Andrew Johnson

Vice Presidents Who Just Missed The Presidency: Hannibal Hamlin, Garret Hobart, John Nance Garner, Henry A. Wallace, Spiro Agnew, Nelson Rockefeller

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American history records that we have had 43 Presidents of the United States.

What is often NOT recorded is how six Vice Presidents came so close to the Presidency, but circumstances prevented them from doing so.

Three situations involved the timing of the death of the President; while two involved the fortune of two attempted Presidential assassinations failing to succeed; and one involved a Vice President being forced from office before the President in office resigned in disgrace.

Imagine if any of the following Vice Presidents had become President, how it would have changed history!

Hannibal Hamlin was the first term Vice President under Abraham Lincoln from 1861-1865, and then was replaced on the electoral ticket by Andrew Johnson. Six weeks after Hamlin left the Vice Presidency, Johnson became President, upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and is seen by many as a true disaster, possibly the worst President in American history, and in any case facing an unsuccessful impeachment in office which he survived. One might imagine that Hamlin, a former Senator from Maine, would have, somehow, avoided the fate of Andrew Johnson and dealt with Southern Reconstruction in a different way that would have affected the nation long term.

Garret Hobart was Vice President in the first term of William McKInley, but died in office in November 1899, after about two years, eight and a half months in office. He had been a leader in the New Jersey state legislature, and was considered to have added to the Vice Presidency by his regular presiding of the US Senate, his being considered a Presidential adviser, and his being often called an “assistant President”, a new term at the time. Had he not died in office, he would have been on the ticket with President McKinley in 1900, and would have succeeded McKinley as President when McKinley was assassinated in September 1901. Instead, Theodore Roosevelt became President, and changed the course of American history in massive ways, and ushered in the Progressive Era!

John Nance Garner had had a long career in the US House of Representatives, and was Speaker of the House, when chosen by Franklin D. Roosevelt to be his Vice President in the 1932 Presidential Election. As President-Elect, FDR was subjected to an assassination attempt in Miami, Florida, on February 15, 1933, just 17 days before the inauguration. Fortunately, the assassin’s bullets did not hit FDR, but instead Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, and FDR was spared. Otherwise, Garner would have become President on March 4, 1933, but with his conservative and southern (Texas) heritage, it is highly doubtful that the New Deal would have occurred, denying us the most important and greatest President of the 20th century, and making one wonder how America would have dealt with the Great Depression.

During FDR’s third term as President, Henry A. Wallace, formerly Secretary of Agriculure, became his Vice President, and actively pursued the issue of civil rights, and also the issue of relations with our World War II ally, the Soviet Union. He alienated conservatives and Southerners in the Democratic Party, and when FDR decided to run for a fourth term, he replaced Wallace with Harry Truman, who became President 82 days after the fourth term began with FDR’s death, and changed the course of history. One has to wonder how Wallace would have conducted himself as President, particularly since he was highly critical of Truman’s Cold War policy toward the Soviet Union after World War II.

Spiro Agnew was Vice President for four and a half years under Richard Nixon from 1969-1973, and was loyal to Nixon, making himself controversial as he attacked liberals and the news media in Nixon’s behalf. But Agnew was forced out by personal financial corruption in the office of the Vice Presidency, as well as revelations about earlier such corruption in the office of the Maryland Governor and Baltimore County Executive in his years in public office before the Vice Presidency. Nixon, himself under attack in the Watergate scandal, did nothing to support Agnew, and Agnew resigned. Had this corruption not been revealed, Agnew would have become President upon the resignation of Richard Nixon on August 9, 1974. Instead, we had the Presidency of Gerald Ford for two years, five and a half months, after Ford had been a member of the US House of Representatives from Michigan, and Minority Leader of the House for almost nine years, with only a goal of someday being Speaker of the House.

When Gerald Ford was President, he chose Nelson Rockefeller , former Governor of New York and three time Presidential aspirant, as his appointed Vice President under the 25th Amendment. Then, Ford was subjected to TWO assassination attempts in Sacramento and San Francisco, California, seventeen days apart in September 1975. Both assassins missed the President, but had either been successful, Rockefeller would finally have achieved what he wanted the most, the Presidency of the United States.

So imagine how Hamlin, Hobart, Garner, Wallace, Agnew and Rockefeller MIGHT have changed the course of American history has they become President–instead of Andrew Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Gerald Ford!

