Captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2008 harriet lane spent quite a bit of time traveling with her uncle James Buchanan. They entertained International Visitors during their time in the white house as well. One of the most interesting groups they had visit them was the japanese delegation. The japanese delegation came to the white house in 1860 and they came bearing all types of gifts. What we see are some of the Little Things they brought, beautiful little shoes, paper folded objects, origami. This is a dictionary in japanese. Miss lane and her friends found all of these things very intriguing. While were learning about diplomatic visits, patricia on facebook asks, is it true that harriet lane hosted englands prince of wales the future king edward vii at the white house. This visit was described as one of the great successes of the administration. Humge success. Why is this. It was the prince of wales, the son of the reigning monarch. They hadnt had anybody over here and he was i guess the highest ranking foreign person that ever came here. Everybody knew Queen Victoria and the prince of wales and he came here. He went to canada and buchanan knew Queen Victoria and said listen, as long as hes in the neighborhood, come on down. So he did. And they invited him and he stayed at the white house. And she [ inaudible ] didnt she . Yes. Beat him at what . Bows. The game. Yes. Beat him. Is that protocol to have the prince of wales be beat in a competitive game . Not really. Probably didnt play well at all. Probably the first time he lost at anything. Probably. Lets take a call from president buchanans hometown lancaster, pennsylvania. Caroline is watching us there, hi, caroline. You are on the air. Welcome. Caller thank you. I would like to know how harriet lane is his niece . In what realm . Is it his brothers wife . His sisters daughter . Sister. His sisters daughter. Yeah. And, in fact, over the course of his lifetime it seems he took care of a lot of children. He did. I think he had one brother and about 4 million sisters. He came from a large family. He did very well in life and he managed to support in some way or another maybe about 15 or 16 different nieces and nephews. He had a lot of sisters. While talking about president buchanans personal life, there is a story about why hes a bachelor. He did have a great Love Interest in his life . They say when he was a young man he was engaged to a woman and it didnt work out too well. It depends on what book you read, didnt work for a lot of you know, the engagement was broken and she later not all that much later died and some suspect she committed suicide. The relationship between buchanan and his former intendeds family was very bad. They wouldnt let him come to the funeral or anything like that. How much he loved her, how much was true, how much was embellished we probably will never know. Do you have anything more to add to that story . Not really. It was [ inaudible ] . Yes, it was. My understanding is that her father discovered he had apparently been thrown out of college from some misdemeanor and her father discovered the reason for his being thrown out of college this is buchanan. Buchanan, yes, and tackled him about it. Then told his daughter anne. Anne sort of had a few words with buchanan about it. We can only guess at what it was we can only guess. At what the secret was. And they split up. It upset is her so much that she apparently did commit suicide. She committed suicide. He devoted himself to politics and raising his many nieces and nephews. May i . There was a rumor as well that he had a short fling with julia tyler before she came mrs. Tyler, which i find incredible but this is in one of the books ive recently read. Julia tyler, when julia tyler was in washington before she married the president. Yes. She was very, very popular. Was she . Yes, she was. And she had flings, whatever that means today, with a lot of different men, much older men. She seemed to attract a lot of older men. But whatever went on between julia and buchaz p was really negligible. Paired one 30 years her senior who became president . Yes. The next call from barbara in brook haven, pennsylvania. Hi. Caller good evening. I too remember hearing the story when i visited wheatland about a brokenhearted buchanan whose fiancee who lived in philadelphia jilted him and it had something to do with her familys objection to him. Apparently he was just so broken hearted there was never anyone else for him and i remember hearing that story from a tour guide when i went through wheatland. Thank you very much for that. Heres a question from wallace lee. Tell the audience that president buchanan was originally from mercerberg, pennsylvania, moved to lancaster as an adult. They dont wish to recognize his upbringing location. He was born in mercersberg. And chose lancaster for his law practice. He chose it to be his adult home. Is it true that as he was setting the stage for many runs for the presidency he would use that place as an entertaining spot for members of congress. Sure. It was a lovely home. On their way to washington they would be invited to wheatland. He invited people to come to wheatland. It was a nice piece of property. Oh, sure. They were very social. Lancaster, pennsylvania, the site of our next caller, linda. Youre on. Caller hi, thank you very much. I appreciate it. I wanted to ask if you could elaborate on harriet lanes wed withing whe ing where that took place and any interesting details as a result of that. Harriet lane did not get married until long after the white house. She got married about six or seven years after he left the white house. 35 years old or 36 years old when she got married. Buchanan was very happy about it. She married a man named henry johnston. He was a banker. Some people say he was a lawyer. He may have been a lawyer first and then a banker, but he was a banker. He was well to do. She had known him for years. They always seemed to like each other and i guess maybe by that time it was time for her to get married. Buchanan is very, very happy because he died a year and a half later so he probably knew he was getting on in life and harriet would be settled. And then they moved to baltimore. They lived in baltimore. Well come back to that too. I dont want to leave the white house years because you called it a failed presidency. The nation was about to split apart, South Carolina about to secede but a quick look at america by the 1860s. The population was 31 million in 33 states, 35 growth since the 1850 census. There were 3. 