BUCHANAN, James. Autograph letter signed ("James Buchanan"), as President, to James Gordon Bennett Washington, 18 June 1860. 2 pages, folio . Marked "Private and Confidential." BUCHANAN UNDER INVESTIGATION: "IF THIS DRAGOONING CAN EXIST, THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE WOULD BE UNWORTHY OF THE ACCEPTANCE OF A GENTLEMAN" Buchanan lashes out at his Congressional critics. Combative and highly dramatic Senate committee investigations are not just a product of the modern media age. Long before the Army-McCarthy hearings or the Senate Watergate probe, there was the Covode Committee of 1860 and its investigation of "Bleeding Kansas" and corruption in the Buchanan administration. Here, an enraged President rips into their work in a private letter to the powerful editor of the New York Herald , James Gordon Bennett "I thought I never should have occasion to appeal to you on any public subject, & I knew if I did I could not swerve you from your independent course. I, therefore, now only ask you as a personal friend to take the trouble of examining yourself the proceedings of the Covode Committee...& then to do me what you may deem to be strict justice..." The committee's witnesses were all men eager to "cast a shade upon the character of the Executive. If this dragooning can exist, the Presidential office would be unworthy of the acceptance of a gentleman. In performing my duties I have endeavored to be not only pure but unsuspected. I have never had any concern in awarding contracts but have left these to be given by the Heads of the appropriate Departments. I have ever detested all jobs & no man at any period of my life has even approached me on such a subject...I shall send a message to the House in a few days on the violation of the Constitution involved in the vote of censure [and] in the appointment & proceedings of the Covode Committee. I am glad to perceive from the Herald that you agree with me on the Constitutional question. I shall endeavor to send you a copy in advance." Timed for maximum political embarrassment, Republican Senator John Covode's election-year report painted a picture of extensive corruption in Buchanan's administration, ranging from buying votes in Kansas-- with either cash or patronage--to secure the adoption of the pro-slavery "Lecompton Constitution"; malfeasance in the awarding of navy yard contracts; and the bribing of newspaper editors with lucrative government printing contracts. Republicans printed 100,000 copies of a pamphlet summarizing Covode's findings while the House voted to censure the President and his Navy Secretary, Isaac Toucey. Buchanan's Message in response denounced the move as a Constitutional nullity.
BUCHANAN, James. Autograph letter signed ("James Buchanan"), as President, to James Gordon Bennett Washington, 18 June 1860. 2 pages, folio . Marked "Private and Confidential." BUCHANAN UNDER INVESTIGATION: "IF THIS DRAGOONING CAN EXIST, THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE WOULD BE UNWORTHY OF THE ACCEPTANCE OF A GENTLEMAN" Buchanan lashes out at his Congressional critics. Combative and highly dramatic Senate committee investigations are not just a product of the modern media age. Long before the Army-McCarthy hearings or the Senate Watergate probe, there was the Covode Committee of 1860 and its investigation of "Bleeding Kansas" and corruption in the Buchanan administration. Here, an enraged President rips into their work in a private letter to the powerful editor of the New York Herald , James Gordon Bennett "I thought I never should have occasion to appeal to you on any public subject, & I knew if I did I could not swerve you from your independent course. I, therefore, now only ask you as a personal friend to take the trouble of examining yourself the proceedings of the Covode Committee...& then to do me what you may deem to be strict justice..." The committee's witnesses were all men eager to "cast a shade upon the character of the Executive. If this dragooning can exist, the Presidential office would be unworthy of the acceptance of a gentleman. In performing my duties I have endeavored to be not only pure but unsuspected. I have never had any concern in awarding contracts but have left these to be given by the Heads of the appropriate Departments. I have ever detested all jobs & no man at any period of my life has even approached me on such a subject...I shall send a message to the House in a few days on the violation of the Constitution involved in the vote of censure [and] in the appointment & proceedings of the Covode Committee. I am glad to perceive from the Herald that you agree with me on the Constitutional question. I shall endeavor to send you a copy in advance." Timed for maximum political embarrassment, Republican Senator John Covode's election-year report painted a picture of extensive corruption in Buchanan's administration, ranging from buying votes in Kansas-- with either cash or patronage--to secure the adoption of the pro-slavery "Lecompton Constitution"; malfeasance in the awarding of navy yard contracts; and the bribing of newspaper editors with lucrative government printing contracts. Republicans printed 100,000 copies of a pamphlet summarizing Covode's findings while the House voted to censure the President and his Navy Secretary, Isaac Toucey. Buchanan's Message in response denounced the move as a Constitutional nullity.
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.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
