Art by Catherine Cawley (website)
Harriet Lane was orphaned at the age of 11 and adopted by her uncle James Buchanan, then a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania. Â James sent Harriet and her younger sister to boarding school and when they came of age, he introduced them to society. Â
Harriet was her uncleâs closest personal confident and an active part of his political career. Â In 1851, she travelled to Pittsburgh and personally persuaded the cityâs mayor to support her uncleâs bid for the presidency. Â At the Court of St. James, Queen Victoria was so impressed by Harrietâs social grace, horsemanship, and education that she gave Harriet the rank of an ambassadorâs wife.
When James became president in 1857, Harriet became the White House hostess in charge of all social events. Â Although Harriet was privately anti-slavery, she kept quiet on the contentious issue in public. Â According to Alabamian Virginia Clay-Clompton, Harriet âserved to keep the surface of society in Washington serene and smiling, though the fires of a volcano raged in the under-political world.â
Harriet married a banker at the age of 35 in 1866. Â The couple had two sons, but neither boy lived past his teens. In response to the loss of her sons, she created the Harriet Lane Home which provided medical care to children of all races and creeds. Â Part of Johns Hopkins, the Harriet Lane Home did not open its doors until nine years after her death. Â But in 1930, researchers at the Harriet Lane Home discovered drugs capable of preventing the rheumatic fever heart damage that had killed her sons.
In her will, Harriet gave her extensive art collection to the United States government if they created an national art gallery. Â Three years after Harrietâs death, the Supreme Court declared the Smithsonian the national art gallery and Harrietâs paintings formed the basis of the collection. Â Harrietâs will also founded the St. Albanâs boys school and established a monument to her uncle in Washington. Â The monument is located at Euclid and 16th Street NW in Washington, DC.
James Buchanan is the only bachelor President of the United States. His sexuality is unclear, some historians believe him to have been gay, while others see him as asexual or celibate by choice.  All that is known for certain is that he had a very close male friend for most of his life and that his only public romance was a failed engagement.  His former fiancĂ©e died not long afterwards and in a letter to her father James wrote, âI feel happiness has fled from me forever.â
Past Cool Chicks from History posts about First Ladies can be found here.
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