This Week in the United States - President Johnson's Impeachment

This Week's Historical Theme: The United States

 

24 February 1868

 

A significant event throughout the history of the United States that occurred in February was the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. This came after the US House of Representatives voted 11 articles of impeachment against him, making Johnson the first president to be impeached in US history. His impeachment trial began in the Senate, on March 13, under the direction of US Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. The trial ended on May 26 with Johnson's opponents narrowly falling short by one vote to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary to convict him.

 

The primary charge against Johnson was that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act, that had been passed by Congress in March 1867 over Johnson's veto. More specifically, he had removed Edwin Stanton from office, the secretary of war, whom the act was largely designed to protect. Stanton did not have a good relationship with Johnson, and often sided with the Radical Republican faction that passed the act. The impeachment and trial had important political implications, as it maintained the principle that Congress should not remove the president from office simply because its members disagreed with him.

 

Want to find out more about President Johnson's impeachment? Click here for more information, or here for more about other presidents who have faced impeachment.

November 7 - FDR is Elected to Serve His Fourth Term in Office

This Day in History: 7 November 2020

 

7 November 1944

 

76 years ago, today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented fourth term in office and remains the only president to have served more than two terms. He had rose above personal and political challenges to ultimately emerge as one of the most influential presidents, presiding over two of the biggest crises in US history after contracting polio in 1921: the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II. As president, he implemented the legislation necessary to help boost America out of the Great Depression. Although he initially delayed US involvement in the war, the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941 thrust America into the conflict.

 

When Roosevelt was elected to his fourth term, the war was looking to be in favour of the Allied victory, but the president's health was in serious decline. His arteriosclerosis had been worsened by the stress of managing the war, and in April 1945, seven months before the war's end, Roosevelt died of a stroke. Harry Truman, Roosevelt's vice president, came into office, while Congress proposed the 22^nd Amendment. This would mean that presidents would be limited to two consecutive terms. Prior to this, they had either followed George Washington's example in serving a maximum of two years or were unsuccessful in winning a third. The Amendment was passed in 1951.

 

Want to find out more about the life of Franklin Roosevelt? Click here for more information, or here for more firsts in US presidential history.