December 19, 1973

Johnson Impeachment Parallels Present

The only U.S. President ever to be impeached was Andrew Johnson, and his ordeal parallels in many startling ways the hysteria now plaguing Richard Nixon.

Johnson was a Tennessee tailor who joined the Democratic party and rose to the post of Senator just before the Civil War.

Though he owned slaves - "obtained by the toil of my hands" - Johnson advocated compromise on the slavery controversy and preservation of the Union.  For these sentiments he was called a patriot by the North and a traitor by the South.

When Tennessee joined the Confederacy in 1861, Johnson remained in Washington.  Republican President Abraham Lincoln then appointed him military governor of Tennessee.

Torn by civil war, with large numbers of Democrats now self-proclaimed citizens of a new nation, Lincoln tried to heal political wounds by holding a National Union Convention in Baltimore in 1864, instead of the usual party convention.  He chose Andrew Johnson - the conservative Democrat - as his running mate for re-election.  The combination was a shoo-in.

Following Lincoln's assassination, Johnson became president.  He was a staunch advocate of Lincoln's policy of leniency to the conquered south.

One of his first acts as president was issuance of a general amnesty which, however, excluded 14 classes of persons - particularly all those whose taxable property exceeded $20,000.  This was an expression of Johnson's conviction that the wealthier classes in the South were responsible for leading the humbler citizens - with whom he identified - into rebellion.

Johnson seemed at first to be successful in his humanitarian plans for reconstruction of the South.  Nevertheless, the attitude of congressional Radicals was hostile to Johnson because they believed the southern states should be punished.

The Radicals frankly admitted they would rush political suffrage to the blacks as a means of subjugating the traitorous Democrats and preserving the Republican party.

Stung by personal attacks, Johnson was crude in replying to insults and indecisive at critical moments in his counter attack.

Johnson won the first skirmish when his veto was upheld of a bill that would extend the Freedmans' Bureau.  Outraged, the Radicals rammed through the first Civil Rights Bill and the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting immediate suffrage to uneducated and penniless former slaves.  The infamous "carpet bag" era followed with devastating consequences to the South.

The passage over Johnson's opposition of several bills restricting his presidential authority was a significant demonstration of congressional power.

Edwin M.  Stanton, whom Johnson had retained as secretary of war, proved untrustworthy and disloyal to his chief, and the president sought ways to ease Stanton out of his cabinet without controversy.

Congress hastily passed the Tenure of Office Act forbidding the president from removing any office holder - including his own cabinet and staff - without Senate approval.

When Stanton refused to resign, Johnson suspended him and commissioned Ulysses S.  Grant secretary of war ad interim.  The Senate, however, refused to concur, and an unseemly quarrel ensued.  Johnson finally fired Stanton but the latter refused to leave his office.

The congressional Radicals now were united in their eagerness to eliminate Johnson, and on Feb.  25, 1868 he was impeached by the House of Representatives - largely on grounds he had violated the Tenure of Office Act.

Seven "managers" of the Republican majority in the Senate presented the indictment on March 13.  However, their prosecution was so biased and disgraceful over the next three months that formerly critical Senators disassociated themselves from the vendetta.

The vote by Senators on the charges was 35 for conviction, 19 for acquittal - short by one vote of the necessary two-thirds for conviction.

Although vindicated by this narrow margin, Johnson remained in trouble with his critics.  During the rest of his term he continued in vain to veto the harsh reconstruction measures passed by Congress.

Historians now universally agree that Johnson was unfairly maligned, that a vicious desire to punish the instigators of an unpopular war was transferred unreasonably to a man who tried to avoid the conflict, helped end it, and advocated forgiveness of the conquered.

There is no question that the vindictive measures forced on the South by congressional Radicals sowed the seeds of racial discord that haunt us to this day.

Clement F. Robinson, an attorney well known as an authority on impeachment, wrote in 1959, "Impeachment is useful for reaching political offenses but could be dangerous if the party passions of a rough riding majority were aroused."

We see clearly, in Johnson's case, the great and long lasting damage impeachment proceedings can inflict on a nation.  It is impossible to punish a president without harming the people.

Those who now hound President Nixon should ask themselves: are they enjoying it too much?

Nixon MAY be guilty of "politics as usual," but it is hardly sufficient fault to justify polarization of this country for a hundred years.

Author: Lindsey Williams