| During Abraham Lincoln's 1864 run for a second term | | | | speech. The stewed Johnson rambled on and on, |
| as president, Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was his | | | | speaking for seventeen minutes instead of the |
| vice-presidential running mate. At this time during the | | | | expected seven. Hannibal Hamlin finally gave a tug on |
| Civil War, Lincoln was an unpopular president and | | | | Johnson's coat-tail, and only then did Johnson end his |
| Andrew Johnson, a southern War Democrat and | | | | alcohol-impaired inaugural speech. |
| Governor of Tennessee, would give the Republican | | | | Andrew Johnson's sottish inauguration festivities and |
| ticket broader appeal to the important border states. | | | | formalities were not yet complete. As he took the |
| On the Democrat ticket opposing Lincoln and Johnson | | | | oath of office (which took more time than needed |
| in the 1864 election were George B. McClellan (the | | | | because Johnson drunkenly rambled with incoherent |
| former Union general) and his running mate, George | | | | and slurred speech), Johnson put his hand on the Bible |
| Hunt Pendleton. Abraham Lincoln won the election, but | | | | and said in a loud voice; "I kiss this Book in the face of |
| it was not a landslide victory. Lincoln won 55 percent | | | | my nation the United States." |
| of the total popular vote to McClellan's 45 percent. | | | | Johnson then gave the Bible a tipsy kiss. As the now |
| Following President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, | | | | freshly inaugurated vice-president, it was Johnson's job |
| Johnson took the oath of office as president on April | | | | to swear-in the new senators. Vice President Andrew |
| 15, 1865. | | | | Johnson was too drunk and confused for this, so |
| Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural on March 4, 1865 | | | | instead a Senate clerk performed swearing-in of the |
| was held on a miserable, windy, rainy, and muddy day | | | | new senators. |
| in Washington, D.C. The inaugural ceremonies were | | | | After the drunken Andrew Johnson had been |
| planned to be held outside, but were moved inside to | | | | inaugurated indoors as vice-president, the nasty |
| the Senate chamber because the weather was so | | | | weather began to clear and improve. Abraham |
| bad. Vice President Hannibal Hamlin was retiring, and | | | | Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address could now be |
| Tennessee Democrat Andrew Johnson would now be | | | | given outside as was originally planned. As Lincoln |
| inaugurated as Abraham Lincoln's vice-president. The | | | | witnessed the soused Andrew Johnson's Bible kiss, he |
| Senate chamber's 1800s ventilation system was poor | | | | said to Senator John B. Henderson, who was the |
| and it could not handle the added moisture from the | | | | marshal for the inauguration; "Do not let Johnson speak |
| wet and soaked clothes of the people attending the | | | | outside." |
| ceremony. The Senate chamber was muggy and | | | | Later, President Lincoln remarked regarding Vice |
| sticky, it was a very uncomfortable place to be on this | | | | President Johnson's inaugural drunkenness; |
| poor-weather inaugural day in Washington, D.C. | | | | "It has been a severe lesson for Andy, but I do not |
| Andrew Johnson had been suffering from typhoid | | | | think he will do it again." |
| fever and generally was in poor health, during the | | | | Lincoln had known Johnson for years and they were |
| weeks before the inaugural. Johnson's travel to | | | | friends. To answer concerns expressed by some |
| Washington, D.C. from Nashville did not help his physical | | | | about Johnson, Lincoln further explained; |
| condition, and he didn't feel well shortly before the | | | | "I have known Andrew Johnson for many years. He |
| inauguration. He downed three glasses of "medicinal" | | | | made a slip the other day, but you need not be scared; |
| whiskey before entering the uncomfortable Senate | | | | Andy ain't a drunkard." |
| chamber. As Andrew Johnson walked into the Senate | | | | "The inauguration went off very well except that the |
| chamber he appeared to be unsteady, and he was | | | | Vice President Elect was too drunk to perform his |
| leaning on Hannibal Hamlin's arm. | | | | duties & disgraced himself & the Senate by making a |
| Usually the vice-president's inaugural speech is a brief | | | | drunken foolish speech. I was never so mortified in my |
| formality on inauguration day. It became obvious to all | | | | life, had I been able to find a hole I would have dropped |
| that the new vice-president was three sheets to the | | | | through it out of sight." |
| wind as he began his vice-presidential inauguration | | | | - Senator Zachariah Chandler. |