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Worst. President. Ever. : James Buchanan, the POTUS rating game, and the legacy of the least of the lesser presidents / Robert Strauss.

by Strauss, Robert, 1951-

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Lyons Press, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

Buchanan, James, 1791-1868.

Presidents -- United States -- Biography.

United States -- Politics and government -- 1857-1861.

9781493024834 (hc.)

Alternate title:

James Buchanan, the POTUS rating game, and the legacy of the least of the lesser presidents

xiv, 257 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introducing the Worst. President. Ever -- The Young Buck -- Up from Lancaster -- The man who would be president, again and again -- The election of 1856: the most consequential in American history -- The worst presidency begins -- The middle Buchanan presidency: hardly better -- Mr. Buchanan's War -- The legacy of the least of the lesser presidents.

An enlightening - and highly entertaining - account of poor James Buchanan's presidency to prove once and for all that, well, few leaders could have done worse. Author Robert Strauss does much more, leading readers out of Buchanan's terrible term in office - meddling in the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, exacerbating the Panic of 1857, helping foment the John Brown uprisings and "Bloody Kansas," virtually inviting a half-dozen states to secede from the Union as a lame duck, and on and on - to explore with insight and humor his own obsession with presidents, and ultimately the entire notion of ranking our presidents. He guides us through the POTUS rating game of of presidential achievement, showing why Buchanan easily loses to any of the others, but also offering insights into presidential history buffs like himself, the forgotten "lesser" presidential sites, sex and the presidency, the presidency itself, and how and why it can often take the best measures out of even the most dedicated men.

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