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starlight-tequila · 19 days ago

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So I just finished Bosom Friends, and I have some thoughts.

Before we get into all my gripes, I'll first state what I liked about it: it's a good dual biography of Buchanan and King. It's a great explanation of how they helped build up each other's careers and included some fun anecdotes about their personal lives, which I always love reading about. If you approach it solely from this angle, it's great.

If you approach it as a good rebuttal to the idea of a gay relationship, however, it's very disappointing.

Because I have way too many thoughts on this subject to write it all down in a cohesive essay, I'm just going to summarize my main talking points down below.

Now obviously, speculating about the sexualities of historical figured is always going to be just that: speculation. All we have to go on are scraps from their personal lives. But I take issue with Balcerski's argument and I don't think it's very convincing at all. Here's why.

1). Balcerski says in the intro that there is no evidence of a sexual relationship. And he's right. There isn't any. But, in the very next chapter, he describes why he wouldn't find anything! Homosexuality was criminalized back then, and considering how passionate (ha) about reaching the executive office Buchanan and King were, they would have taken due diligence to make sure it didn't get out (that is, IF they were partaking in afternoon delight to begin with). People in antebellum Washington may have been "okay" with them living together and obviously being very close, but dancing the horizontal tango was where the line was drawn. Of course there'll be no evidence, but it's the fact that Balcerski doesn't even give the idea serious consideration that does it for me.

2). This kind of ties back to my first point but it really bugs me how he only ever brings up a sexual relationship (or lack thereof). Given my earlier point about how sexuality was criminalized back then, it's possible that they decided NOT to go around throwing hotdogs down hallways, and instead decided to keep it chaste. Or maybe they simply weren't interested in sex. Not only does Balcerski not take seriously the idea that they may have had adult fun time at least once, but he doesn't even seem to acknowledge the possibility that the whole thing may have just been strictly romantic. Romance and sex can exist without the other in the modern day, so why not here?

3). The cruel gossip. Of course, Balcerski is right in that these insults were hurled at them specifically to damage them and thus we shouldn't take it all TOO seriously, but I think there is something to gain from thinking about what those insults were aimed at and why. Why attack their relationship and effeminacy if others didn't view it as a weakness, as the peg in them that needed knocking down? If anything I think this just illustrates my first point even more.

If schoolyard bullies are really good at identifying weakness in their targets, then so are grown adults. Politics is literally full of people insulting each other in horrible ways, and while many of those taunts weren't founded in any sort of truth...a lot of them were. Andrew Jackson was attacked for marrying a bigamist. Richard Mentor Johnson was insulted for having a slave as a common-law wife. Abraham Lincoln was mocked over his appearance. Most of those insults weren't just plucked out of thin air. And the fact that there were others who commented on the Kingchanan relationship without being nasty about it ("siamese twins") shows that it likely wasn't just something made up to disparage them.

4). Buchanan's numerous flirtations. These keep getting brought up like it's irrefutable proof that Buchanan was straight, but I don't buy it. He may have been attracted to women of course: he almost got married, after all, but the Anne Coleman thing is a whole other can of worms and it's hard to know what to make of it. Really, I think the fact that Buchanan flirted with so many women and none of it ever went anywhere ever, kind of speaks for itself. He seemed generally pretty disinterested most of the time.

His "flirtation" with Catherine Ellis and Margaret King, King's nieces, get brought up a couple of times, but he basically never made an actual move on either of them and seemed to keep them strictly as friendships. His friendship with Catherine, by the way, lasted until his death and she never seemed to express romantic interest in him either. (Maybe they were just...friends all along?) Undoubtedly Buchanan was fond of female company, but he clearly wasn't fond of it enough to actually marry one aside from Anne Coleman.

5). The analysis of the famous "wooing to several gentlemen" letter. The way Balcerski glosses over the word wooing annoys me. Like, I know that language changes over time, but hasn't the meaning of wooing stayed pretty consistent over the years? Well how would I know, because Balcerski says basically nothing about it.

He also barely says anything about the last section, where Buchanan says that he doesn't see himself marrying for love but only to get a cook/housekeeper. That is...extremely blatant, if you ask me, and even if you still want to argue that Kingchanan was never a thing, at the very least Buchanan was displaying a lack of romantic interest in women. The book even points out that Buchanan already had a cook/housekeeper, so there was no reason for him to marry!

6). King's repression of his sexuality. Balcerski is quite clear in his belief that King was gay, which I also agree with. However, he also believes that King repressed his sexuality so strongly that he wasn't even aware of it. And that I take issue with. Undoubtedly there was probably some repression going on - this was the 1800's, after all. But this was a man who never married, came up with a pretty flimsy excuse as to why he never married, was very effeminate, lived with and had a close relationship to another bachelor for years, and was openly mocked about all this for DECADES. I find it hard to believe he wasn't aware of it at all.

7). I find the stubborn refusal to truly acknowledge how odd their living situation was to be frustrating. It wasn't unusual for men - and bachelors, at that - to live together during the Congressional sessions. Many of them couldn't afford to own a second home in Washington. It also wasn't unusual to live with friends. Who wouldn't want to live with their friends?

But Buchanan and King lived together for a decade - much longer than was considered normal, due to losing reelection, finding new friends to live with, or even getting married. And they stuck together, too. Others came and went, their boardinghouse changed, but the one constant is that they were together. Clearly everyone else around them thought it was unusual, too.

And, bosom friendships existed, and were doubtlessly important in politics, but the examples given in the book were between married men. And, to my knowledge, none of them lived together for as long as Buchanan and King did. I don't think that should be ignored.

