James Buchanan (1791-1868)served in the Pennsylvania legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, as ambassador to Russia and to Great Britain, in the U.S. Senate, and as Secretary of State under President Polk. He was elected the 15th President of the United States, 1857-1861. His administration was plagued with growing tensions between the North and the South, which increased dramatically with the 1857 Supreme Court decision declaring that former slave Dred Scott was not a U.S. citizen and, as a black man, "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." During the last few months of his presidency, Southern states began to secede from the Union to form the Confederate States of America.

Buchanan is the only U.S. President who never married. His niece served as his official hostess during his term in the White House and it is she who provided the funds for this memorial.