The Month Of April In Presidential And American History

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The month of April is particularly rich in Presidential History.

The following Presidents were born in the month of April:

Thomas Jefferson April 13
James Monroe April 28
James Buchanan April 23
Ulysses Grant April 27

The following Presidents died in the month of April:

William Henry Harrison April 4
Abraham Lincoln April 15
Franklin D. Roosevelt April 12
Richard Nixon April 22

Additionally,

John Tyler became President in April.
The Civil War began in April. (Lincoln)
The Civil War ended in April.(Lincoln)
Andrew Johnson became President in April.
The Spanish American War began in April.(McKinley)
American entrance into World War I was in April. (Wilson)
Harry Truman became President in April.
The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba occurred in April.(Kennedy)
The unsuccessful attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran occurred in April. (Carter)

The Impeachment Of Andrew Johnson In 1868: The Beginning Of Presidential Decline For A Third Of A Century!

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On this day, in 1868, President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives for “high crimes and misdemeanors in office”.

Although Johnson was found not guilty by one vote short of the two thirds needed to remove him from the Presidency, his impeachment trial, based on accusations that he had defied an unconstitutional law which he had not defied, and charges that he had a foul mouth in his attacks on Congressional opponents (which he did), undermined the Presidential office for the next third of a century until the rise of Theodore Roosevelt to the Presidency in 1901.

Impeachment as a weapon had been attempted unsuccessfully against Andrew Jackson and John Tyler earlier, and would be threatened against Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush later, but was only actually utilized against Richard Nixon on a just basis, with Nixon resigning after being impeached by the House Judiciary Committee; and Bill Clinton, whose impeachment trial was politicized as much as Andrew Johnson’s trial was.

Impeachment has even been suggested by some irresponsible Republicans against Barack Obama, but it is something that should NOT be employed or threatened unless it is clear that the President has committed “high crimes” on the level of Richard Nixon.

Weakening the Presidency on flimsy grounds is an idea that undermines the safety and security of the nation, and takes our mind off important issues and problems.

13 Former Presidents And Public Service After The Presidency

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With Presidents Day upon us, another interesting point of investigation about the American Presidency is the extent of public service of former Presidents.

The Presidents who remained active public figures after their Presidency, chronologically, were:

President John Quincy Adams (1825-1829), who served as a Congressman from Boston from 1830-1848, dying on the House floor during a debate over expansion of slavery into the territories gained from the Mexican War.

President Martin Van Buren (1837-1841), who after his difficult term in office due to the Panic of 1837, attempted to come back to the Presidency in 1844, failing at that venture, but running as the Presidential candidate of the Free Soil Party in 1848, the forerunner of the Republican Party.

President John Tyler (1841-1845), who renounced his American citizenship, and served for one year in the Confederate Congress before his death in 1862, which was not officially acknowledged by the United States government, due to his treason, as Americans saw it.

President Millard Fillmore (1850-1853), who after completing Zachary Taylor’s unfinished term without much distinction, came back and ran as the Presidential candidate of the American (Know Nothings) Party, an anti immigrant party, in the 1856 Presidential election, winning only Maryland in the Electoral College, and then went back into obscurity.

President Andrew Johnson (1865-1869), who served a few months as US Senator from Tennessee in 1875, serving alongside many of that body who had voted to remove him from office in the Impeachment trial of 1868, but died after those few months in the upper chamber.

President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), who remained active, and ran for President on the third party Progressive Party line in 1912 against his own successor, William Howard Taft, and by running, helped to elect Woodrow Wilson as the next President. He also wrote and made speeches incessantly on every public topic imaginable!

President William Howard Taft (1909-1913), who was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by President Warren G. Harding in 1921, served nine years, and helped to plan the construction of the Supreme Court Building, which opened five years after he left the Court.

President Herbert Hoover (1929-1933), who served on the Hoover Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of Government under appointment by President Harry Truman after World War II. Hoover also kept active in writing, and speaking up about public affairs.

President Richard Nixon (1969-1974), stayed active, writing about ten books and doing a lot of traveling around the world, and was an informal adviser to every President after him, including Bill Clinton in whose first term he passed away.

