July 2009 – One through Forty-Two or Forty-Three

Brother can you spare a coin that has my face on it?

fdr With the exception of Abraham Lincoln, no American President ever faced crises of the scope that Franklin Delano Roosevelt did. He entered the White House as the nation was in the throes of its worst economic situation ever. When he died twelve years later, the country was the preeminent economic and military power in the world.

And if you were alive in 1932 when Roosevelt won his first term in office, you would have been quite surprised to think that this man would have been able to accomplish so much. Roosevelt’s accomplishments before taking office would not have have led you to believe that a radical restructuring of the American government and economy would take place.

Roy Jenkins, a British author who served in both houses of Parliament, tried to sum up the extremely complicated life of Franklin Roosevelt in about 180 pages. Jenkins passed away in January of 2003, a few months before this book was published. Jenkins chose not to examine Roosevelt as some sort of larger than life figure, but rather as a politician who worked his way up the system. Jenkins clearly is in Roosevelt’s camp; but, he isn’t afraid to point out Roosevelt’s flaws.

And if you thought Jenkins had a hard time compressing Franklin Roosevelt’s life into 180 pages, it’s even harder trying to write this post in anything resembling a concise manner. But, I’ll give it a shot.

Franklin Roosevelt was born into a wealthy family in Hyde Park, New York on January 30, 1882. There were two prominent branches of the Roosevelt family in New York. Franklin came from the Dutchess County line, which was mostly Democratic, in contrast to most of the residents of the area. Theodore Roosevelt came from the Oyster Bay (in Nassau County on Long Island) line, who were nearly all Republicans.

The two sides of the family had a merger of sorts when Franklin married his fifth cousin, Eleanor, in 1905. Theodore Roosevelt escorted Eleanor (his niece, her father had already passed away) up the aisle at the wedding. As a wedding “gift,” Eleanor got the “privilege” of living with Franklin’s mother, Sara, for the next 36 years. Sara Roosevelt was: domineering, possessive, rude, dismissive, and otherwise decidedly unpleasant.

Franklin Roosevelt had been educated at Groton and Harvard, where he was never known as an especially bright student. Soon after his marriage, Roosevelt entered Columbia Law School. He never graduated from there, but he did manage to pass the New York State Bar Exam.

In 1910, Roosevelt made his first foray into politics, winning a seat in the New York State Senate. By 1913, Roosevelt’s stature had risen to the point that he was named Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson. Franklin Roosevelt was now in the same position that Theodore Roosevelt occupied before the Spanish-American War.

During his time in this job, Franklin had an affair with his secretary, Lucy Mercer. When Eleanor discovered this, she offered to divorce Franklin. Ultimately, they both decided it would be a bad idea politically. Eleanor chose from then on to support her husband politically, but not conjugally. It turned out to be one of the most powerful marriages in American political history. Eleanor constantly steered her husband onto a more leftward course, one that was far more liberal than people would anticipate coming from a wealthy scion of Dutchess County.

Roosevelt was nominated by the Democrats as their Vice Presidential candidate in 1920, but lost badly. A Republican wave carried Warren Harding into office. Just one year after the election, Roosevelt’s life changed dramatically.

In August of 1921, while vacationing at his summer home in Campobello, New Brunswick, Roosevelt contracted what was widely considered to be a case of polio. (Late in 2003, some doctors cast doubts on this diagnosis and suggested that Roosevelt actually had contracted Guillain-Barre Syndrome.) Whatever the cause, Roosevelt would never have full use of his legs again.

Roosevelt could have (and at times very much wanted to) gone into retirement. But, Eleanor Roosevelt, along with aide Louis Howe, encouraged Franklin to remain involved in politics. Roosevelt began extensive physical therapy at Warm Springs, Georgia. (He ended up buying the facility.)

In 1924, Roosevelt made his political comeback when he was able to walk (using very heavy leg braces and some assistance) to the podium at the Democratic National Convention in New York City to deliver a nominating speech for New York governor Al Smith.

Smith didn’t get the nomination in 1924, but he would four years later. This meant that New York would need to have a new governor. Smith suggested that Roosevelt run for the office. Jenkins portrays Smith as a schemer who figured that he would lose the Presidential election in 1928 (which he did) , but could use his pliable friend Roosevelt in Albany as a a tool for him to remain on the national stage. Jenkins believes that Smith also figured that Roosevelt may not have lived through his first two-year term.

But, the plan went awry. It turned out that Roosevelt had ideas of his own about how to be governor. And these ideas didn’t involve Al Smith. The two friends would become bitter rivals for the rest of their lives. Smith would be one of the leading conservative critics of Roosevelt on the Democratic side.

As the Great Depression grew worse and worse during 1932, it was becoming clear that the Democrats were going to be able to win the White House from the extraordinarily unpopular incumbent Herbert Hoover.

Roosevelt was the leader on the first two ballots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but did not have the necessary 2/3 majority that the Democrats required. Speaker of the House John Nance Garner along with Al Smith each had enough votes to create a deadlock.

But, some behind the scenes maneuvering got Roosevelt the nomination. Breaking with tradition, Roosevelt flew from the Governor’s Mansion in Albany to Chicago (which took over nine hours in 1932) to accept the nomination in person. Prior to this, candidates just waited at home to be told that they had been nominated. Garner was given the Vice Presidential nomination.

The election of 1932 was not close. Roosevelt won 57% of the popular vote and 472 electoral votes. The Democrats (and the allied Farmer-Labor Party) picked up 101 seats in the House and 13 in the Senate. Change was in the air. However, Roosevelt would not inaugurated until March 4, 1933, the last inauguration on this date. The country had to wait until then to find out what Roosevelt’s plan would be to solve the economic crisis that was only growing worse.

Roosevelt refused to meet with Hoover to discuss plans to bolster the banking system, which was hovering on collapse. There was growing unease that the country could lapse into chaos and social disorder. Unemployment was around 25%.

