The Daily Dose/June 13, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Last week we talked about impeaching the president of the United States both in general (the House impeaches, the Senate tries, with a two-thirds majority required for conviction) and specifically about President Trump (the House should probably look into it). Today we continue this thrilling series with a look at the 1868 impeachment and trial of President Andrew Johnson.
Johnson, Democrat. was the 17th President of the United States, taking office in April 1865 after Abraham Lincoln was liquidated by John Wilkes Booth. Johnson was a United States Senator from Tennessee when the Civil War broke out and was the only senator from a Confederate state to maintain his seat in the United States Senate. He was nominated as Lincoln’s vice president in 1864 on the National Union ticket.
Johnson was a self-educated, decent man, a hardheaded sort who probably could have used some more people skills, whose persistence saw him rise from a tailor’s apprentice to the White House. Like Gerald Ford a century later, Johnson assumed the presidency under circumstances the Son of Man, and maybe even Lincoln himself, would have found challenging. Johnson and Congress had differing ideas about how to reconstruct the Union after the Civil War, with the House controlled by what was then known as the Radical Republicans, ultimately impeaching Johnson in February 1868 for violating the Tenure of Office Act, which limited the president’s ability to fire cabinet officials, an act Congress repealed in 1869. There were a total of eleven articles of impeachment and interest in the Senate trial was so great the Senate was obliged to issue admission passes for the first time in its history. The trial was presided over by Chief Justice Salmon P Chase.
As we’ve pointed out, as both the Johnson and Clinton impeachment showed, impeachment is a political and not a criminal process. In Johnson’s case, a GOP-controlled House acted solely because Johnson had annoyed them. We are moderately well read on Johnson, whom we’ve always admired for his tenacity and courage, and we don’t think he deserved impeachment because the Tenure of Office Act he violated was itself unconstitutional.
Johnson was acquitted in his Senate trial by one vote when a handful of Republican Senators thought both Johnson was getting railroaded and that the presidency deserved better and voted for acquittal. Johnson would finish out his term and sought, but did not earn, the Democrat’s presidential nomination in 1868. He declined to attend the inauguration of his successor, Ulysses S. Grant and after finishing up some routine business on his final day in office, Johnson left the White House a little after 12 noon.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Friends, today’s Diary of a Nobody is pretty funny and, in a shameless attempt to get you to read every day, is offered without charge.
I’m at the Human Services front desk farting around with Denise and this kid walks up and announces he’s in receipt of a letter announcing his EBT benefits (the 21st century version of food stamps, they come on a debit card) are going to end June 21…I’d seen him drive up and park and walk up and I thought to myself, well, maybe that Jaguar you drove up in had something to do with it…I kept my mouth shut, tho, having learned at the retailer you never know who qualifies for help putting food on the table…
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
The drivel simply does not stop: please click on the button to read The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future.
On This Date
In 1966 – The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, rules in Miranda v. Arizona that police must advise suspects of their right to remain silent and to counsel while in custody. The case began in 1963 when Ernesto Miranda was arrested on suspicion of raping an 18-year-old girl and confessed without being advised of his right to an attorney. Miranda was later convicted of the same crime without his confession, was sentenced to 20-30 years, paroled in 1972 and murdered in a bar fight in 1976.
In 1940 – The Boston Red Sox defeat the Chicago Cubs 10-9 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York in the first Hall of Fame Game. Ted Williams had two home runs in a game that was shortened to seven innings because of rain. In a scheduling note, both teams were starting road trips, with the Cubs heading to Boston and the Red Sox heading to Chicago. The Hall of Fame Game was canceled after the 2008 season due to scheduling problems caused by Cooperstown’s remote location.
In 1970 – The Beatles are at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the 20th and final time with The Long and Winding Road. The song spent two consecutive weeks at the top and also went to #1 in Canada, though it was not released as a single in Great Britain. The song was originally offered to Tom Jones, who had to decline it because he was contractually obligated to release another song first. The Beatles’ 20 #1 songs remain a Billboard Hot 100 record.
Quotebook
…the spirit of inquiry was alive here, and where it has free existence, ignorance cannot last.
Louis L’Amour
The Walking Drum
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Gallant Fox, ridden by Earl Sande, was the second winner of the Triple Crown, in 1931.
Today’s Stumper
What act has the most #1 songs on either Billboard’s pop, soul or country chart?? – Answer next time!
