Andrew Johnson as VP

[DannyW]

Can someone explain to me why President Lincoln chose Johnson as VP.
What was reason Lincoln’s first term VP didn’t get second term. I’m a little rusty on my American History so I figure I would just ask. Thanks in advance for any answers.

[RJNorton]

Danny, here is what I think is the reason. Many Republicans thought having a loyal Democrat as the Vice-Presidential candidate would strengthen the ticket and help get Abraham Lincoln re-elected. So Hannibal Hamlin was dropped, and Andrew Johnson was added to the National Union Party ticket in 1864. Johnson, a Southerner, had been rewarded for his loyalty to the Union. When the Southern states seceded, Johnson, a Democrat from Tennessee, was the only Senator from any of those states who remained loyal to the Union and retained his seat in the Senate chamber.

[Rob Wick]

Just to add to what Roger noted. Up until the fall of Atlanta most everyone, including Lincoln, thought he would be defeated by McClellan in 1864. Putting a Union Democrat on the ticket was in reality an attempt to overcome McClellan, who was also a Union Democrat. Of course, after the fall of Atlanta Lincoln's re-election was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but by that time replacing Johnson would have caused too much trouble. It's a shame for history that they didn't, though.

Best
Rob

[JMadonna]

General Ben Butler a Union Democrat was also considered but he turned down the offer.

[DannyW]

(06-15-2019 04:12 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Danny, here is what I think is the reason. Many Republicans thought having a loyal Democrat as the Vice-Presidential candidate would strengthen the ticket and help get Abraham Lincoln re-elected. So Hannibal Hamlin was dropped, and Andrew Johnson was added to the National Union Party ticket in 1864. Johnson, a Southerner, had been rewarded for his loyalty to the Union. When the Southern states seceded, Johnson, a Democrat from Tennessee, was the only Senator from any of those states who remained loyal to the Union and retained his seat in the Senate chamber.

Isn’t it also true that Johnson wanted to hang the Rebel leaders & him & Grant had an argument about that! Then with problems with the Radical Republicans during reconstruction, he did an about face & issued the blanket pardons on Christmas Day 1868 before he went out of office! This seemed to make Southerners view him a little better!

[DannyW]

(06-17-2019 10:55 AM)DannyW Wrote:  

(06-15-2019 04:12 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Danny, here is what I think is the reason. Many Republicans thought having a loyal Democrat as the Vice-Presidential candidate would strengthen the ticket and help get Abraham Lincoln re-elected. So Hannibal Hamlin was dropped, and Andrew Johnson was added to the National Union Party ticket in 1864. Johnson, a Southerner, had been rewarded for his loyalty to the Union. When the Southern states seceded, Johnson, a Democrat from Tennessee, was the only Senator from any of those states who remained loyal to the Union and retained his seat in the Senate chamber.

Isn’t it also true that Johnson wanted to hang the Rebel leaders & him & Grant had an argument about that! Then with problems with the Radical Republicans during reconstruction, he did an about face & issued the blanket pardons on Christmas Day 1868 before he went out of office! This seemed to make Southerners view him a little better!

Any thoughts on this !

[AussieMick]

D.H. Donald's "Lincoln" pages 505-506 give some suggestions as to why Johnson was preferred to Hamlin.
Its said that Lincoln regarded the office of VP being unlikely to be involved in executive decision-making. He apparently wanted to , or at least appear to , allow the Convention to make its own choice of VP without any interference from him. Its suggested that Charles Sumner (leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Senate) used influence to oppose Hamlin.

I cannot find any solid reasons why Hamlin had lost favour. He was just as anti-slavery as Sumner. His background was as a Democrat. He was very much opposed to drunkeness ... this tends to make for unpopularity with those who like to drink. "As a temperance man, Hamlin determined to banish liquor from the Senate chamber and committee rooms. The combination of his rule outlawing the sale of liquor in the Senate restaurant and the departure of the hard-drinking southern senators after secession sobered the institution. "
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/his...Hamlin.htm

He had swarthy features and there were some that said he was a Yankee with 'black' blood.
I'm sure its been noted elsewhere on this forum that Lincoln once said that he had no fear that the Confederates would assassinate him, because they knew that Hamlin would take his place.

[wpbinzel]

To add to what the others above have said, keep in mind in the era between Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, political parties came and went (for example, Whig, Know-Nothing, Free-Soil, etc.) The newly formed Republican Party put up a candidate for President for the first time in 1856. So, in 1864, there was no long tradition of running under that name, and in an effort to garner broader political support, Lincoln and Johnson (a pro-Union Republican and a pro-Union Democrat, respectively) ran, as Roger pointed out, under the banner of the National Union Party.

[Steve]

Hamlin was a Republican. He had been a member of the Democratic party until 1856, then switching to the Republican party. So, he wouldn't have been eligible as a Republican to balance the fusion Union ticket Lincoln ran on for re-election with a pro-war Democrat.

[wpbinzel]

(06-26-2019 09:02 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  I cannot find any solid reasons why Hamlin had lost favour.

Mick - I don't think it was so much that Hamlin "had lost favour" [and thank you for the "u"] as much as it was that it was feared that Lincoln and the war had lost favor. Grant was stalled outside of Petersburg and Sherman was stalled outside of Atlanta. The public willingness to continue a war with no end in sight was wearing thin, so much so that even Lincoln was convinced in the summer of 1864 that he would not be re-elected. In order to try to broaden support for Lincoln beyond Republicans to include pro-Union Democrats, the label of the Republican Party was abandoned in 1864 in favor of a "big political tent" label of the National Union Party. And in order to distinguish the National Union Party from the Republican Party, a pro-Union Democrat (Johnson) was added to the ticket as Vice President. It was politics, plain and simple, and not about anything Hamlin had said or done. (As an aside, under the U.S. Constitution, the Vice President is President of the U.S. Senate and consequently, back then was considered to be part of the Legislative Branch of government. Under the concept of the separation of power of the three branches of government, the VP did not attend Cabinet meetings or confer on a regular basis with the President or any other members of the Executive Branch. From the time that they were sworn in, there is only one recorded meeting between Lincoln and Johnson. Hamlin as well rarely met with Lincoln and/or other members of the Executive Branch during his term as VP.) I enjoy and appreciate your postings, and thank you for being on the Forum.

[RJNorton]

(06-29-2019 11:58 PM)wpbinzel Wrote:  the VP did not attend Cabinet meetings or confer on a regular basis with the President or any other members of the Executive Branch. From the time that they were sworn in, there is only one recorded meeting between Lincoln and Johnson.

Good point, Bill. On the afternoon of the assassination there was a Cabinet meeting at the White House that lasted until about 2 P.M. As usual, Johnson was not invited to the meeting. Later in that same afternoon Johnson went to the White House and waited to see the President as any ordinary citizen would.

An assistant secretary to Lincoln, Edward Duffield Neill, wrote in his Reminiscences:

"That afternoon there had been a cabinet meeting and an interview with Gen. Grant, and I went to see the president and found that he had retired to the private part of the house for a lunch. While I was looking over the papers on his table to see if I could find the desired commission, he came back, eating an apple. I told him for what I was looking, and as I talked he placed his hand on the bell-pull, when I said: "For whom are you going to ring?" Placing his hand upon my coat, he spoke but two words: "Andrew Johnson." Then I said, "I will come in again." As I was leaving the room, the vice president had been ushered, and the president advanced and took him by the hand."