As it turned out, Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address turned out to be one of the most famous speeches of the 20th Century. (Newsreel footage linked here.)

This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

Roosevelt was inaugurated on a Saturday. Banks were closed on Sundays. And on Monday, Roosevelt ordered all banks in the United States closed for the week to allow the Treasury to examine their books to assess their solvency. Roosevelt convened Congress on March 9, and one of its first acts was to pass legislation that actually made Roosevelt’s actions legal. Banks began to reopen in the next two weeks.

Then, a flurry of activity came from the White House and was passed by Congress. Acronyms ruled the day. There was the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act), TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority), and Roosevelt’s most prized program, NRA (National Relief Administration). All of these actions (and there were far more than I will detail here) represented unprecedented government actions regarding the economy. Farmers were paid to not plant crops. Young unemployed men were put to work on government projects. Wage and price controls were instituted. These programs were called, after a term used in Roosevelt’s 1932 campaign, “the New Deal.” (Additionally, the 18th Amendment, which had established Prohibition was repealed by the 21st Amendment late in 1933. So, Americans could now both be poor AND drunk at the same time LEGALLY.)

In the short term, the economy improved a little. However, since it was close to rock bottom, that was not much of an accomplishment. Roosevelt’s programs faced opposition from all sides. Some Republicans accused Roosevelt of unfairly trying to fix the economy by taking money away from the prosperous. There were also demagogues from the extreme right, such as Father Charles Coughlin, a Detroit priest who had a radio show that excoriated Roosevelt for falling in with Jewish-controlled moneyed interests. There was also Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, who mixed wide scale corruption in his home state with populism. Long wanted to “Share the Wealth” although he gave little details on what his plan was. There was also Charles Townsend, a California physician, who devised a plan where elderly Americans (over 60) would receive $200 a month (which they would be required to spend in 30 days) paid for by a national sales tax.

Coughlin was eventually muzzled by his local bishop. Long was assassinated in Baton Rouge. Townsend’s plan was preempted by Roosevelt’s Social Security program, which started off paying only $20 per month in benefits.

An even bigger problem for Roosevelt was the Supreme Court. Nine of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs went to the Supreme Court and, on seven occasions, they were ruled to be unconstitutional.

Even with these problems, Roosevelt had little trouble getting reelected in 1936. The Republicans nominated Kansas Governor Alf Landon. It was the biggest Electoral College wipe-out in American history in any contested election. Roosevelt won 523 electoral votes (and over 60% of the popular vote) to just 8 for Landon. The Democrats ended up with an 80-16 margin in the Senate and a 347-88 margin in the House. The Senate chamber didn’t have enough room to put all the Democrats on one side of the chamber; so, some Senators had to sit on the wrong side of the aisle.

With this majority, Roosevelt could have accomplished even more, but he wasted his political capital on a battle with the Supreme Court. Roosevelt, not wanting his New Deal legislation tossed out by a majority Republican court, came up with a plan to add justices to the Court. Roosevelt proposed that the President be allowed to appoint one extra justice for each sitting member on the court who was 70 1/2 years old or over, with a maximum of six. Publicly, Roosevelt said that his plan was simply a way to ease the workload for the Supreme Court. However, almost the entire nation saw it as an encroachment on the Judiciary by the Executive Branch.

The plan was bottled up in the Senate. Even some of Roosevelt’s staunchest supporters wouldn’t go along with it. Senate Majority Leader Joseph T. Robinson died amidst the legislative wrangling. Also, the Supreme Court, perhaps fearing strong public opinion against it, began to uphold most of the reworked New Deal legislation. Finally, many of the justices began to retire. In the end, Roosevelt appointed eight Supreme Court justices while in office, including two justices who would shape the court for decades after in Hugo Black and William O. Douglas. (Jenkins also mentions that some of the justices would have retired earlier, but one early piece of New Deal legislation cut the pension for Federal judges in half.)

Although Roosevelt now had a friendly Supreme Court after a fashion, he ran into an unfriendly economy. The economy slowed down again in what was termed “The Roosevelt Recession.” Roosevelt took a different tack now. He and his advisers believed that the economy needed massive amounts of Federal government support. The budget deficit soared (by 1938 standards) to record levels. Taxes went up. Whether or not this plan worked is debated among economists to this day. (Or this minute. Just get two economists together and ask them about it. Report back to me.)

As a backdrop to all of this was the increasingly tense state of international affairs. Germany had become a Nazi state under Hitler and had rearmed and was taking over territory (Austria and the Sudetenland) and starting wide-scale persecution of Jews. Japan was asserting its dominance in Asia and the Pacific, having already taken over Manchuria. Italy, not wanting to get left out of the action, decided to attack Ethiopia.

When World War II finally began in 1939 with the German attack on Poland, Roosevelt somewhat vainly hoped to keep the United States out of the fray. Roosevelt even made a speech where he promised “not to send your sons into any foreign wars.” There was still a strong isolationist movement in the United States, led by Charles Lindbergh among others.

Because world tensions were so high, and also because the Democrats didn’t have any candidates on the horizon, Roosevelt allowed himself to be drafted for an unprecedented third term. Henry Wallace would be the new Vice President. The Republicans nominated Wall Street lawyer Wendell Willkie, who didn’t oppose most of the New Deal, but did feel that Roosevelt had not run the economy efficiently. Willkie fared a little better than Landon, but still lost badly.

As we know, the United States didn’t stay out of the war. Roosevelt slowly moved the United States over to the British side of the war. First, he traded American destroyers for long-term leases on numerous British naval bases. Then, he developed a plan known as Lend-Lease, where the United States would send ammunition, tanks, and planes to the British. At the end of the war, the British could give them back, or, if the material was destroyed, they could be paid for. It is not believed that the British sent much back unused, or had any money left at the end of the war to pay for what they used.

