Seventeenth President: Andrew Johnson - 1 comments

Andrew Johnson, our seventeenth President, took up the office when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Johnson never selected a Vice President to fill his old position, in part because of his shaky relationship with both parties. While elected on a National Union ticket for Abe's second term, Johnson himself never allied with any party, and earned the ire of all of them.

That party status issue was emblematic of of Johnson's presidency. As President, he managed the first phase of the Reconstruction, throwing the Radical Republicans into a serious distemper. They rallied the legislature and impeached Johnson - twice, actually - but failed to rally enough votes to eject him from office.

Johnson never attended any school, ever, and claimed that his wife taught him to read and write.