicting reports from federal judges in the Utah Territory that their offices had been disrupted and they had been driven from their posts by the Mormons. He knew that the Pierce administration had refused to facilitate Utah's being granted statehood and the Mormons feared the loss of their property rights. Accepting the wildest rumors and believing the Mormons to be in open rebellion against the United States, Buchanan sent the Army in November of that year to replace Brigham Young as Governor with the non-Mormon Alfred Cumming. While the Mormons' defiance of federal authority in the past had become traditional, some question whether Buchanan's action was a justifiable or prudent response to uncorroborated reports.^[42] Complicating matters, Young's notice of his replacement was not delivered because the Pierce administration had annulled the Utah mail contract.^[42] After Young reacted to the military action by mustering a two-week expedition destroying wagon trains, oxen and other Army property, Buchanan dispatched Thomas L. Kane as a private agent to negotiate peace. The mission succeeded, the new governor was shortly placed in office, and the Utah War ended. The President granted amnesty to all inhabitants who would respect the authority of the government, and moved the federal troops to a non-threatening distance for the balance of his administration.^[43]

Partisan deadlock[link]

The division between northern and southern Democrats allowed the Republicans to win a plurality in the House in the election of 1858. Their control of the chamber allowed the Republicans to block most of Buchanan's agenda (including his proposals for expansion of influence in Central America, and for the purchase of Cuba). Buchanan thought the ideologies of the United States would bring peace and prosperity to these neighboring lands as they had in the Northwest and that without U.S. influence, the major European powers would intervene. The imperative of safe and speedy travel from east to west was of strategic importance to the country. These goals would not be reached. Buchanan, in turn, vetoed six substantial pieces of Republican legislation, causing further hostility between Congress and the White House.^[44]

In March 1860 the House created the Covode Committee to investigate the administration for evidence of offenses, some impeachable, such as bribery and extortion of Congressmen in exchange for their votes. The Committee for its part was nakedly partisan, with three Republicans and one Democrat, and Buchanan's enemy John Covode as chairman; the group leaked damaging information about the President without affording him the chance to testify or respond officially; the committee was unable to establish grounds for impeaching Buchanan, but its final report in June exposed corruption and abuse of power among members of his Cabinet. In several incidents, the Buchanan administration assisted the Committee in exposing and correcting abuses during the investigation. Republican operatives distributed thousands copies of the Covode Committee report throughout the nation as campaign material in that year's presidential election.^[45][46]

Disintegration: election of 1860[link]

John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States under Buchanan

Sectional strife rose to such a pitch that the Democratic Party's national convention in 1860 led directly to a schism in the Party. Buchanan played little part at the national convention, meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. The southern wing walked out of the convention and nominated its own candidate for the presidency, incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge. Another faction nominated former Speaker of the House John Bell, who took no position on slavery; his only focus was on saving the Union. The remainder of the party finally nominated Buchanan's archenemy, Stephen Douglas. For his part, President Buchanan supported Breckenridge's candidacy. When the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln, it was a near certainty that he would be elected.

As early as October, the army's Commanding General, Winfield Scott, warned Buchanan that Lincoln's election would likely cause at least seven states to secede. He also recommended to Buchanan that massive amounts of federal troops and artillery be deployed to those states to protect federal property, although he also warned that few reinforcements were available (Congress had since 1857 failed to heed both men's calls for a stronger militia and had allowed the Army to fall into deplorable condition.^[47]) Buchanan, however, distrusted Scott (the two had long been political adversaries) and ignored his recommendations.^[48] After Lincoln's election, Buchanan directed War Secretary Floyd to reinforce southern forts with such provisions, arms and men as were available; however, Floyd convinced him to revoke the order.^[47]

With Lincoln's victory, talk of secession and disunion reached a boiling point. Buchanan was forced to address it in his final message to Congress. Both factions awaited news of how Buchanan would deal with the question. In his message,^[49] Buchanan denied the legal right of states to secede but held that the federal government legally could not prevent them. He placed the blame for the crisis solely on "intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question of slavery in the Southern States", and suggested that if they did not "repeal their unconstitutional and obnoxious enactments ... the injured States, after having first used all peaceful and constitutional means to obtain redress, would be justified in revolutionary resistance to the Government of the Union."^[50] Buchanan's only suggestion to solve the crisis was "an explanatory amendment" reaffirming the constitutionality of slavery in the states, the fugitive slave laws, and popular sovereignty in the territories.^[50] His address was sharply criticized both by the north, for its refusal to stop secession, and the south, for refuting its right to secede.^[51] Five days after the address was delivered, Treasury Secretary Howell Cobb resigned, feeling that his views and the President's had become irreconcilable.^[52]

Columbia as Little Bo Peep; her lost sheep are the Southern states. Buchanan as "dog buck" tries in vain to herd states back into the Union.