The United States was finally pushed into the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Roosevelt asked Congress for declaration of war against Japan, which passed almost unanimously. Hitler then decided to honor a treaty he had made with the Japanese and had Germany declare war on the United States. The United States reciprocated and now the United States was now faced with fighting a war all over the globe. Also, the United States was now on the same side as the Soviet Union, which would prove problematic for the next 60 years or so.

In recent years, much has been written and aired about World War II. The History Channel seems to be dedicated to programs about it. So, I won’t be offering much more about the conflict. (It’s just like your high school history class where the teacher tries to jam World War II into one lesson on the second to last day of school. Also, did World War II end the Depression? Discuss amongst yourselves and report back to me.) But, I will point out some of the parts of Jenkins’ book that I found odd.

First of all, Jenkins referred to Roosevelt’s plan to intern Japanese-American citizens living on the West Coast to camps further into the interior as “disruptive.” That’s one way of putting it. Jenkins also defended Roosevelt’s treatment of refugees, asserting that the United States took in more Jewish refugees than any other country. Whether Roosevelt’s efforts were enough is not addressed by Jenkins.

Jenkins also looks at Roosevelt from a European perspective. And, for someone living in Great Britain, Roosevelt looked like a savior. Jenkins marveled at how much abuse Roosevelt took in the American press during the war. But, in many respects, it was just politics as normal in the United States.

In 1944, Roosevelt’s health began to decline. His blood pressure had soared to dangerously high levels. He was suffering from hardening of the arteries. Doctors reported that he looked gray and suffered from lassitude. Nevertheless, Roosevelt decided to run for a fourth term. His opponent would be New York governor Thomas Dewey. Roosevelt decided to drop Wallace from the ticket and replace him with Missouri Senator Harry S Truman. It isn’t believed that Roosevelt was looking for a replacement in case he passed away. Roosevelt probably felt that he had a better chance to win with Truman on board, rather than the increasingly erratic and extreme left-leaning Wallace. Roosevelt won, although by a smaller margin than in 1940. Roosevelt’s fourth inaugural was a brief ceremony, ostensibly for wartime decorum, but also because his health was so poor.

Roosevelt had run a strenuous campaign, which had taxed his health even more. But, he knew the war was coming to an end. In February of 1945, he traveled all the way to the Crimean port city of Yalta for talks with Churchill and Stalin. Roosevelt, although younger than both Churchill and Stalin, looked considerably older. The postwar state of Europe was beginning to be mapped out. And the map would end up being quite favorable to Stalin and the Soviet Union. Roosevelt and Churchill were unable to guarantee a democratically elected government in Poland after the war, as well as stop Soviet incursions into the Baltic States. The only “concession” Stalin had to make was to agree to attack Japan 90 days after the surrender of Germany.

Upon his return to the U.S., Roosevelt addressed Congress about the conference. For the first and only time, Roosevelt sat down to give his speech before Congress. His health wouldn’t allow him to stand up with braces for any extended period. That speech was on March 1, 1945. Six weeks later, on April 12, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia, Franklin Roosevelt died of a massive stroke.

Harry Truman became President. On July 16, 1945, the first nuclear weapon was successfully tested in New Mexico. On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Roosevelt’s time was gone, or was it?

We are still living with the New Deal. There is still Social Security. There is insurance for bank deposits. The Tennessee Valley Authority still provides power to a large portion of the country. Many of the people reading were not alive while Franklin Roosevelt was in office. But, more so than any other President, his legacy is one that we cannot escape.

Other stuff: Franklin Roosevelt was buried at his family home in Hyde Park. It is now part of the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum is nearby. Eleanor Roosevelt is buried alongside her husband. There is a Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Memorial along the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Eleanor Roosevelt was reportedly 5’11” which made her the tallest First Lady in history until she was matched by Michelle Obama. Before his illness, Franklin Roosevelt stood 6’2″.

Roosevelt’s first Vice President, John Nance Garner, died 15 days shy of his 99th birthday on November 7, 1967. He is the longest-lived Vice President. Of the four people who ran against Roosevelt for President, three of them outlived him: Herbert Hoover (died at age 9o in 1964), Thomas Dewey (died at age 69 in 1971), and Alf Landon (died at age 100 in 1987.) Wendell Willkie died in 1944 at age 52 of a heart attack.

Only two members of Roosevelt’s Cabinet served through all four administrations: Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. The last surviving Cabinet member from Roosevelt’s administration was his first Postmaster General, James Farley, who passed away in 1976. Farley resigned his job in 1940 because he didn’t believe that Roosevelt should have run for a third term.

Woodrow Wilson by H.W. Brands

July 20, 2009July 21, 2009Bob Timmermann13 Comments

President #28, C-SPAN Historians Ranking #9

Take Princeton and give Fourteen Points

wwilson I. Introduction

Woodrow Wilson was a President so full of promise to many in America, that it seemed shocking how dismally his eight years in office ended. The United States went from being a Great Power to being the Greatest Power while he was in office. But, despite all the lofty ambitions Wilson brought with him, his time as President was also marked by violent upheavals in all parts of society. The United States was a drastically different place from the time Wilson was inaugurated in 1913 than it was when he left in 1921.

II. Growing Up

The 28th President was born Thomas Woodrow Wilson on December 28, 1858 in Staunton, Virginia. His father was a Presbyterian minister who moved his family throughout various cities in the South. Young Thomas struggled with dyslexia through much of his childhood. Wilson originally attended college at Davidson, but didn’t like it there and dropped out. His father then pulled some strings and got his son admitted to the College of New Jersey (which would eventually become Princeton University). Wilson concentrated on the study of politics and wrote a senior thesis arguing that the President’s Cabinet should be responsible to Congress, as is the case in Britain.

