Who Was the First & Only Bachelor to Serve As President?
PAMELA MARTIN
COLLEGE
Although several presidents were unmarried during part of their terms of office, only the fifteenth, James Buchanan remained a bachelor through his entire presidency. He was also one of only three United States presidents who had no children and the only president from Pennsylvania.
1 Bachelor Buchanan and the White House
In 1819, Buchanan was engaged to Anne Caroline Coleman. She broke their engagement, however, and she died a week later. Buchanan remained a lifetime bachelor after that. His niece, Harriet Lane Johnson, acted as hostess for the Democratic president at White House social events during his term in office from 1857 to 1861.
2 White House Marriages
Although Buchanan was the only president who never married, three others married while they were in office. Widowers John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson married in New York and in Washington, D.C., respectively. Bachelor Grover Cleveland is the only president to get married in the White House.
Related Articles
