Andrew Johnson is mostly remembered for being the first president to get impeached. But before the trial and the chaos of the late 1860s, he held a different title. He was the Vice President of the United States.
Honestly? He was barely in the job.
Johnson served as Vice President for only 42 days. He was sworn in on March 4, 1865, and by April 15, Abraham Lincoln was dead. It’s one of the shortest VP stints in American history. Yet, those six weeks—and the bizarre way they started—set the stage for one of the most toxic presidencies ever.
The Most Embarrassing Inauguration in History
If you think modern politics is a circus, you’ve clearly never read about March 4, 1865.
Andrew Johnson showed up to his own swearing-in ceremony completely hammered. That’s not a joke or a historical exaggeration. He had been recovering from a bout of typhoid fever and decided to "fortify" himself with some whiskey before the ceremony.
Bad idea.
He didn't just have a drink; he got trashed. When he stood up to give his vice-presidential speech in the Senate chamber, it was a disaster. He slurred his words. He rambled about his humble roots as a tailor. He pointed at cabinet members and told them they were only there because of the people.
It was cringey.
Abraham Lincoln, sitting nearby, looked mortified. The public was shocked. For the next few weeks, people called him a "drunken clown." While Lincoln defended him privately—saying, "Andy ain't a drunkard"—the damage was done. The relationship between the two men, which was already more about political strategy than friendship, never really recovered before Booth pulled the trigger at Ford’s Theatre.
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Why Lincoln Picked Him (It Wasn't for Love)
You might wonder why a Republican like Lincoln chose a Southern Democrat like Andrew Johnson as a running mate.
The answer is simple: Survival.
By 1864, the Civil War was still grinding on. Lincoln was terrified he might lose the election. To broaden his appeal, he ditched his first VP, Hannibal Hamlin, and formed the National Union Party.
Lincoln needed a "War Democrat."
He needed someone who proved that the Union wasn't just a Northern "Republican" project.
Why Andrew Johnson fit the bill:
- The Lone Senator: When Tennessee seceded, Johnson was the only Southern senator who stayed in his seat. He stayed loyal to the Union when everyone else went home to join the Confederacy.
- The Military Governor: Lincoln had appointed him as the Military Governor of Tennessee in 1862. He was tough, brave, and hated the "aristocrat" planters who started the war.
- The "Common Man" Appeal: Born into extreme poverty, Johnson never spent a day in a classroom. He taught himself to read. His wife, Eliza, taught him arithmetic. He was a tailor by trade, and he used that "working man" vibe to rail against the wealthy elite.
Lincoln didn't pick him because he liked his ideas on civil rights. In fact, Johnson was a staunch white supremacist who only supported ending slavery because he thought it would hurt the rich Southern plantation owners. He supported the Union, but he didn't support equality. That distinction would eventually break the country apart during Reconstruction.
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42 Days of Doing Nothing
As Vice President, Johnson did... basically nothing.
The Vice Presidency in 1865 wasn't the "second most powerful office" we think of today. It was a ceremonial graveyard. After his drunken speech, Johnson mostly stayed out of sight to let the scandal die down. He wasn't involved in Lincoln’s inner circle. He wasn't helping plan the end of the war.
Then came the night of April 14.
The conspirators didn't just want to kill Lincoln; they wanted to wipe out the government. George Atzerodt was assigned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood House hotel. But Atzerodt got cold feet. He spent the night drinking at the hotel bar and eventually just walked away.
Johnson woke up the next morning to find out he was the 17th President of the United States.
The Legacy of a Vice President Who Wasn't Ready
Most people skip over the "Vice President" part of Johnson’s resume because the "President" part was such a train wreck. But the two are linked. Because he was a Democrat on a Republican-heavy ticket, he had no real friends in Washington.
When he took over, he tried to rush the Southern states back into the Union with almost no protections for formerly enslaved people. He pardoned thousands of former Confederates. He vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. He fought Congress so hard they eventually impeached him for violating the Tenure of Office Act (he tried to fire his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton).
He missed being removed from office by a single vote.
What can we learn from this?
Honestly, the Andrew Johnson story is a warning about "balancing the ticket."
Political strategy in 1864 won Lincoln the election, but it nearly destroyed the peace that followed. Johnson was a man of the Union, but he wasn't a man of the future. He was stuck in a world of "states' rights" and racial hierarchy.
If you're looking for actionable insights from this bit of history, look at how we vet leaders today. It’s not just about who can help win an election; it’s about who can actually govern if the worst happens.
Next steps for history buffs: If you want to see where this all went down, you can visit the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville, Tennessee. You can see his original tailor shop—the one where he worked while he was teaching himself to read. It's a stark reminder of how far a person can go in America, and how badly things can go when that person is the wrong fit for the moment.