Upon graduation from Princeton, Wilson enrolled in the University of Virginia to study law. Wilson didn’t like the study of law much and dropped out before finishing his studies; although, he would open a law practice for a brief period. Ultimately, Wilson opted to go back to school, enrolling in Johns Hopkins University’s relatively new doctorate program. He earned a Ph.D. in 1886. While in the process of earning that degree (the only President to hold such a degree), Wilson taught at Bryn Mawr College. He also authored Congressional Government, which would become an influential book in political science in its time. Wilson managed to write his book on Congress without ever once visiting Washington and observing Congress in action. But, he became an expert nonetheless.

III. From Ph.D. to the Presidency

Wilson, who dropped the name Thomas and just went by Woodrow sometime in the 1880s, moved on to Princeton to teach. He was one of the most popular lecturers on campus. His class on American government was THE class to take for upperclassmen. Wilson’s popularity among both students and faculty eventually got him promoted all the way to university president in 1902. Wilson, although a poor fundraiser, still managed to raise the profile of Princeton nationally. He became one of the most respected men in America. And, the Democratic party saw him as a Presidential material. He was sympathetic to the Progressive movement; but, he also would appeal to the Democrat’s base in the South because of his upbringing.

There was one problem, though. Wilson had never held elective office. To remedy that situation, Wilson stepped down from his Princeton job to run for governor of New Jersey in 1910. He won that election easily, and almost immediately began campaigning for President in 1912. The Republican party split in 1912 between the conservatives, led by President William Howard Taft, and the Progressives, led by former President Theodore Roosevelt. Taft won the Republican nomination. So, Roosevelt ran as a third party candidate. The beneficiary of all this was Wilson, who won the election fairly easily. Although Wilson won just 41.8% of the popular vote, he ended up with 435 electoral votes, the highest total recorded up to that time.

IV. Shaking Things Up

Calling his domestic policies “The New Freedom,” Wilson shook up the establishment in Washington. He ended the tradition of Presidents not addressing Congress in person. Since Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801, Presidents had communicated with Congress by sending a written message. But, Wilson presented himself to a joint session of Congress in April of 1913 to tell that body that he was ready to work with them to get things done. And, he felt it would be easier if they could talk to him face to face.

Wilson wanted to lower tariffs, feeling that high ones served only to protect corporate interests. To make up for the lost revenue from the tariffs, Wilson instituted an income tax (made possible by the 16th Amendment, which the Republicans had pushed through prior to Wilson taking office).

Additionally, Wilson started two government agencies that would have long lasting effect on the country. To help administer antitrust law, Wilson signed a bill establishing the Federal Trade Commission. And, to help bring more regulation and order to the banking industry, Wilson created the Federal Reserve System.

Wilson knew little about banking, but received a crash course from adviser Louis Brandeis. The Federal Reserve System established a series of regional banks, guided by a Board of Governors in Washington, that controlled the money supply, and oversaw banking regulations.

V. Jim Crow, Suffragettes, and Demon Rum

As a child of the Confederacy, Wilson didn’t forget his roots. Unfortunately, this meant that Wilson allowed Federal departments, most notably the Post Office, to segregate its workers. Wilson would oppose any type of civil rights legislation while President.

Wilson also faced an increasingly hostile women’s suffrage movement. Although Wilson never backed women’s suffrage, the 19th Amendment would eventually be ratified in 1920 toward the end of Wilson’s time in office, granting women the vote in all of the states.

Also, the Prohibition movement succeeded in getting the 18th Amendment ratified in 1920. Wilson was not a supporter of Prohibition. He vetoed the Volstead Act, which set up enforcement of Prohibition. This veto was subsequently overriden by Congress.

VI. Love Lost, Love Found

Wilson’s first wife, Ellen, passed away from kidney disease on August 6, 1914. The President’s grief was almost inconsolable. Wilson’s staff kept close tabs on him to make sure he didn’t try to hurt himself.

However, Wilson would meet someone new just six months after Ellen’s death. This woman, Edith Bolling Galt, was a widow who was prominent in Washington society. Wilson was quickly smitten with her. They would marry on December 18, 1915. Edith would become one of Woodrow Wilson’s most trusted advisers. Her role would be even more important in the final years of the Wilson administration. But, that would be getting ahead of the story.

VII. Trouble Brewing South Of The Border

One glaring gap in Wilson’s resume was foreign policy experience. Wilson knew little about the ways of diplomacy. His choice for Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, was a political appointment to keep Bryan’s wing of the Democratic Party happy.

Wilson soon faced a foreign policy crisis in his own neighborhood. Mexico was in a state of upheaval after longtime president Porfiro Diaz was overthrown in 1911. By 1913, Victoranio Huerta had managed to get himself installed as president.

However, Huerta refused to call for democratic elections. Wilson sent a series of emissaries to convince Huerta otherwise, but eventually gave up. Wilson sent in Army troops instead. General John Pershing led a force that landed at Veracruz that ended up leading to Huerta’s resignation. Wilson even tried forming alliances with Mexican Revolutionary figures such as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. The former ended up splitting with the Carranza government (that was backed by the U.S.). Villa and his men would cause more headaches for Wilson.

VIII. Danger from Beneath

Although World War I began in August of 1914, Wilson didn’t think the United States would have much of a role in it at first, and that it would end quickly. This was either naive, or extremely wishful thinking on Wilson’s part.

As the two sides settled in to a long and bloody conflict, it was clear that the winner would be the side that either ran out of soldiers or money first. The United States had plenty of both at the time. Both sides needed U.S. goods to help them through the war. Since it was easier for the U.S. to ship goods to Britain rather than to Germany, the Allied Forces ended up getting the lion’s share of U.S. exports. Germany tried to get more money by asking the Wall Street firm of J.P. Morgan to help sell its war bonds; but, Wilson blocked that action.