9 million slaves, about 13 of the population. About the largest cities in the country at that time were new york city, philadelphia, brooklyn, new york, and baltimore, all in the northeast. Harriet lane was was she also a political adviser to the president . If so, didnt turn out so well. It all depends on what you mean by advice . Was she a political adviser in the sense of Abigail Adams . No. I think she was a little bit more in the Dolly Madison vain of the socially helpful to him. She was subservant. He trained her to listen well. To listen well and observe and take note of what was going on and form opinions. She was usually quite quiet about expressing her opinions. Which was one of the reasons she was popular, she didnt do anything wrong. Heres a question, how have the duties and position of first ladies evolved from Martha Washington until this day . It sounds like theres a lot of similarities really and it depends on the individual first lady how involved at this point. It does. Actually, i think that the first three first ladies, martha, abigail and dolly, were far harder working and more actively involved in their husbands lives and in their careers and then my own opinion was when we stopped being colonies and started being a country, maybe by the 1800s or so, that generation growing up, they were growing to be more they were more prominent. They were very prosperous and then wanted their wives to have all sorts of lovely things and they catered to them a lot more. They didnt have to work quite as hard. The ladies at that time, they started i guess being frailer and they were frailer probably until after the civil war. Speaking of the civil war, as were marching as a nation toward it, heres some of the key events of the Buchanan Administration, that one term in the white house. 1857, the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision on slavery. 1858, the leecompton constitution is, the pony express was established in 1860, we saw that the first japanese delegation visited the white house and in 1861, the creation of the Confederate States of america. So this white house was dealing with enormous problems but not effectively. How did the Buchanan Administration try to approach the negotiating using the white house and bringing parties together . I think i will have to defer to your knowledge. They entertained a lot. They had two dinners a week for 40 people at each dinner. How do they keep fights from breaking out . Tensions were at an alltime high . They were at a tremendous alltime high. Harriet wore another hat. Not only was she hostess but she was very actively involved in the protocol of it and she would spend hours working on the seating plans and i cant sit next to you and you cant sit over there and who is going to be over here because theyre not talking to each other. And she worked very hard at that. Fortunately she knew all the players. She knew all these different senators and cabinet members and congressmen and so she knew how to put them and where to put them and worked very hard at it. Did she attend debates in congress . Occasionally. Another lancaster, pennsylvania, caller, the favorite son is interesting people tonight, chris on the line. Go ahead, please. Caller yes. During the time that harriet lane was in the house at wheatland, can you tell us how many people were in the house . How many Family Members as well as how many staff were at the house at wheatland . I dont know. Do you know . Well, they had miss milley i think who was the housekeeper. That was miss heady. Heady, who was the housekeeper. Yeah. I know they had a steward because when they first went to the white house, miss heady wanted to take control yeah. And hair yet didnt want that. Nixed that pretty well. They brought over a steward from there. They had least two staff. They did have some staff. I dont know how many of their Family Members actually lived there. I know he had a couple of nephews that he had at the white house serving as his secretary and aides. Yes. He did. That was very common among the early president s to bring in relatives. Just to underscore people that worked for them in the wheatland were paid . They were oh, yes. They were not in any sense slave holders . No. Donna from idaho, welcome to the conversation. Go ahead, welcome. Caller i have a small world story for you. Okay. Caller i taught first ladies for several years in our Elder Program here and when i got to James Buchanan a friend of mine came and says i have something to show everybody. She showed everybody her ring. She said this belongs to my husbands family. This is the ring that James Buchanan gave his fiancee. Did she have any proof of that . Great story. Caller its interesting all the way to idaho. I hope before you close the show you discuss her tragic family losing her husband and both her sons and also the legacy she left the lovely estate and did a lot of good. Thank you very much. We plan to. So James Buchanan loses the white house to abraham lincoln. Next Weeks Program will be a full two hours on the lincoln administration. What were the postwhite house years like for harriet lane . Well, she went back to wheatland with her uncle for about five years or so. Then she married henry johnson. They moved to baltimore where he was a banker and he was quite prominent and well to do and theyvc . Sx had these two sons an unfortunately harriet had about 15 decent years as mrs. Johnson. Both her sons died young. Within a year of each other. Yes. I think they were like 12, 13. They were young boys. Shes another one who lost both of her children. Yes, indeed. And she about a year and a half after the boys died her husband died. Harriet is now around 50ish and she is a widow on her own. And she moves back to washington, d. C. , and she gets to be a little bit like dolly. She gets invited to the white house for just about every time theyre going to be having a big deal. She gets invited and no party is a party unless shes there. She does a lot of good. She really does. Well take a call and then talk a little bit more about this is charles in wheatland, pennsylvania, how about that, a town named after the estate. Youre on the air, charles. Caller good evening. Yes. Wheatland parks pa, i dont know if your panel has heard of it, its really a suburb of youngstown across the state line named after the estate. It was originally an old canal town, the canal from pittsburgh through youngstown area and then to erie and theres the Wheatland Tube company which is a very large producer of tubes and iron. The only question i have, im wondering if there are any other towns named after the estate of president i think this is rather unusuals. That is a detailed question. Do you know the answer to it. A couple Mount Vernons