From: Jack D. Drummond
Date: 4/25/00
Time: 12:14:50 AM
Remote Name: 216.59.55.200
President Johnson assumed the office after the assassination of Lincoln. While he did work hard to preserve the Union during Reconstruction, many of the measures he proposed were very different from the ideas of the Radical majority in Congress, which ultimately led to his impeachment. I think that the author of this obituary felt that he deserved to be impeached. The author describes Johnson’s ascendancy to the presidency as “the greatest misfortune that ever befell [him]”, and that any “student of history is forced to conclude that his posthumous fame would have been brighter without this high honor and the consequences it entailed.” Relations between Johnson and Congress reached mudslinging levels, and the author tells of how Johnson went on a speechmaking campaign where he went around “openly denouncing Congress and saying many things that were decidedly inconsistent with the dignity of his position.” The resulting power struggle between Johnson and Congress turned into an irrational veto war which ultimately led to Johnson’s impeachment, which the author felt was rightly deserved. I think copies of the speeches given by Johnson during his tour, and also further writings by Radical members of Congress might help to clear up the situations leading up to, and the justice of his impeachment.