President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) remained extremely active in his post Presidential years, writing over 20 books, forming the Carter Center to promote peace and diplomacy, and the fight against many diseases, and working for Habitat for Humanity in the construction of housing for the poor. He also had innumerable interviews and constantly spoke his mind on all kinds of domestic and foreign policy issues, and that continues today.

President Bill Clinton (1993-2001) followed in the steps of Jimmy Carter, promoting regular activity through his Clinton Global Initiative, and also promoting earthquake relief in Haiti in 2010 in tandem with President George W. Bush (2001-2009). Also, Clinton was involved in promotion of relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 with former President George H. W. Bush (1989-1993). He also has been interviewed regularly and published many books and articles.

So these are the contributions, after being President, of 13 Presidents, and it is highly likely that President Barack Obama will continue that tradition, leaving office, whether in 2013 or 2017, as one of the youngest retired Presidents in our history as a nation!

Have We Ever Had A Dumb, Stupid President? Yes, Warren G. Harding And Andrew Johnson!

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With the growing evidence that many people who run for President are ill informed, lacking in basic knowledge and curiosity about public affairs, and in some cases, plain dumb or stupid, the question arises whether we have ever had a truly dumb, stupid President of the United States!

We are not talking about one’s personality, or level of success or failure as President, but simply someone who was truly the “ordinary” man or woman, who often is not involved or interested in public affairs and does not have the intelligence or knowledge or judgment to be President of the United States!

The question is whether an “ordinary” man or woman should be allowed to ascend to the highest public office, and have the power to affect the lives, not only of Americans, but the world at large.

We have certainly had Presidents who were truly brilliant and intellectual, including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. That makes a list of 15 of the 43 Presidents, one out of every three.

Then we have had Presidents who were not brilliant or intellectual, but had great qualifications that made them appropriate for the office of President, including George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Rutherford Hayes, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, making it a list of 18 Presidents, approximately 40 percent, and together with the earlier list, a total of 33 out of 43 Presidents, about 75 percent of the entire list of Chief Executives.

That leave us with ten Presidents who can be divided into two groups: the military generals who had little or no experience in politics–William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who can at least be given credit as having proved themselves in the military.

And finally, there are six Presidents who can be considered as mediocrity personified–chronologically Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, Chester Alan Arthur, Warren G. Harding, and Calvin Coolidge, but even among them, it is clear cut that TWO Presidents would be considered the closest to dumb, stupid, ill informed, ill equipped to be President, and one was simply a successor not elected, while the other was elected President and was a true disaster!

So if the reader has gone this far, the question is who makes the final cut of the two? They are Andrew Johnson, a terrible choice by Abraham Lincoln for his second term, clearly not thinking about his competence to be President–and Warren G. Harding, who was elected in a landslide by the voters in 1920, and was the absolute total disaster above all Presidents, and did us a favor by dying in office after 29 months as President!

Can we afford nearly a century later to have another Warren G. Harding or Andrew Johnson? Can we afford a Sarah Palin, a Michele Bachmann, a Herman Cain, a Rick Perry? God forbid that were to happen!

Right Wing Talk About Impeachment Or Resignation: A Dangerous And Preposterous Idea!

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The right wing will stop at nothing to get President Barack Obama out of office!

Talk of impeachment comes from a Texas Republican Congressman Michael Burgess of the Dallas area, the same district that used to be represented by Dick Armey, the head of Freedom Works and promoter of the Tea Party Movement. Burgess’s reasoning is that Obama is totally ineffective and should be removed for that reason, rather than any specific violation of the Constitution.

The concept of impeachment has already been abused, as with the proceeding against former President Bill Clinton in 1998-1999. It is preposterous to say that even if a President is ineffective, which is highly debatable, in the case of Obama, that it should be considered an impeachable offense. In any case, even were an impeachment proceeding to develop, there is no possibility of a two thirds vote in the US Senate to convict and remove the President, and all it would do, therefore, is cause more economic tumult and political disarray, which is precisely what this country does NOT need!

If one wants to place blame for the chaos and tumult going on right now, it must be shared not only by the President and his party, but also, and to a greater extent, the refusal of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, and their extremist Tea Party allies, to negotiate and compromise on any agreement that would raise taxes to help balance out the budget crisis!