Efforts were made by statesmen such as Sen. John J. Crittenden, Rep. Thomas Corwin, and former president John Tyler to negotiate a compromise to stop secession, with Buchanan's support; all failed. Failed efforts to compromise were also made by a group of governors meeting in New York. Buchanan employed a last-minute tactic, in secret, to bring a solution. He attempted in vain to procure President-elect Lincoln's call for a constitutional convention or national referendum to resolve the issue of slavery. Lincoln declined.^[53]

South Carolina declared its secession on December 20, 1860, followed by six other slave states, and, by February 1861, they had formed the Confederate States of America. As Scott had surmised, the secessionist governments declared eminent domain over federal property within their states; Buchanan and his administration took no action to stop the confiscation of government property.

Beginning in late December, Buchanan reorganized his cabinet, ousting Confederate sympathizers and replacing them with hard-line nationalists Jeremiah S. Black, Edwin M. Stanton, Joseph Holt and John A. Dix. These conservative Democrats strongly believed in American nationalism and refused to countenance secession. At one point, Treasury Secretary Dix ordered Treasury agents in New Orleans, "If any man pulls down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." The new cabinet advised Buchanan to request from Congress the authority to call up militias and give himself emergency military powers, and this he did, on January 8, 1861. Nevertheless, by that time Buchanan's relations with Congress were so strained that his requests were rejected out of hand.

Fort Sumter[link]

Before Buchanan left office, all arsenals and forts in the seceding states were lost (except Fort Sumter, off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, and three island outposts in Florida), and a fourth of all federal soldiers surrendered to Texas troops. Knowing that secessionist fervor was strongest in South Carolina, Buchanan made a quiet pact with South Carolina's legislators that he would not reinforce the Charleston garrison in exchange for no interference from the state.^[54] However, Buchanan did not inform the Charleston commander, Major Robert Anderson, of the agreement, and on December 26 Anderson violated it by moving his command to Fort Sumter. Southerners responded with a demand that Buchanan remove Anderson, while northerners demanded support for the commander. On December 31, in an apparent panic and without consulting Anderson, Buchanan ordered reinforcements.^[54]

On January 5, Buchanan sent civilian steamer Star of the West to carry reinforcements and supplies to Fort Sumter, which was located in Charleston harbor, a conspicuously visible spot in the Confederacy. On January 9, 1861, South Carolina state batteries opened fire on the ship, which returned to New York. Buchanan was again criticized by both north (for lack of retaliation against the hostile South Carolina batteries) and south (for attempting to reinforce Fort Sumter), further alienating both factions.^[54][55] Paralyzed, Buchanan made no further moves either to prepare for war or to avert it.

On Buchanan's final day as president, March 4, 1861, he remarked to the incoming Lincoln, "If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man."^[56]

James Buchanan's presidential cabinet[link]

James Buchanan (1859) by George Healy as seen in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Judicial appointments[link]

Buchanan appointed one Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, Nathan Clifford. Buchanan appointed only seven other Article III federal judges, all to United States district courts. He also appointed two Article I judges to the United States Court of Claims.

States admitted to the Union[link]

• Minnesota – May 11, 1858
• Oregon – February 14, 1859
• Kansas – January 29, 1861

Personal relationships[link]

William Rufus DeVane King, thirteenth Vice President of the United States, a friend of James Buchanan, with whom he shared his home

In 1819, Buchanan was engaged to Ann Caroline Coleman, the daughter of a wealthy iron manufacturing businessman and sister-in-law of Philadelphia judge Joseph Hemphill, one of Buchanan's colleagues from the House of Representatives. Buchanan spent little time with her during the courtship: he was extremely busy with his law firm and political projects during the Panic of 1819, which took him away from Coleman for weeks at a time. Conflicting rumors abounded, suggesting that he was marrying her for her money, because his own family was less affluent, or that he was involved with other women. Buchanan never publicly spoke of his motives or feelings, but letters from Ann revealed she was paying heed to the rumors.

After Buchanan paid a visit to the wife of a friend, Ann broke off the engagement. She died soon afterward, on December 9, 1819. The records of a Dr. Chapman, who looked after her in her final hours, and who said just after her death that this was "the first instance he ever knew of hysteria producing death", reveal that he theorized, despite the absence of any valid evidence, the woman's demise was caused by an overdose of laudanum, a concentrated tincture of opium.^[57]

His fiancée's death struck Buchanan a terrible blow. In a letter to her father, which was returned to him unopened, Buchanan wrote "It is now no time for explanation, but the time will come when you will discover that she, as well as I, have been much abused. God forgive the authors of it [...] . I may sustain the shock of her death, but I feel that happiness has fled from me forever."^[57] The Coleman family became bitter towards Buchanan and denied him a place at Ann's funeral.^[58] Buchanan vowed he would never marry, though he continued to be flirtatious. Some pressed him to seek a wife; in response, Buchanan said, "Marry I could not, for my affections were buried in the grave." He preserved Ann Coleman's letters, keeping them with him throughout his life; at his request, they were burned upon his death.^[57]

