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Article: Impeachment of 1868: Andrew Johnson, the accidental president.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- January 13, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON _ They are now forever bound, the only two American presidents to be impeached and face the wrath of a Republican Congress and a Senate trial.
But, after that, precious few parallels exist between Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
While Clinton boasts a wellspring of popularity that has made him the first Democrat since Franklin Roosevelt to be re-elected, Johnson was an accidental chief of state, a blunderer who barely escaped ouster 130 years ago.
On the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, Johnson became the nation's first to reach the White House due to an assassination. It was a time of unprecedented national crisis caused by the ...