Inauguration of Andrew Johnson

Presidential Inauguration of Andrew Johnson

Swearing-in ceremony in the Kirkwood House.
Date April 15, 1865
151 years ago
Location Kirkwood House, Washington, D.C.
Participants

President of the United States, Andrew Johnson

Assuming office

Chief Justice of the United States, Salmon P. Chase

Administering oath

The inauguration of Andrew Johnson as the 17th President of the United States took place at the Kirkwood House in Washington, D.C. on April 15, 1865, following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase administered the Oath of office.[1]

As President Lincoln lay dying, Vice President Johnson visited the room where he lay, and when Mrs. Lincoln saw him, it was reported, she screamed and demanded he be removed. So he went back to his room at the Kirkwood House.

According to newspaper reports, the Vice President had gotten severely inebriated, and when aides to the now-dead president came to fetch the new President they were unable to wake him for several minutes. When he was finally awake, the accounts read, "he had puffy eyes and his hair was caked with mud from the street," and that a barber and doctor were summoned to clean him up for the ten-o'clock ceremony, which most accounts agree went smoothly.[2] However, there are other accounts, believed more reliable by some, which refute this claim.[3]

After the ceremony, President Johnson gave an impromptu inaugural address, which began with him begging the cabinet to remain with him and then attacking the Confederacy with such venom, that one witness remarked "It would have been better had he been struck dumb."[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://inaugural.senate.gov/history/chronology/ajohnson1865.cfm
  2. ↑ Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt; Twenty Days, Newcastle Publishing 1965
  3. ↑ Schroeder-Lein, Glenna; Zuczek, Richard (2001). Andrew Johnson: A Biographical Companion (illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO, 2001. p. 88. ISBN 9781576070307.
  4. ↑ Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt; Twenty Days, Newcastle Publishing 1965

External links

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