Um, There Might’ve Already Been A Gay US President

By Samuel Leighton-Dore

The last eight years of United States politics have been marked by historic moments.

In 2008 Americans elected their first African American President, Barrack Obama. In 2012, they re-elected him. Now in 2016, we’ve just seen a woman, Hillary Clinton, become Presumptive Nominee of the Democratic Party for the first time in history.

Which kinda begs the question: are Americans ready for a Gay President?

The Huffington Post reports that survey data from a 2015 Gallup poll says YES, finding that 74 percent of Americans say they’re willing to vote for a gay or lesbian presidential candidate — about the same percentage that would be willing to vote for an Evangelical Christian, yet far fewer than for a black, female, Catholic, or Hispanic candidate.

But according to historians, there’s a pretty good chance that Americans have already had their first gay President – they just didn’t realise it until now. James Buchanan was the 15th President and elected into office in 1856. You only have to look at the letters exchanged between Buchanan and William Rufus King, a Democratic senator from Alabama, to understand that their fifteen-year relationship was likely well beyond platonic.

For instance, in 1844, when King was appointed minister to France, he wrote to Buchanan of his insecurities…

“I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation.”

To which the would-be President responded…

“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 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.”

In 2016 the romantic exchange might’ve looked a little something like this:

According to historian Jim Loewen, who wrote extensively about Buchanan and King in his book Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong, “There’s no reasonably doubt that King and Buchanan were both homosexual, and that they were known to be by political leaders at the time.”

“I’m sure that Buchanan was gay,” Loewen continues.

“There is clear evidence that he was gay. And since I haven’t seen any evidence that he was heterosexual, I don’t believe he was bisexual.”

Loewen said the relationship between the two men ended only with King’s death in 1853, three short years before Buchanan became President.

So I guess the question has now become: who will be the SECOND Gay President of the U.S.A?