In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Chapter 6 1868: Johnson’s Victorious Defeat The calendar made it clear that 1868 would likely be a time of high drama for Andrew Johnson and his presidency. For one thing, this would be a presidential election year. In mid-January, John Haskin, a New York lawyer, flattered Johnson with the prospect of a united Democratic Party that would nominate him, after which he would “be triumphantly elected our next President and receive the best, the greatest vindication in history. . . .” This friend predicted that “the events of the ensuing year, will I doubt not prove that you are indeed ‘the Andrew Jackson ofTennessee.’”Haskin wrote this encouraging message only three days after the U.S. Senate rejected Johnson’s explanation of his suspension of Secretary Stanton and Grant penned his resignation letter. Radical leader Charles Sumner took a markedly different view of Johnson: “A.J. is now a full-blown rebel, except he does not risk his neck by overt acts, but in spirit he is as bad as J.[efferson] D.[avis].”1 The greatest drama of the year turned out to be the impeachment crisis, for which Johnson is most often remembered. But there were others, such as the national party conventions and the election that vied for the nation’s attention. The president and Congress also had to deal with the readmission of southern states, while Johnson confronted other problems. Through it all, he weathered storms, played a leading role in several dramas, and survived as president. In the end, the year could rightly be assessed as one of “victorious defeat” for Johnson. 1868 182 I The prologue to the impeachment drama commenced in early January, when Sen. Jacob Howard of Michigan presented a report, written with the assistance of Secretary Stanton, to the Senate Military Committee. It declared that Johnson’s suspension of Stanton in August 1867 was not justified, and therefore the president’s formal rationale of December 12 should be rejected. After leaking this report to the press and after approval by the committee, Howard submitted it to the full Senate on January 10 and moved for its adoption. In response to this turn of events, Senator James Doolittle showed up at Secretary Welles’s house and then went with him to visit the president.The two warned Johnson that the Senate was poised to act on the committee report.Thus began his winter of discontent.2 For two months Johnson was invariably caught in the StantonGrant -Johnson controversy, or the “S-G-J triangle.” Ironically, one of the unintended consequences of Gen. William T. Sherman’s prolonged visit to Washington was his entrapment in that triangle; indeed, he became , in effect, the “fourth side” of the triangle. Sensing that there was trouble on the horizon concerning Stanton’s status,Grant and Sherman offered Johnson an alternative: appointing Jacob Cox of Ohio as the new war secretary. Moreover, Sherman enlisted two allies in this strategy : Senator Reverdy Johnson and Thomas Ewing Sr., both of whom quickly endorsed Cox. Chafing at the suggestion that the appointment of Cox “would save further embarrassment,” Johnson dug in his heels and refused to be pressured. On the afternoon of the thirteenth, the Senate adopted the Howard report, thereby rejecting the president ’s explanation of his suspension of Stanton—and thus reinstating Stanton as war secretary.3 On learning of the Senate’s action, Grant immediately composed his resignation as interim secretary. Two days earlier, on January 11, he and Johnson had consulted about possible Senate actions and the impact those might have on Grant. On that occasion, the two men presumably reached an understanding, subsequently denied by Grant, that the general would not vacate the war secretary’s office without further discussion with the president—which would take place on the thirteenth. For whatever reason, however, and the matter is murky at Johnson’s Victorious Defeat 183 best, Grant failed to meet with Johnson on that date. What is clear is that Grant summoned Gen. Cyrus Comstock to deliver his resignation letter to the White House on the morning of the fourteenth, while he went to the War Department, locked the secretary’s office door, and surrendered the keys to an aide at the department. Receiving the document from Comstock, Johnson understandably became “indignant at what he considered Grant’s duplicity.”4 But not all the action that morning took place at the War Department , for there was also an important cabinet meeting at the White House, which...

Share