For fifteen years in Washington, D.C., before his presidency, Buchanan lived with his close friend, Alabama Senator William Rufus King.^[59][60] King became Vice President under Franklin Pierce. He became ill and died shortly after Pierce's inauguration, four years before Buchanan became President. Buchanan's and King's close relationship prompted Andrew Jackson to call King "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy", while Aaron V. Brown spoke of the two as "Buchanan and his wife."^[61] Some of the contemporary press also speculated about Buchanan's and King's relationship. The two men's nieces destroyed their uncles' correspondence, leaving some questions about their relationship; but the length and intimacy of surviving letters illustrate "the affection of a special friendship",^[61] and Buchanan wrote of his "communion" with his housemate.^[62] In May 1844, during one of King's absences that resulted from King's appointment as minister to France, Buchanan wrote to a Mrs. Roosevelt, "I am now 'solitary and alone', having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone, and [I] should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."^[63][64][65]

Circumstances surrounding Buchanan's and King's close emotional ties have led to speculation that Buchanan was homosexual.^[61] Buchanan's correspondence during this period with Thomas Kittera, however, mentions his romance with Mary K. Snyder. In Buchanan's letter to Mrs. Francis Preston Blair, he declines an invitation and expresses an expectation of marriage.^[66]

In a 2012 essay sociologist Jim Loewen wrote, "There can be no doubt that James Buchanan was gay, before, during, and after his four years in the White House. Moreover, the nation knew it, too -- he was not far into the closet....Today, I know no historian who has studied the matter and thinks Buchanan was heterosexual." ^[67] However professors Smith and Haider say whether or not he was gay, he was "certainly not open about it."^[68] Biographer Jean H. Baker concluded that Buchanan used the common florid language of intimacy that was common in that era. Furthermore she says he was not gay but instead had little interest in any form of sex:

The best speculation about the sexuality of the nonshaving Buchanan, who in his portraits has the eunuchlike, endomorphic features of body and face, as well as the low hairline characteristics of asexual men with low levels of testosterone, is that he had little interest in sex. What is important in his story is the deep friendship he maintained with the southerner King from the time of their first acquaintanceship until the latter's death in 1853.^[69]

The only President to remain a bachelor, Buchanan turned to Harriet Lane, an orphaned niece, whom he had earlier adopted, to act as his official hostess of the White House.

Legacy[link]

Buchanan in his later years

In 1866 Buchanan published Mr Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion, the first published presidential memoir, in which he defended his actions; the day before his death he predicted that "history will vindicate my memory".^[70] Buchanan died on June 1, 1868, from respiratory failure at the age of 77 at his home at Wheatland and was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.

Nevertheless, historians continue to criticize Buchanan for his unwillingness or inability to act in the face of secession. Historians in both 2006 and 2009 voted his failure to deal with secession the worst presidential mistake ever made.^[71] Historical rankings of United States Presidents, considering presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults, consistently place Buchanan among the least successful presidents.^[72][73] In an academic poll of 47 British academics specialising in American history and politics in 2011 it was reported that he came last (40th). They "were asked to rate the performance of every president from 1789 to 2009 (excluding William Henry Harrison and James Garfield, who both died shortly after taking office) in five categories:vision/agenda-setting, domestic leadership, foreign policy leadership, moral authority and positive historical significance of their legacy".^[74] James K. Polk confided to his diary: "Mr. Buchanan is an able man, but is in small matter without judgment and sometimes acts like an old maid."^[75]

The National Intelligencer, the leading Whig newspaper of the day ridiculed Buchanan on January 24, 1859, for his follies, citing a series of his "magnificent" proposals that all failed:

We must retrench the extravagant list of magnificent schemes which received the sanction of the Executive ... the great Napoleon himself, with all the resources of an empire at his sole command, never ventured the simultaneous accomplishments of so many daring projects. The acquisition of Cuba ... ; the construction of a Pacific Railroad ... ; a Mexican protectorate, the international preponderance in Central America, in spite of all the powers of Europe; the submission of distant South American states; ... the enlargement of the Navy; a largely increased standing Army ... what government on earth could possibly meet all the exigencies of such a flood of innovations?^[76]

A bronze and granite memorial residing near the Southeast corner of Washington, D.C.'s Meridian Hill Park was designed by architect William Gorden Beecher and sculpted by Maryland artist Hans Schuler. Commissioned in 1916 but not approved by the U.S. Congress until 1918, and not completed and unveiled until June 26, 1930, the memorial features a statue of Buchanan bookended by male and female classical figures representing law and diplomacy, with the engraved text reading: "The incorruptible statesman whose walk was upon the mountain ranges of the law", a quote from a member of Buchanan's cabinet, Jeremiah S. Black.

Buchanan memorial, Washington, D.C.

The memorial in the nation's capital complemented an earlier monument, constructed in 1907–08 and dedicated in 1911, on the site of Buchanan's birthplace in Stony Batter, Pennsylvania. Part of an 18.5-acre (75,000 m²) memorial site, the earlier monument is a 250-ton pyramid structure designed to show the original weathered surface of the native rubble and mortar.

Three counties are named in his honor: Buchanan County, Iowa, Buchanan County, Missouri, and Buchanan County, Virginia. Another in Texas was christened in 1858 but renamed Stephens County, after the newly elected Vice President of the Confederate States of America, Alexander Stephens, in 1861.^[77]

See also[link]

• Historical rankings of United States Presidents
• List of Presidents of the United States
• Presidential Dollar
• U.S. Presidents on U.S. postage stamps

Ancestors[link]