But now, we also have right wing critics who are suggesting that the President resign because of lack of public support, and that he first replace Joe Biden as Vice President with someone more unifying. This assumes that Joe Biden would resign, and one wonders who would the right wing prefer to become Vice President temporarily before becoming President. Would the extremists accept Hillary Clinton? Highly doubtful, and in any case, why should the right wing tell us who our President is, when Obama was elected for a four year term and should finish that term, and leave it to the American people as to whether they prefer him or the Republican opponent as their next President!

It would be unprecedented for Obama to resign, even if one thinks of him as a failure, which he is clearly NOT!

Only Richard Nixon has resigned, just 37 years ago on August 9 because of the Watergate Crisis, and that was for criminal activity!

Only Woodrow Wilson secretly planned to resign in 1916 if he lost reelection, with World War I on, and America in danger of getting involved. His secret idea was to hand over the Presidency to his opponent, Charles Evans Hughes, ahead of time, if Hughes had won.

Many Presidents have been seen as failures in different ways, but NEVER has a President resigned because of that belief, and it would destroy the whole American system of government if every time there was discontent, the President should be forced out by resignation.

Think of the many cases that would exist:

1, James Madison, when Washington, DC was attacked by the British, and Congress and the President had to flee, during the War Of 1812.
2. Martin Van Buren, when the country suffered from the Panic of 1837.
3. John Tyler, upon succeeding the dead William Henry Harrison in 1841, being told he was illegitimate even though he had been Vice President.
4. James Buchanan, when we went through the Panic of 1857, and later when the South was seceding from the Union.
5. Abraham Lincoln, when he waged war against the South, and violated civil liberties in wartime for purposes of saving the Union.
6. Andrew Johnson, who was actually impeached but found not guilty, who many wanted to resign as well, because of his opposition to the goals of the Radical Republicans on Reconstruction policy.
7. Ulysses S. Grant, who presided over the worst political corruption up to that point of time, and under whom we suffered from the Panic of 1873.
8.Warren G. Harding, who had the most corrupt administration after Grant, but died just as we learned about the extent of the corruption.
9. Herbert Hoover, who was cautious and ineffective as the Great Depression became the worst economic crisis in American history.
10. Franklin D. Roosevelt, for his controversial domestic and foreign policy actions and strong executive leadership in the time of the Great Depression and World War II.
11. Harry Truman, who many thought should resign after the Republicans won both houses of Congress in 1947-48, and for his Korean War policies.
12. Jimmy Carter, for his ineffective policies on the economy and the Iran hostage crisis.
13. Ronald Reagan, for the Iran Contra scandal which erupted in his second term of office.
14. Bill Clinton, for various accusations of scandals, and for his affair with Monica Lewinsky, which led to impeachment, but not conviction by the Senate.
15. George W. Bush, for taking us into war In Iraq on false pretenses, and reckless spending, creating the debt problems of today.

The answer is NOT to have a President resign, but rather to overcome partisanship in a crisis as we have now, and unite around the President, help him, not attack him, and put COUNTRY FIRST!

The Presidency will be destroyed if we let the naysayers rule the roost, and tell the occupant of the Oval Office to resign, as that will not restore confidence!

We have survived good and bad Presidents, and the answer is to follow the US Constitution and stop this irresponsible attack by the right wing on the Constitution they claim to revere, but in practice violate and abuse on a regular basis!

March 4: The Ultimate Day In The History Of The Presidency!

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Today, March 4, is indeed the ultimate day for political junkies about the American Presidency!

March 4 was the Inauguration Day for all but 5 of the first 32 Presidents of the United States. Only George Washington (first term delayed inauguration to April 30), and the four Presidents (John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Alan Arthur) never elected President before 1937 were NOT inaugurated on March 4, and since Washington WAS inaugurated for his second term on March 4, you could say four and a half Presidents were NOT inaugurated on March 4!

Of course, Inauguration Day was changed to January 20, via the 20th Amendment in 1933, making that the day of the inauguration, beginning every fourth year in 1937.

Not only was March 4 the Inauguration Day, but also it has been historic several times beyond just the simple fact of the date itself!

Today, 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated President in the midst of a national crisis which would lead to the outbreak of the undeclared Civil War six weeks later!

Also, 78 years ago today, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated President in the midst of the greatest economic collapse in American history, the Great Depression!