and mount pe her. Were going to return to wheatland and learn more about harriet lanes postwhite house years. Unfortunately, harriet lanes life was marked by tremendous loss for such a remarkable woman, it can tell us a lot about her by seeing the tragedies beginning early in life with the loss of both of her parents, several young siblings and when she reached adulthood the loss of her three siblings who reached adulthood with her followed by the death of her beloved uncle James Buchanan and shortly thereafter by the deaths of her two young sons and husband ultimately. As you can see i have harriet lanes jewelry box which would have held beautiful jewels, lots used on happy occasions and parties and galas, but some of them used for the intimate and very sad occasions when she was grieving. I have some pieces of morning jewelry here that are very interesting. This first one is a morning locket that contains the hair of her mother, her father and three of her siblings. Its unique in that locket closes into a ball and as the wheel turns there are little glass plates and understa each the hair of their Family Member and its ep graved with the date of their death. This piece here is a locket that is woven with a little pattern of hair from three of her young nieces and nephews and its a very beautiful little locket and then on the back we can see more hair and then the engravings of their names and dates of their deaths. This piece is a very interesting locket in that it opens on two sides and in the first side, we can see a type of her sister mary lane baker who died very prematurely as harriet was returning from england she came home to the news that her dear sister had died. On the other side we see her brother, elliott lane, and this is a very artsy photograph taken some time near the end of his life but he was a young man who died unfortunately just after president buchanans inauguration. He had been set to serve as the personal secretary to the president and then died of an unfortunate case of dysentery that affected many people who stayed at the National Hotel in washington. Now this last piece is a morning bracelet that harriet created to commemorate her uncle James Buchanan and a beautiful cameo on the front but when you turn it around you can see a lock of his hair behind the glass plate, ferns cut from the grounds of wheatland from the day he died and his last words uttered on june 1st of 1868 that says o lord god all mighty as thou will. This is a special piece because the last words and the name are hidden within the band so its something she would have kept close to her. From the outside it just appears to be a normal ordinary piece of jewelry. This painting is an image of harriet lanes two young sons, James Buchanan johnson and Henry Elliot Johnson jr. Sadly this is a memorial portrait because both boys died as young teenagers from what we know to be rheumatic fever. Both became ill around the same time. One boy died in the United States and the other died after harriet and her husband took him to france to hopefully seek a cure and Better Climate with mineral waters. The boys are portrayed against a rocky sea scape to symbolize their death and dressed in their best clothes and posed with their favorite possessions to show them as they would have been in life as a memorial for their mother to remember them by. As we wrap up our program here, our caller asked us to make sure we talked about her white house years and issues she got involved in. There are many. She and her husband created one of the first homes for invalid children which is called the harriet lane home for invalid children. It is now still part of Johnson Hopkins and its current incarnation and she was quite an art collector and her Art Collection was donated to the smithsonian and became the foundation for the National Gallery of art in washington, d. C. She was involved with the creation of Saint Albans School in washington and very involved in the preservation of her uncles memory through the James Buchanan memorial. We have a picture of that. You earlier called it a failed presidency, but its quite a memorial he has. Here in the Meridian Park area of washington, d. C. As we close out a question for both of you, were trying to understand their influence on the country. Where would you put harriet lane in the pantheon of first ladies in terms of her importance . Second. Second . I would put her right below if she were mrs. Buchanan instead of niece of buchanan, i think she would be second to dolly in the 19th century. You say the same. I still think she should be second even though shes miss lane not mrs. Buchanan. Why is that . Well the influence she had on people and everybody loved her and she brought tranquillity is the word i thinkmynof to the ro of first lady after the previous say three presidencies. She was just a great girl an everybody loved her. I want to say thank you as we chose out here to the White House Historical association, our partners this series, and for all of their help in research and many of the photographs and other things that youre seeing and to our two guests for this program on jane pierce and harriet lane and both guests have books available to read more about the first ladies. Remembering the ladies and first ladies an inmate portrait of women who shaped america. Thanks to both of you for being with us and thanks to you for being our audience this evening. If you enjoyed watching first ladies pick up a copy of the book first ladies influence and image featuring profiles of the first ladies through interviews with top historians now available in paperback, hard cover, or as an ebook. First ladies influence and image on America History tv examines the private lives and public roles of the nations first ladies through interviews with top historians. Tonight, we look at Mary Todd Lincoln and liza johnson. Watch first ladies influence and image tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan 3. American history tv on cspan 3, exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend coming up, were marking the 70th anniversary of the korean war, live on washington journal and American History tv with journalist Charles Hanley author of ghost flames, life and death in a hidden war korea 1950 to 53. And sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern real america features korean war films starting with to help peace survive a 1974 Defense Department orientation film for soldiers assigned to south korea. And at 7 00 p. M. On oral histories, u. S. Alan clark on serving two tours in korea between 1950 and 1953. Exploring the american story watch American History tv this weekend on