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Apresident without a vice president is like a captain without a first mate, but some U.S. presidents — four, to be precise — have nevertheless had to serve without one. They were John Tyler (1841-1845), Millard Fillmore (1850-1853), Andrew Johnson (1865-1869), and Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885), all of whom ascended to the presidency when their predecessors died in office. Because the 25th Amendment didn’t lay out an official process for naming a new VP in such an event until 1967, those four commanders in chief simply went without one. All four failed to win reelection; some even failed to secure...

MINNEAPOLIS — Over three months ago, a majority of the Minneapolis City Council pledged to defund the city’s police department, making a powerful statement that reverberated across the country. It shook up Capitol Hill and the presidential race, shocked residents, delighted activists and changed the trajectory of efforts to overhaul the police during a crucial window of tumult and political opportunity. Now some council members would like a do-over. Councilor Andrew Johnson, one of the nine members who supported the pledge in June, said in an interview that he meant the words “in spirit,” not by the letter. Another councilor,...

Six protesters have been arrested after a George Washington statue in Los Angeles was defaced and torn down during protests last week. Footage of the incident showed the life-size figure of America's first president with red bands around its neck as a group tried to pull it to the ground. The group are said to have changed clothes in an attempt to avoid detection moments after the statue was toppled in Grand Park on Thursday. * * * Those arrested are Anna Asher, 28 and Barham Lashley, 30, both of North Hollywood; Andrew Johnson, 22, of Glendale; Elizabeth Brookey, 20,...

After the statue was brought down, those involved hid nearby to change their clothes, but they were then arrested by LAPD officers in the area of Spring and Temple streets, according to the news release. Those arrested are 20-year-old Elizabeth Brookey of Burbank; 28-year-old Anna Asher and 30-year-old Barham Lashley, both of North Hollywood; 22-year-old Andrew Johnson of Glendale; and 23-year-old Emma Juncosa and 33-year-old Christopher Woodard, both of Los Angeles.The department said they found a gas mask, laser pointer, helmet, goggles and arm protectors in the belongings of those arrested. All six were booked on $20,000 bail, according to...

Today is the eighth, a nearly-forgotten holiday commemorating the 1815 victory of U.S. forces, under Andrew Jackson’s command, over the British in New Orleans. That victory catapulted Jackson to fame as a national hero and paved his way to the White House. Today also marks the date President Jackson died 175 years ago. He is remembered as a fierce patriot, but he was also a faithful Christian. In a letter to Ellen M. Hanson, he wrote, “I was brought up a rigid Presbyterian, to which I have always adhered.” Jackson publicly professed his faith in 1838 in a little Presbyterian...

The Senate has voted against impeaching President Donald Trump, defeating two articles of impeachment by votes of 52-48 and 53-47. Trump joins two former presidents, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, in being impeached by the House of Representatives before being acquitted by the Senate. The House failed to produce credible evidence that the president committed any “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” or engaged in any action that justified his impeachment by the House, let alone his conviction and removal from office by the Senate. Despite Democrats’ loss in the Senate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and...

Roberts’ unwillingness to interfere in the proceedings of the trial will undoubtedly infuriate the left, but despite the hysteria, he's absolutely correct. On Friday evening, Chief Justice John Roberts announced that should a tie arise during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, he would not step in to break it. Given the near-even split of the Senate along party lines, Roberts’ comments put an end to the extensive speculation that had been bubbling around Washington.Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer prompted Chief Justice Roberts by asking the Justice if he was aware of two instances in which Chief Justice Salmon...

If one bothered to turn back the pages of history it should become quite evident that the 1868 impeachment of President Andrew Johnson bears a most eerie resemblance to the current two-count indictment that has been drawn up against President Trump by the Judiciary Committee of the present House of Representatives. A century and a half ago it was the Radical Republicans led by Congressmen Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Charles Sumner of Massachusetts who controlled the House with an over eighty-six per cent majority, while today the House is in the hands of radical Democrats who hold a more...

He attempted “to bring into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt and reproach the Congress of the United States.” He delivered “with a loud voice, intemperate, inflammatory, and scandalous harangues, and has uttered loud threats and bitter menaces, against Congress [and] the laws of the United States, amid the cries, jeers and laughter of the multitudes.” He has brought the “high office of the President of the United States into contempt, ridicule and disgrace.” Sound like someone we all know? These charges certainly describe President Donald Trump’s deplorable behavior and its effects on Congress, the presidency, and — most importantly — the...

Although he actually died at 7:30 the following morning, today is the anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) on 14 April 1865, only five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Lincoln was very fond of the theater, and that evening, he and Mrs. Lincoln - likely in a celebratory mood because of the end of the Civil War - attended a performance of the comedy, Our American Cousin, by English playwright Tom Taylor at Ford's Theater on 10th Street NW in Washington. There, following the intermission, actor and Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth managed to gain access...

