“The Impeachers” by Brenda Wineapple

The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation

By Brenda Wineapple
2019
576 pages / 14 hours and 36 minutes
Nonfiction

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A half-century ago John F. Kennedy wrote an award-winning book titled Profiles in Courage. One of the politically courageous acts that he lauds is that of the senator who cast the deciding vote against convicting president Andrew Johnson after he had been impeached. Kennedy fails to mention that the senator was almost surely bought off. Courage indeed.

The Impeachers by Brenda Wineapple would be engrossing reading at any time. But having recently come through the impeachment, trial, and acquittal of Donald Trump, the book now qualifies as a “must read.” I don’t know what your history classes were like in high school or college, but I assure you that this is a fascinating tale, which is all the more remarkable since you already know how it comes out.

A little background will help. Abraham Lincoln and his running mate Andrew Johnson were totally incompatible. Johnson did not share Lincoln’s views. He was a virulent racist and absolutely committed to all-white government. He was on the ticket to attract a certain voting block, and when Lincoln was assassinated Johnson became president. He and Congress went to war. Johnson blocked or vetoed every effort at reconstruction. He actually found ways to support white violence toward the newly freed slaves. On top of that, he apparently was a thoroughly dislikable person and had a drinking problem.

He also had some eccentric political views. One of the major discussions at the time was what southern states that had seceded must do to be readmitted to representation in Congress. Johnson’s view was that, since it was illegal for them to secede, they had never really left. Therefore, they did not have to make any reparations to be readmitted because they had never left in the first place. Odd.

But of course the most fascinating part of the book (in view of our recent history) is that Andrew Johnson was not impeached for being a miserable person, a racist, failing to fulfill Lincoln’s vision, or even blocking Congress’s effort to aid former slaves in becoming part of the political process. He was impeached on technicalities. The question of the day was not whether he was a racist but whether he had committed “high crimes or misdemeanors.” Does this sound familiar?

One of the major issues of his trial was around his right to fire a member of his cabinet. Congress was essentially trying to do a workaround with Edwards Stanton, Lincoln’s war secretary. So they passed an ill-fated law that the president could not fire a member of the cabinet without permission from Congress. Johnson very much wanted to get rid of Stanton and pointed out that he could fire him because he had never hired him in the first place – Lincoln had. If all of this sounds a bit silly and crazy, it is because it is. But the stakes were high. The future of the country was at stake. The question of whether the war was fought for nothing was going to be worked out. The menial issues that were the cause of the impeachment were not the reasons Johnson should’ve been removed from office. Johnson would shortly be gone in the next election. Now we have to sort out whether the precedent set in the Johnson impeachment and then acquittal were for good or ill.