Germany now felt that it had to stop the flow of U.S. goods into Great Britain by declaring the area around the island as a war zone. Any merchant ship suspected of carrying war materiel to Britain was subject to being sunk by German submarines.

This action by Germany represented a change in the way war had been conducted. People on ships that were sunk by submarines had little or no hope of rescue. The threat of a sudden attack made Atlantic crossings terrifying.

Hundreds of American lives were lost this way. Wilson’s first response was to issue a series of diplomatic notes to Germany, threatening all sorts of economic sanctions if it continued. Wilson did not wish to commit the U.S. to war as his reelection campaign was coming up in 1916.

IX. “He Kept Us Out of War”

Wilson’s opponent in 1916 was former Supreme Court justice Charles Evans Hughes. Although Theodore Roosevelt wished to run again, the Republicans felt that Hughes would present a slightly more moderate image than the bellicose Roosevelt, who was pushing for American entry into the war. One of Wilson’s campaign slogans was “He Kept Us Out of War.”

Hughes and the Republicans ran an especially poor campaign, rife with internal struggles over ideology. Wilson refused to attack Hughes during the campaign, remarking “One should not murder a man bent on committing suicide.” Nevertheless, Wilson won by a narrow margin in the popular vote (52-47) and by 23 in the Electoral vote (277-254). If Hughes had been able to carry California, which he lost by about 3,000 votes, he would have won.

X. About that war …

The British mounted an effective propaganda campaign against Germany in an attempt to rally American public opinion in favor of joining the war. British agents intercepted a message from German ambassador to the U.S., Arthur Zimmermann, that indicated that Germany hoped to get Mexico to join the war on the German side with the hope of reclaiming much of the American Southwest for Mexico.

Also, the Germans stepped up their submarine warfare, sinking several more American ships. By April of 1917, Wilson had come to the conclusion that the U.S. had to enter the war on the Allied side. Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war on April 2, 1917. It was approved four days later.

It took several months for the Americans to be able to send any troops to Europe. The Army was relatively small, with most of the fulltime soldiers occupied with matters in Mexico. Wilson asked Congress to allow conscription to swell the ranks. This was the first time conscription had been used since the Civil War.

There were many protests against conscription. Wilson and the Justice Department did not hesitate to prosecute anyone opposing the war effort. The nascent Communist Party was a favorite target of the Federal government.

Wilson also sent some troops to Russia in 1917 in an attempt to reverse the course of the Russian Revolution. That was … not successful.

XI. Why I’m Using These Numbers

Wilson was confident that the Allies (officially, Wilson said that the U.S. was not part of the Allies. He preferred the term “associate”) would win the war. And, before the bulk of the American forces arrived, Wilson issued his famous “Fourteen Points.” The two most important points were that secret treaties should be prohibited and that a permanent multinational peacekeeping organization (call it a “League of Nations”) should be established to maintain the peace.

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau famously remarked (repeated in various forms) “Mr. Wilson bores me with his Fourteen Points; why, God Almighty has only Ten!”

Wilson was correct in thinking that the war would be over. American troops proved to be fresh enough to be allow the Allies to break the German lines. The war ended on November 11, 1918. Now all that was left to do was negotiate a peace treaty. What could possibly go wrong with that?

XII. It All Went Wrong

The Palace of Versailles would be the site of the peace negotiations. Wilson decided to travel there himself, an unprecedented move for an American president. Normally, such matters were reserved for Secretaries of State or specially appointed ministers. But, Wilson wasn’t going to allow such important business to be handled by his underlings. Wilson was received by huge throngs in Europe. He was, at the time, the most popular man on the planet.

But, Wilson could not translate his popularity into negotiating skill. He was not open to compromise. But, Clemenceau and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George weren’t open to compromise either. Wilson wanted relatively generous conditions for peace with Germany. The French and British wanted Germany to pay. And pay. And pay some more. And to give up territory. And then pay some more.

Eventually, Wilson would get his League of Nations, with a promise of collective security for all members, but he gave in on reparations. Wilson sailed back home to the U.S. expecting the treaty to be warmly received.

XIII. Irreconcilable Differences

Wilson presented his treaty to the Senate, expecting quick ratification. That was not to be. Senate Republicans, led by Massachusetts senator Henry Cabot Lodge, knew they had enough votes to block the treaty. The League of Nations horrified many Americans, who had no desire to see the country get involved in world disputes to which it was not a party.

Lodge delayed the vote on the treaty through the spring of 1919. (He started off by reading the entire treaty aloud into the record. That took two weeks.) Public opinion began to grow against the treaty. So, Wilson decided to take his plea to the people and embarked on a whistlestop campaign throughout the country. Republican senators, known as the “Irreconcilables,” dogged Wilson giving speeches counter to his position.

During the strenouous tour, Wilson took ill. Plagued much of his life by high blood pressure, Wilson suffered a massive stroke. He had to cancel the rest of the tour. Wilson had had several small strokes during his lifetime which had resulted in temporary paralysis of one of his hands. When he was in France for the treaty negotiations, on one day, Wilson suddenly asked an aid to help him rearrange the furniture in a particular room because he thought the green and red furniture were fighting with each other. It’s quite possible that Wilson may have been in a compromised state of health during the negotiations.

XIV. An Unhappy Ending

Wilson was left almost totally incapicitated by his stroke. Edith Wilson, along with personal aid Joseph Tumulty and physician Cary Grayson, kept Wilson’s condition hidden from almost everyone. Vice President Thomas Marshall was kept away from Wilson. Secretary of State Robert Lansing (who had succeeded Bryan in 1915) publicly asked if the President was competent.

Although no one knows for certain what was going on, there is enough evidence to think that Edith Wilson made many of the day-to-day decisions of the President. Tumulty also assisted in the decision making. Wilson was well enough to get messages to the Senate demanding that the Treaty of Versailles be approved as is, without any reservations or amendments. Wilson did not wish to see his beloved League of Nations be tossed aside.

