Presidents in Retirement: Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson left office as President despised by many. His successor Ulysses Grant refused to ride in the same carriage as Johnson on the way to the inauguration, and although Johnson had survived an impeachment attempt, he was leaving office as a lame duck President. It didn't make him any more popular with the majority Republicans in Congress that on Christmas Day of 1868, Johnson had issued a final amnesty, this one covering all former Confederates, including Jefferson Davis. He had previously issued a number of pardons, including one for Dr. Samuel Mudd, though in Mudd's case, that was probably the right thing to do. Mudd was convicted of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination, when all Mudd had done was to treat John Wilkes Booth's broken leg. For this act, Mudd had been imprisoned in Fort Jefferson in Florida.
On March 3, Johnson hosted a large public reception at the White House on his final full day in office. Since Grant had refused to travel to the ceremony with Johnson, as was customary, Johnson refused to go to the inauguration at all. Instead he spent the morning of March 4 finishing last-minute business, and then shortly after noon rode from the White House to the home of a friend. After leaving the presidency, Johnson remained for some weeks in Washington, then returned to his home in Greeneville, Tennessee. It was the first time in eight years that he had been back.
When he arrived in the south, Johnson was honored with large public celebrations along the way, especially in Tennessee, where cities hostile to him during the war now hung out welcome banners and hosted suppers in his honor.
Johnson had arranged to purchase a large farm near Greeneville to live on after his presidency. Pundits predicted that Johnson might run for Governor of Tennessee or for the Senate again, while others predicted that he would try to get rich by becoming a railroad executive. Johnson was not happy in Greeneville and he experienced personal tragedy when his son Robert committed suicide in 1869.
Johnson remained bitter and plotted revenge against his political enemies. He did decide to seek a seat in the US Senate. Although Tennessee had gone Republican, recent court rulings restored the vote to many former Confederates and the Ku Klux Klan became active in suppressing the voting rights of African-Americans. This worked to Johnson's advantage, as he had never been one to support equal rights for those formerly enslaved.
The Democratic party enjoyed a victory in the legislative elections in August 1869. Johnson was seen as a front runner for Tennessee's seat in the Senate election, but his enemies joined forces to deny him the seat. Radical Republicans, as well as Democrats who still resented Johnson for his support of the Union during the war opposed his selection, although he was at one point within a single vote of victory in the legislature's balloting. He ultimately lost the contest to Republican Henry Cooper by a vote of 54-51.
In 1872 a special election was held in Tennessee to fill a vacant congressional seat. Johnson initially sought the Democratic nomination, but he realized that he could not defeat former Confederate general Benjamin Cheatham, so he decided to run as an independent. Once again Johnson was defeated, finishing third, but the split in the Democratic Party defeated Cheatham in favor of Horace Maynard, an old Johnson Unionist ally.
In 1873, Johnson contracted cholera during an epidemic in Tennessee. He recovered from the illness, but suffered a financial blow when he lost about $73,000 (about $1.7 million today) when the First National Bank of Washington went under. He eventually able to recover much of that in the Bank's liquidation of assets. |
Johnson still had his eyes on a senate seat and the next Senate election took place in the legislature in early 1875. Johnson began to court support from the farmers' Grange Movement. He travelled the state and spoke throughout in his campaign tour. By now most African Americans were being denied their right to vote as Reconstruction faded in Tennessee, a pattern that would be repeated in the other Southern states. In the Tennessee legislative elections in August, the Democrats elected 92 legislators, while the Republicans elected only 8. When the balloting for the Senate seat began on January 20, 1875, Johnson led with 30 votes, but did not have the required majority. Three former Confederate generals, one former colonel, and a former Democratic congressman split the vote with him. Johnson's opponents tried to agree on a single candidate who might gain majority support and defeat him, but their efforts failed. Johnson was elected on January 26 on the 54th ballot, with a margin of a single vote. Johnson is said to have remarked, "Thank God for the vindication."
At his swearing-in in the Senate on March 5, 1875, Johnson was sworn in alongside Hannibal Hamlin (his predecessor as vice president) by incumbent Vice President Henry Wilson. When Wilson had been a senator, he had voted for Johnson's conviction in Johnson's impeachment trial. Many Republicans were hostile to Senator Johnson, though some, such as John Sherman of Ohio (who had also voted for conviction), shook his hand. Today Johnson remains the only former president to serve in the Senate.
Johnson spoke only once in the short session, on March 22, criticizing President Ulysses Grant for his use of federal troops in support of Louisiana's Reconstruction government. Johnson asked, "How far off is military despotism?" and he concluded his speech by saying, "may God bless this people and God save the Constitution".
But Johnson's career in the Senate was brief. He returned home after the special session concluded. In late July 1875, he travelled to Ohio because he had heard that some of his opponents were defaming him in the Ohio gubernatorial race. He decided to travel there to give speeches. He began the trip on July 28, stopping at the home of his daughter Mary at her farm near Elizabethton. His daughter Martha was also staying there at the time. That evening he suffered a stroke, but he stubbornly refused medical treatment until the next day. His condition did not improve and two doctors were sent for from Elizabethton. At first Johnson seemed to respond to their treatment, but he suffered another stroke on the evening of July 30, and he died early the following morning at the age of 66.
President Grant announced Johnson's death. At the time Johnson had been the only surviving past president. Northern newspapers, in their obituaries, tended to focus on Johnson's loyalty during the war, while Southern ones paid tribute to his actions as president.
Johnson's funeral was held on August 3 in Greeneville. He was buried with his body wrapped in an American flag and a copy of the U.S. Constitution placed under his head, according to his wishes. The cemetery he was buried in was renamed as the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in 1906.