# What was the plan after Andrew Johnson's impeachment/conviction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 18, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396 "2024-11-18T14:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/1 "2024-11-18T14:17:08Z")
As I understand it. After the Lincoln assassination, Andrew Johnson ascends to the presidency. But, as there is no mechanism for selecting a new vice-president at that time, the office is unfilled for the duration of his term. Then he is impeached; but not convicted nor subsequently removed from office. If he had been removed…what was the plan for who would be president? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/2 "2024-11-18T14:19:52Z")
At the time, the next in line was the [Senate Pro Tempore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_pro_tempore_of_the_United_States_Senate#Position_established). > Whenever the office of the vice presidency was vacant, as it was on ten occasions between 1812 and 1889,[[11]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_pro_tempore_of_the_United_States_Senate#cite_note-CRSsuccession22-11) the office garnered heightened importance, for although he did not assume the vice presidency, the president pro tempore stood next in line for the presidency. ETA: At the time it was [Benjamin Franklin Wade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Wade), Wade’s unpopularity may have been a factor in Johnson being acquitted. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/3 "2024-11-18T14:27:23Z")
And also from Wiki: > [@](#): > > When President [Andrew Johnson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson), who had no vice president, was [impeached](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Andrew_Johnson) and [tried](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_trial_of_Andrew_Johnson) in 1868, Senate President pro tempore [Benjamin Franklin Wade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Wade) was next in line to the presidency. Wade’s radicalism is thought by many historians to be a major reason why the Senate, which did not want to see Wade in the [White House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House), acquitted Johnson. So this was obviously well-known at the time, and may have been a factor in why Johnson was acquitted by the Senate. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/4 "2024-11-18T14:28:53Z")
Thanks…I should have known this. Benjamin Wade from Ohio. > **[Benjamin Wade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Wade)** > > Benjamin Franklin "Bluff" Wade (October 27, 1800 – March 2, 1878) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator for Ohio from 1851 to 1869. He is known for his leading role among the Radical Republicans. Had the 1868 impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson led to a conviction in the Senate, as president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, Wade would have become acting president for the remaining nine months of Johnson's term. > Born in Massachusetts, Wade worked as a... Looks like Johnson was not convicted partly because Wade was not a favorite as a successor. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/5 "2024-11-18T14:34:22Z")
A Wade presidency would have been fascinating. His “unpopularity” and “radicalism” stemmed from his early support of emancipation and insistence on making true equality for African-Americans a requirement for southern states to rejoin the Union. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/6 "2024-11-18T14:37:07Z")
Also Women’s suffrage and trade union rights. The last might have been the biggest sticking point. He was really way ahead of his time. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/7 "2024-11-18T14:38:17Z")
He was ‘way ahead of our time, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/8 "2024-11-18T15:03:53Z")
Touché ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/9 "2024-11-18T17:19:27Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I should have known this. Benjamin Wade from Ohio. I read up on the Johnson trial and Wade was already picking his cabinet during the trial. ---
**Author:** ![sb1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@sb1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sb1953)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/10 "2024-11-18T17:49:48Z")
HA! Excellent! ---
**Author:** ![sb1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@sb1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sb1953)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/11 "2024-11-18T17:53:27Z")
RE the Veep When the senate was considering impeaching Nixon in 1973 somebody took a poll and decided that they did they did not want Agnew as prez. What to do? Get him indicted and resign his post. Then get Nixon to install Jerry Ford as VEEP . Ford (I will guess) told Nixon that if he was impeached he (Ford) would pardon him once he was prez. . ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/12 "2024-11-18T18:55:06Z")
THis sounds a bit too ‘conspiracy theory’ to be taken seriously on the Dope…Fighting Ignorance since 1973 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/13 "2024-11-18T19:02:51Z")
HA! I know someone who claimed the Rockefellers told Nixon to appoint Jay Rockefeller as VP once Agnew resigned. So when Ford was appointed instead, the Rockefellers worked behind the scenes to get Nixon removed. Proof? you ask. When Nixon resigned, Jay Rockefeller was appointed as Ford’s VP. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/14 "2024-11-18T20:51:38Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Proof? you ask. When Nixon resigned, Jay Rockefeller was appointed as Ford’s VP. I’d call that “informed speculation”, which while not a fact, is still much better than a conspiracy theory. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-plan-after-andrew-johnsons-impeachment-conviction/1010396/15 "2024-11-18T22:37:28Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > When Nixon resigned, Jay Rockefeller was appointed as Ford’s VP. Nitpick- it was Nelson Rockefeller.