Andrew Johnson

Johnson is the second president born in North Carolina and the first president not to be a lawyer or a soldier in his early years. He was a Democrat, but in 1864, the Republican Party nominated him as the party's vice presidential candidate and won the election. It can be said that this is a very peculiar phenomenon in American party politics, but everyone with a discerning eye can see that it was the use of a strategy used by Lincoln and the Republicans at that time. Because Johnson is a Southerner and a strong supporter of maintaining the integrity of the Union, using him as vice president can increase the South's centripetal force towards the federal government. In 1865, Johnson succeeded President Lincoln after he was assassinated. During his presidency, he believed that the southern states should be regarded as misguided friends. He should not be regarded as a conquered enemy, which aroused great resentment among Republicans. In 1869, he left the presidency in disgrace. But five years later, he successfully returned to Washington as a senator. He is the only former president who has been re-elected to the Senate.

On March 4, 1869, Ulysses Simpson Grant became the 18th president. Johnson disagreed with him on political and emotional terms and refused to attend his inauguration celebration. In April of the same year, 60-year-old Johnson returned to his hometown of Greenville, Tennessee. Due to his policy of safeguarding the interests of slave owners on the Southern Plantations during his tenure, he was warmly welcomed as a "patriot" when he returned to his hometown. In January 1875, he was re-elected to the Senate. This is the only case in American history that a president was elected to the Senate after leaving office. He died of heart disease on July 31 of the same year. He was 66 years old and was buried in Greenville.