This is a continuation of the list of steps benevolent Republicans took to help the slaves held by Southern Democrats. On March 3, 1865 a Republican Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau to provide health care, education and technical assistance to emancipated slaves. On April 8, 1865 the 13th Amendment, banning slavery, passed the Senate with 100% Republican support, but 63% Democrat opposition. In February 1866, Republican Congressman Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania introduced legislation to give “40 acres and a mule” to male former slaves. Democrat President Andrew Johnson vetoed the measure. Overriding Democrat Andrew Johnson’s veto, Republicans passed the Civil...

Why Did Russia Sell Us Alaska So Cheap?By John Steele Gordon The check, dated August 1, 1868, that was used to pay the purchase price for Alaska to Eduard de Stoeckl on behalf of the emperor of Russia. (National Archives) A hundred and forty years ago today, sovereignty over Alaska was transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States. The transfer completed the national territory on the North American continent. It was one of the great bargains of all time. For a price of $7.2 million, this country got 365 million acres of land and another 13 million of...

January 26, 2014 10:28 AM Carney: Obamacare 'Absolutely Worth It' if Dems Lose the Senate By Andrew Johnson Even if Obamacare proves to be electoral Kryptonite for Democrats in this year’s midterms, the White House still believes the health-care law was worth the political hit. “The answer is it is absolutely worth it, no matter what happens politically,” press secretary Jay Carney told ABC’s Jon Karl. In fact, Carney didn’t expect running against Obamacare to even be a winning message for Republicans “because they’ve got to explain what repeal [of the law] means.”

On front page of website, no registration required.Shockingly, neither Carter nor the present occupant of the White House are choices...

Most history books written by Democrat professors downplay the fact that the Worst President Ever was a Democrat. Did the Democrats nominate him? No, he was the 1864 Republican nominee for vice president.Andrew Johnson – Andrew Jackson Johnson, to be precise – was the only southern Senator not to go with the Confederacy. For being strong on nation security, this hardline Democrat was nominated to be Abraham Lincoln's 1864 running mate. // continued at http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/blog/2008/08/andrew-johnson.html

Anyone Republican interested in a proposal by Unity08 for a bipartisan ticket should consider the disaster that befell the country when the GOP did nominate a bipartisan presidential ticket.  In 1864, President Lincon's running mate was a Democrat, Tennessee's Andrew Johnson.  Though anti-Confederate, Johnson proved to be a racist buffoon and an alcoholic and a true Democrat.  Thanks to John Wilkes Booth, choosing Andrew Johnson was the biggest mistake of Abraham Lincoln's life. On this day in 1868, Republicans began the Senate trial of impeached President Andrew Johnson.  Among the seven U.S. Representatives serving as impeachment managers were anti-slavery crusader...

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the very moment of the Union's victory led to a rupture between the new Democrat President, Andrew Johnson, and the Republican party, which controlled Congress. Democrat President Andrew Johnson feared and despised blacks and was happy to see them become second-class citizens under the control of their former masters. The Republican party, however, believed that the federal government had a duty to protect the former slaves from being exploited and abused. The 1866 Civil Rights Bill therefore declared that 'all persons born in the United States' were citizens, and that all citizens were entitled...

How Should Textbooks Treat the Clinton Scandal? by Larry Schweikart, University of Dayton Almost any student who has ever sat through a history class in high school or college will nod with familiarity when I discuss how many teachers cover the last 20 years of history: “well, of course, you know what happened next.” For me, the history that inevitably was left out was the late 1950s or the Kennedy/Nixon years. As I entered the history profession, I found most students had never “gotten up to” the Vietnam War. If the past is any guide, the likelihood of survey classes...

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - Renovation of former President Andrew Johnson's home has exposed graffiti that Civil War soldiers wrote or scratched into the walls, including someone suggesting that "Andy you'd best skedaddle." Johnson was admired by Union supporters, but detested by many Confederates, and both sides used his home as a headquarters during the Civil War, according to the National Park Service, which acquired the two-story brick home in 1942. Graffiti quotes written or scratched into the plaster walls include: "Shame on you Andy," "Andrew Johnson Traitor of the South," and "Guilty of Treeson." There also are poems, and dedications to...

For the first time in U.S. history, the impeachment trial of an American president gets underway in the U.S. Senate. President Andrew Johnson, reviled by the Republican-dominated Congress for his views on Reconstruction, stood accused of having violated the controversial Tenure of Office Act, passed by Congress over his veto in 1867. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Johnson, a U.S. senator from Tennessee, was the only senator from a seceding state who remained loyal to the Union. Johnson's political career was built on his defense of the interests of poor white Southerners against the landed classes;...