Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson

David O. Stewart talked about his book Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy (Simon and Schuster; May 12, 2009). With the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson became in charge of the reconstruction of the defeated South, including the extension of civil rights and suffrage to black Southerners. However, he did not support these views and his impeachment trial of became the central battle of the struggle over how to reunite a nation after four years of war. Mr. Stewart argued that there were compelling reasons to remove Mr. Johnson from the presidency, revealed the corrupt bargains that saved Johnson’s job, and credited Johnson’s prosecutors with seeking to remake the nation to accord with the ideals that Lincoln championed. Mr. Stewart was interviewed on stage by Elizabeth Varon and then responded to questions from members of the audience.

This program was held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 11, 2009, in the Kirby Audit close