So, in conclusion, it's still worth checking out the book if you're interested in reading more about Buchanan and King, since it covers their political careers pretty well and is a solid biography on the both of them. But, I find the arguments against Kingchanan to be very weak and unconvincing, and, as one of my mutuals said, trying to explain their relationship platonically is pretty hard.

#james buchanan #william rufus king #major rant incoming #i still enjoyed the book but was very disappointed by the argument

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antebellumite · 9 months ago

Note

I saw your post of the fanfic ideas and would like to kindly suggest the roommate au for my favourite antebellum ship, kingchanan.

But I just wanted to add, is it really an au if it actually happened? Wouldn't the au be them not being roommates?

[modern au roommates? i'm actually not well versed on my kingchan lore so this might be ooc]

It’s in the fourth month that James Buchanan realizes that he’s already garnered more than enough money on his own to justify not having to share the same room with William King.

“So, I can move out now.” Buchanan says on the morning of the twelfth day of the sixth month of the year. Summer swelters, even in the morning, which is justification for King to not be wearing any top clothes. He serves scrambled eggs and bacon for two onto the table. “I have enough money for it– rent out the nice room next door, so we can still meet.”

“That’s good to know. When are you moving out?”

King’s eyebrows furrow just enough so that there’s a slight glistening in the bridge of his nose. Buchanan’s eyes shift from King’s face.

“Well, uh.” he says. “I haven’t really decided that yet.”

“Stay as long as you need.” is King’s response. Buchanan mumbles a ‘great’, stabbing his eggs ruthlessly as King starts going through the daily plans.

There are moments where Buchanan regrets having met his roommate.

“I’m sorry.” King says from out of the pseudo doorway to the apartment bedroom. Buchanan glowers, his eyes wet with continuing tears. “It was a bad joke. I shouldn’t have made it. Do you want me to do anything to make it up to you?”

“Sleep on the rooftop.” Buchanan orders, and he shouts it.

“I might catch a cold from that.” King says. “Or tuberculosis.”

“I don’t care! I don’t want to see you here!”

“This is kind of my apartment-”

“Shut up!”

There’s a moment of silence.

There’s a moment of rustling from the other end, and after a few minutes of the same shifting, packing noise, Buchanan’s curiosity gets the better of him and he opens the door. His feet storm and he sniffs as he opens it.

“Are you really going to do it?” he asks. He realizes his eyes must still be a little puffy from crying because King’s amusement wavers a little too much.

“Well I’m preparing for it.” King answered. He arched an eyebrow. Buchanan realized that he was packing a sleeping bag. “Do you still want me to go? Because I checked to see if there was going to be rain tonight, and there isn’t, so I guess it isn’t that bad.”

Buchanan took a moment to compose himself.

“You aren’t afraid of falling off?” he asked.

“I know how to do it.” King replied.

He looked at Buchanan expectantly, watching as he swallowed a lump in his throat. After a second, he dared to sigh.

“Mind if I join?” Buchanan muttered, because he was starting to think sleeping on the rooftop is fun. There’s a moment where King looks like he wants to object, then he shrugs.

“Sure.” King beams. “I’ll show you how to not fall off.”

“I’m sorry for blowing up at you.” Buchanan mumbled. “What do I need to pack.”

“I’m your better half.” King agrees. “Get some toiletries.”

There are moments where Buchanan regrets a lot of things.

They remain only moments.

“You know when I first met you,” King tells him. “You were the most disheveled, pathetic bastard I’ve ever met?”

“Are you supposed to tell me that you’ve changed your opinion since then?”

He’s not too upset, but there’s something endearing about the way that he’s able to make his roommate backtrack so quickly. Buck laughs, takes another drink.

“Relax.” he said.

“I know, this needs maintenance.” He gestured at himself. “Not like you have to stress about it.”

“That’s not what I mean.” King mutters, his eyelids half-closed and teeth showing through his grin. “I just want you to know you still look like trash

, so if you ever feel that I might want to leave you one day because of your ugliness, just know that if I cared that much about that, I’d’ve thrown you out of my apartment years ago.”

“How nice.”

“Mmm.” King agrees. Buchanan buys another drink, because it’s rather unfair for King to be more drunk than he is at this hour. “Hey, do you mind if I call you Buck?”

“Mind if I use up some more of your money?” All these shots of bourbon are out of King’s pocket, after all. Buchanan chugs down another glass.

King shakes his head.

“Okay, Buck then.” he mutters, suddenly tossing his head onto Buchanan- Buck’s shoulder. “Do you mind if I call you Nancy?”

“You really need a taxi.” When King doesn’t respond, Buck reached over to set him up gently. He stops midway, partly because it looks like King’s already asleep, partly because… well.

“You can call me whatever you want.”

Buck orders another drink.

“I love you.” William says one day– not out of the blue. Buck grabs up his things on the way to work, and he looks back while opening the door.

“I’m taking the car,’ he tells William, because usually, it’s him that takes the car on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays, but Buck has a conference today, so it’s not like he can spare much.

“Okay,” William responds from the back. He’s setting up his computer for al ong day of meetings again. “Love you. I mean it.”

“Love you back.” Buck replies. “I’ll bring you donuts.”

He’s already driving to work, before the words click into his brain.

When he gets back, William’s already finished with the day’s online interviews, his legs crossed on a couch while a book splays on his lap.

He looks up with a smile.

“Strawberry.” Buck tells him. William squints, his dark hair messy in his eyes. It somehow doesn’t intrude on his collected posture and still perfectly-pressed suit.

“Didn’t realize I also asked for cake.”

“Dating gift.” Buck replies. William’s eyes widen just a little. “Unless I misheard.”

“No– you didn’t.” He gets up before smiling at Buck. In his hand, he’s already holding a spoon, dark eyes bright. “Are we supposed to share?

Clearly, he means it rhetorically.

#fic #james buchanan #william king

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