[familyofman]

"...BOTH impeached presidents were Democrats..."

I thought Johnson was a Republican since he became POTUS after Abe was killed (and Lincoln was a Republican). But, I also seem to recall that the VPOTUS used to be the person with the 2nd highest vote total in the election (not always from the same party as POTUS).

[cvq3842]

I think the "second highest vote total" rule was changed after the 1800 election. Johnson was a Northern Democrat who stayed loyal to the North, so Lincoln put him on the ticket as a "unity" gesture. Johnson therefore probably started out without much loyalty from either Lincon's party or his own.

I read once that Lincoln's first Vice President was mad for being dumped, and got Johnson drunk before his inaugural as VP. Johnson supposedly made a fool of himself. sounds a bit like a contrived story, though, no?