King: queen and tyrant?(Flashback)

Vice President William Rufus King of Alabama may have been a "prim, wig-topped mediocrity," as historian Roy F. Nichols judged him, but King was also about as flaming a queen as the 1840s would allow. As Steve Tally wrote in his popular account of the Vice Presidents, "King did nothing to dispel the stereotype of the effeminate homosexual. He was a flowing dandy who favored silk scarves, brilliant stickpins, and glittery accoutrements."

The Veep made Oscar Wilde in full flower look like Ernest Borgnine. But what inquiring minds have really wanted to know is just what kind of friend he was to his roommate, Pennsylvania senator (and later President) James Buchanan.

While there is little question of King's proclivities, the matter of Buchanan's sexuality remains a mystery. His only serious courtship was of a rich Lancaster girl named Anne Coleman, who seems to have committed suicide after breaking off their engagement under murky circumstances. (Letters that might have illuminated the affair were burned--at the President's request--after his death.) Historian Nichols argued that Buchanan used the "romantic legend" of Anne's suicide "to shield himself" from later suspicions that he lacked an interest in women. For 50 years his mourning gave him excuse to avoid female companionship.

Instead, he consorted with Democratic Senator King, with whom he roomed from 1836 until 1844. While same-sex cohabitation was common, their relationship clearly was not. Washingtonians called them "Siamese twins" and "Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan." King was widely referred to as "Aunt Fancy," while Andrew Jackson called him "Miss Nancy." Their household broke up when King was appointed minister to France, though he wrote "Dear Buchanan" from Paris, "I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation."

Subtlety was shoved into the closet when opposition papers described either man. As one anti-Buchanan newspaper sketched him, "Mr. B has a shrill, almost female voice, and wholly beardless cheeks; and he is not by any means, in any aspect the sort of man likely to cut his throat for any Chloe or Phillis in ...