However, the treaty would never gather enough votes for ratification, not even earning a majority, let alone the necessary 2/3 vote. Wilson entertained the idea of submitting the treaty to the people as part of a national referendum, but that proved Constitutionally impossible.

Wilson served out his term in isolation. He was not well enough to attend the inauguration of his successor, Warren Harding. Surprisingly, Wilson outlived Harding. Harding passed away on August 2, 1923. Wilson died in Washington, DC on February 3, 1924.

Other stuff: The author of this book is a professor at Texas A&M University; but, he lives in Austin.

Woodrow Wilson has a plethora of places named after him. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library is located in Staunton, Virginia. The Woodrow Wilson House is a museum in Washington, DC run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. There is also the Woodrow Wilson Boyhood Home in Augusta, Georgia. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is a think tank in Washington, DC. Lots of people run into traffic on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge connecting Maryland and Virginia just south of the District of Columbia. The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Policy is part of Princeton University.

Wilson is buried at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. He is the only President to be buried in Washington.

Wilson was also the subject of a 1944 biopic called “Wilson.” It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and won 5. It was also a box office flop.

Andrew Johnson: A Biography by Hans L. Trefousse

July 13, 2009July 20, 2009Bob Timmermann7 Comments

President #17, C-SPAN Historians’ ranking #41

You Cannot Stop Reading This Unless You Have Prior Approval of the U.S. Senate

ajohnson Andrew Johnson’s story could have been one of the most inspiring in American history. Here was a man born in to extreme poverty, with no formal education at all, and, through very hard work and dedicated service to his country, he ended up as President.

And once he became President, Andrew Johnson was a colossal failure. He accomplished almost nothing in office (well, we got Alaska!) He claimed to care deeply about the U.S. Constitution, but those feelings somehow manifested itself in overt racism.

Johnson would become most famous for surviving an impeachment trial by a margin of one vote. But, even though Johnson managed to stay in office, it did little to enhance Johnson’s historical reputation. Johnson ranks just one notch above James Buchanan. And it does not help Johnson’s reputation that he succeeded Abraham Lincoln.

Hans L. Trefousse, who will appear again on this blog, gives one of the fairest portrayals of Johnson that any modern historian could. And you can tell very quickly that Trefousse has little regard for our 17th President.

Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on December 29, 1808. His father, who was very likely illiterate, died when Andrew was three. His mother, unable to properly provide for her children, had Andrew serve as an apprentice tailor. While working as an apprentice, young Andrew was taught to read and write. (To this day, there are books that state that Johnson’s wife Eliza taught him how to read and write, but Trefousse insists that Johnson was already literate by the time he married.)

The life of an apprentice tailor was arduous. Johnson toiled for long hours for no pay. He was supposed to serve as an apprentice until he was 21. By the time he was around 16, Johnson decided to head out on his own. But, because he was breaking an apprentice contract, Johnson had to leave North Carolina to work on his own. Johnson ended up in Greeneville, Tennessee.

In Greeneville, Johnson quickly made a name for himself. He proved to be an excellent tailor, and this provided him with a steady income. This, in turn, made him acceptable to women as marriage material. Johnson’s wife, Eliza, would be one of his strongest supporters; although, she was plagued by illness much of her life.

Andrew Johnson quickly learned that he had an excellent speaking voice. And, he proved quite adept at using it to convince other people to do things. Naturally, he went into politics.

Johnson started out as an alderman in Greeneville, worked his way up to mayor, and then to a seat in the Tennessee Legislature. After losing his first reelection bid, Johnson returned two years later to Nashville and wouldn’t lose another election again until after his term in the White House was over.

From the Tennessee Legislature, Johnson made his way to the United States House of Representatives. Johnson’s heroes were Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson and his political philosophies would always be based on their philosophies. Johnson believed in an agrarian America, hard currency payments for debts, and a small government.

Since Johnson had come from such poor origins, he wanted others to have a chance to better themselves. His idea for this was homesteading. Johnson repeatedly pushed for a Homestead Act that would grant every white male (being white helped a lot in Andrew Johnson’s world) 160 acres of land free of charge from the Federal Government, provided that improvements were made to the land within one year.

Homestead laws, however, were not popular among Johnson’s fellow Southerners. For starters, most land in the West was not suitable for plantation slavery. Also, Southerners feared increased tariffs, feeling that the Federal government would have to recoup lost income from land sales. (The Homestead Act would not be passed until 1862 when there weren’t any Southerners around to vote against it. That also helped in the creation of the states of Nevada and West Virginia.)

Johnson left the House in 1853 after his district was reapportioned, making it far less inviting for him to run. So, Johnson decided to run for Governor of Tennessee.

Running a populist campaign, Johnson triumphed and moved into the highest office in the state of Tennessee. This was quite an accomplishment for an unschooled apprentice tailor. But, Johnson was not satisfied.

During Johnson’s time, the governor of Tennessee had little real power. He couldn’t veto legislation, and could only appoint officials in a few parts of the government. But, the job carried a great deal of prestige. And it thrust Johnson into the national spotlight.

Johnson hoped that he could garner the Democratic nomination for President in 1856. But, he had little support. Instead, Johnson decided to run for the Senate, which he entered in 1857.

To say that matters were contentious in Congress in 1857 would be understating the matter. Johnson took an unusual approach in the Senate. He was a Southerner (and a slave owner) who wanted to maintain slavery, but refused to back the idea of secession. In fact, Johnson was stridently opposed to secession.

Johnson’s opposition to secession came from several factors. First, Johnson had no regard for the rich Southern aristocrats who owned large amounts of slaves and prospered greatly from their work. Second, Johnson was an ardent admirer of Andrew Jackson and wanted to emulate his stand on the South Carolina Nullification Crisis. Third, Johnson was fanatically devoted to the wording of the Constitution. Johnson found no words in the Constitution that would allow a state to secede.