Despite the generally acknowledged greatness of both Lincoln and FDR, there are still heated debates today by those who would condemn the actions these two Presidents took to save the nation!

But March 4 is more than just the historic inaugurations of our two greatest Presidents in 1861 and 1933.

It is also the 210th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson, the first opposition party candidate to be inaugurated peacefully, a marvel in world history.

It is also the 182nd anniversary of the inauguration of Andrew Jackson, the first President truly elected by popular vote of the masses, introducing the concept of democracy!

It is also the 146th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, often regarded as the best ever delivered!

It is also the 110th anniversary of the second inauguration of William McKinley with a new Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, who within six months and ten days would suddenly succeed to the office of the Presidency, and have a massive impact on the institution and the country that no one could have imagined!

So March 4 is indeed an historic day, clearly the single most significant day of the year in the history of the American Presidency!

A Look At Post Presidencies On Presidents Day

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As we celebrate Presidents Day, on the third Monday of February, it is significant to look at post Presidencies and their impact.

Among earlier Presidents, a few stood out in public office after the Presidency.

John Quincy Adams served nearly 18 years in the House of Representatives from Boston, and led the fight against slavery and the “gag rule” which banned discussion of slavery on the floor of the House.

Andrew Johnson served briefly back in the Senate where he had been the only Southerner to remain loyal to the Union, of all the Senators from the Confederate States.

William Howard Taft served nine years as Chief Justice after almost a decade out of the White House, and came up with the plans for the Supreme Court Building.

Herbert Hoover served President Truman in reorganization of the executive branch as the head of the Hoover Commission after World War II.

Richard Nixon wrote numerous books on foreign policy, and became regarded as an elder statesman who was asked for advice by every President, despite the disgrace of the Watergate Scandal.

Jimmy Carter has been heavily involved in Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center, engaged in promoting diplomacy and free elections and better living conditions all over the world, and has also been a prolific author.

George W Bush has been involved in Haitian relief and other activities, and his father,  George H W Bush, now will be honorary co chairman of the University of Arizona Civility Institute, an outgrowth of the violence which led to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords last month, sharing that responsibility with Bill Clinton.

And Bill Clinton has been a “whirlwind” of activity with the Clinton Global Initiative, which aims to help the promotion of prosperity and human rights all over the world, with the support of the business community, and he also was involved in the Haitian relief after last year’s earthquake, and now is to be part of the Civility Institute activities at the University of Arizona.

In fact, this evening on MSNBC, Chris Matthews will host an hour review of the many activities of Bill Clinton since his Presidency ended 20 years ago.

So on this day when we commemorate Presidents, let’s remember the contributions of former Presidents as well!

The Tea Party Nation, Religion, And America’s Presidents!

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Judson Phillips, the founder of the Tea Party Nation, a specific Tea Party group, has condemned the Methodist Church for supporting the DREAM Act for children of illegal immigrants, for backing Obama health care which he considers “socialism”, and he says the church is the “First Church of Karl Marx”!

Realize that Mr. Phillips used to be a member of the Methodist Church, but left the church because it is involved in what he considers interference with separation of church and state!

It is alright if a religious group of the right gets involved in taking political stands, apparently, but if a more open minded, liberal church takes leadership on political controversies, that somehow is a sin!

Going on that basis, it means a third of our Presidents must have been “socialists” or followers of “Marxism”, as they were involved in faiths NOT conservative in their doctrine, or not connected to organized religion at all!

Let’s go through the list of 15 Presidents who do not fit Judson Phillips’ satisfaction on religious beliefs!

Four Presidents were Methodists, including James K. Polk, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, and George W. Bush, plus Rutherford B. Hayes, who was unaffiliated and then Methodist later in life.

Three were unaffiliated throughout life, including Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, with Grant and Hayes unaffiliated at times, and also Barack Obama.

Four Presidents were Unitarian, very far from traditional Christian religion, including John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft.

Also, we have had two Quaker (Society of Friends) Presidents, also out of the mainstream of Christianity–Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon.

So apparently these 15 Presidents were heretics “in league with the devil”, because they had a more open mind on organized religion, and took a more compassionate, social justice view of what religion is all about!

This is exactly what we need, a President who believes in tolerance and concern for those less fortunate, as no one can be considered truly “religious” who has a narrow minded, intolerant view of those who are different than them, or less fortunate in economic circumstances!