Andrew Johnson was the only Senator from a state in the Confederacy who refused to join up with the secessionists. Unpopular (to put it mildly) back home in Tennessee, Johnson spent the early days of the Civil War in Washington.

But by 1862, Union troops had made inroads in Tennessee, controlling enough territory that President Lincoln felt that there was a need to have a Union leader in control of the politics of the area. Johnson, who was widely heralded in the North for his anti-secessionist stance, was appointed the military governor of Tennessee.

While in the job, Johnson took a firm hand against secessionists. He also vowed not to surrender Nashville when Confederate troops tried to reclaim, going as far as to threaten to burn the city down rather than surrender it. (Union troops intervened in time.) Johnson swung over to the abolitionist side in 1863. Although, he did not embrace any sort of equality for blacks, especially voting rights.

Johnson was now one of the most popular Southerners in the North. And with the election of 1864 looming, Lincoln decided to add Johnson to the ticket. Although it may seem hard to believe, Lincoln was worried that he would lose his bid for reelection. So, he got rid of his Radical Republican Vice President Hannibal Hamlin in favor of Johnson, whom he felt would present a more conciliatory tone. (Lincoln also wanted to remove Johnson as a potential rival from the Democratic side.) For the 1864 election, the Republican Party became the Union Party. Once the war started to turn decisively in the Union’s favor, Lincoln won reelection easily.

Now, we skip ahead to the fateful day of March 4, 1865. At that time, Vice Presidents were inaugurated before a joint session of Congress in a smaller ceremony than the Presidential inauguration. Johnson was not feeling well that day (he likely was suffering from typhoid fever.) To make himself feel better, Johnson had a belt of whiskey. No change. He had another and decided to proceed into the Capitol for the ceremony. However, he decided to have one more glass of whiskey just to make sure.

In 1865, there were no food labeling laws like we have today. Because today, Johnson would likely have found his bottle of whiskey to have this advice: “WARNING: EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION OF THIS BEVERAGE MAY LEAD TO EMBARRASSING DISPLAYS WHEN ADDRESSING A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS.”

Johnson stumbled his way through the oath of office, and then gave a speech that was about as coherent as you would expect from someone who had just downed three shots. He may have been the first Vice President to be given the hook (metaphorically) on stage to keep him from further embarrassing himself. The American public now had one image of Johnson: a stupid, bumbling drunk. (I can’t find a transcript of the speech online, but it’s probably something like this.)

Although Johnson had two sons who succumbed to alcoholism, Trefousse insists that Andrew Johnson did not have a drinking problem. There are no other reports of him appearing drunk in public. Johnson just picked the worst time ever to be drunk in front of a crowd.

Johnson’s term as Vice President was short. Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. Johnson was now thrust in to the highest office in the land and charged with the duty of sorting out the aftermath of the Civil War. Johnson initially took a hard line against the South and vowed numerous trials for treason. Quickly, he backed off that idea.

Before his death, Lincoln had proposed the “10 per cent plan” for the Confederate states. If 10% of the voters took a loyalty oath, a state would be readmitted to full status in Congress. Also, the defeated states would have to agree to abolish slavery.

Johnson adopted this plan, but immediately ran into objections from the Radical Republicans in Congress. This was a term used to describe the wing of the Republican Party that wanted to punish the South for the war, as well as give all of the recently freed slaves full voting rights.

To further infuriate the Radicals, Johnson appointed governors for all the Confederate states. Johnson picked several men who were strongly opposed by the Radicals, who felt that Johnson was just putting the Confederates back in charge. Johnson had even pardoned Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederacy.

The new state governments in turn chose new representatives for Congress, none of them allowing blacks to vote. When these Representatives and Senators came to Washington to be seated in Congress, they were turned away. Johnson could do nothing but complain.

A showdown was looming. First, Congress passed a law extending the Freedmen’s Bureau, a Federal agency that helped the newly freed slaves. Johnson vetoed it as being unconstitutional. Johnson believed that there were state governments in place to handle this matter. Congress quickly overrode Johnson’s veto.

Then, an even more ambitious bill, called the Reconstruction Bill was passed by Congress. This divided 10 of the 11 former Confederate states into five military districts that would be run by Army generals. (Tennessee was left out of this plan and Johnson insisted that Tennessee had never left the Union.) Johnson vetoed this bill, and Congress overrode it.

And so it would continue. Congress would pass a measure, Johnson would veto it, and Congress would override it. Johnson would veto 29 different bills and be overriden 15 times, more than any U.S. President. (One of the vetoes that was overridden made Nebraska a state.)

Johnson was most strongly opposed to something that he could not veto, the Fourteenth Amendment. Congress had made ratification of this amendment necessary for any state to be readmitted to Congress. Johnson could not tolerate an amendment that would allow equal rights for whites and blacks. Throughout his political career, Johnson made numerous speeches that showed he was overtly racist. Johnson did not believe that the United States could survive with the votes of black citizens.

In his veto message of the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 (which later was turned into the Fourteenth Amendment), you can read how Johnson is appalled at the idea of the freed slaves becoming citizens. They lacked the “requisite qualifications to entitle them to the privileges and immunities of United States citizenship.”

So, Johnson decided to go around the country by train campaigning against the Fourteenth Amendment. This trip, known as the “Swing Round the Circle”, was a disaster. Johnson spoke to crowds of hecklers from the back of his train, deriding any civil rights legislation, while holding himself up as the lone defender of the Constitution. By the time of the 1866 off-year elections, the Radical Republicans won major gains in Congress, isolating Johnson politically.

But, the Radicals were not satisfied with just isolating Johnson politically. They wanted to finish him off for good by impeaching him. The first attempt, in 1867, did not get out of the House, as there were really no charges to bring against Johnson, except for being a jerk.

Congress then set a trap for Johnson with the passage of the Tenure of Office Act. This required that any officer appointed by the President with Senate approval could only be removed with Senate approval. Johnson knew that this act was unconstitutional and was hoping to test it in court.

Johnson decided that he wanted to remove his Secretary of War, William Stanton, whom he felt was disloyal to him (and he was.) Stanton, interestingly supported Johnson’s veto of the Tenure of Office Act. Johnson decided he wanted to replace Stanton with Ulysses Grant. But, Grant refused for a variety of reasons, most of them political. Johnson then asked William T. Sherman to take over. Sherman refused because he didn’t want to move to Washington and get involved with politics. Finally, Johnson turned to General Lorenzo Thomas to tell Stanton that he was suspended and that he, Thomas, was taking over as Secretary of War on an interim basis.

When Thomas got to Stanton’s office on February 21, 1868 to tell him to leave, Stanton balked because he knew that Thomas did not have Senate approval to remove him from his post. So, Stanton had Thomas arrested on charges of violating the Tenure of Office Act and remained in his office. Although Stanton would drop the charges to avoid giving Johnson the chance to test the legality of the Tenure of Office Act, Radical Republicans saw this as their chance to be rid of Johnson.

The House quickly convened and voted to impeach Johnson, just three days after Stanton’s attempted ouster. A trial in the Senate was quickly set up. And it appeared that Johnson was a dead duck.

However, Johnson’s attorneys felt that they had a good strategy to get an acquittal. First, they told Johnson, who wanted to appear in front of Congress to defend himself, to stay in the White House for the trial and keep his mouth shut, which he did. Second, the defense team knew that there wasn’t much of a case against Johnson and the charges were mainly political in nature.

Further helping out Johnson was the fact that the man who would have succeeded Johnson, Senate President pro tem Ben Wade of Ohio, was widely disliked by New York financiers. Wade favored an inflationary scheme to pay off Civil War debts. That is, Wade wanted the government to print a bunch of money, hand it out, and pay off the debt that way. Wade had also been defeated in his attempt to win reelection to the Senate, so he was a lame duck. Wade was also in favor of women’s suffrage and the right of labor to organize. Despite these stances, Wade was viewed foremost as a demagogue.

Finally, the case against Johnson didn’t get started in earnest until the end of March 1868. The trial finished in May, so even with a conviction, Johnson would only be out of office for eight or nine months.

The Republican prosecution team was also not the sharpest group around. Benjamin Butler was appointed chief prosecutor and he proved to be no match for Johnson’s lawyers, especially Henry Stanbery, who resigned his position as Attorney General to defend Johnson.

Yet another factor in Johnson’s favor was politics. Johnson still was able to wield patronage power. Johnson was not afraid to tell senators who were leaning toward acquittal that he could make it worth their while. One such Senator who was willing to listen to such a deal from Johnson was Edmund Ross of Kansas, who would later be one of the subjects in John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage.

Johnson managed to survive by the narrowest of margins, one vote. There were 27 states represented in Congress at the time. A 2/3 vote was neccessary for conviction, so 36 votes were needed. The vote ended up being 35 for guilty and 19 for not guilty. Seven Republicans broke ranks to vote to acquit. Some did it because they believed Johnson was innocent, and perhaps some were convinced by other means.

Regardless of how bad Johnson was as a President, the country was better served not to have him removed from office by impeachment. The impeachment process was put in place so Congress could remove a President or judge who was corrupt, not one who was merely unpopular.

Johnson served out the rest of his term in relative quiet. He still believed that he had done his best to preserve the Constitution. He believed that the Fourteenth Amendment would ruin the country. But, he was powerless to stop that amendment. General John Schofield took over as Secretary of War.

Despite the impeachment trial, Johnson entertained hopes of getting the Democratic nomination to run for President in 1868. But, the Democrats didn’t want him, still remembering him abandoning the party to run with Lincoln four years earlier. New York Governor Horatio Seymour ended up with the nomination. Grant and the Republicans won the election.

Although he did not attend Grant’s inauguration, Johnson was still in Washington on March 4, 1869. He conducted business at the White House and then moved out while the ceremony was going on. Johnson felt that Grant had betrayed him. He had no desire to wish him well.

Johnson went back home to Tennessee, where he was warmly received. He tried to get back into politics almost immediately, but was thwarted in a bid to win a Senate seat. A few years later, Johnson tried to win a House seat, but failed. Finally, in 1875, he won a seat in the Senate.

After being out of the spotlight, Johnson got a chance to go back to Congress and speak his mind. An unexpected special session afforded him an opportunity to be sworn in early and to give a speech. Johnson denounced Federal Reconstruction efforts in Louisiana. He had not lost his zeal for politics.

And there the story ends, Congress adjourned and Johnson went back home. On July 31, 1875, Andrew Johnson passed away at his daughter’s home in Carter Station, Tennessee of a stroke.

Trefousse’s biography does not try to look at Johnson sympathetically. Andrew Johnson’s selection as Vice President may have been one of Abraham Lincoln’s worst ideas. Johnson, as Trefousse points out, was a man of the Jacksonian Era. But, America was no longer in Andrew Jackson’s time. The country had been through a civil war. It had become industrialized. It had a growing population of people from all over the world. Andrew Johnson was ill-suited to be a leader in this time. Reconstruction was an awful time in American history. It’s hard not to see how a racist, backward-looking man only made matters worse.

Other stuff: Johnson is buried in the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in Greeneville, Tennessee. It is part of the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site.

Andrew Johnson’s life was the subject of a 1942 film from MGM called “Tennessee Johnson.” Van Heflin played Johnson. It will air on Turner Classic Movies on Wednesday, July 15 at 9:30 am PT.

If you want more details on the impeachment trial, you can try Impeach Andrew Johnson, or this more legalistic one.