Norwich bulletin., 1920-05-13
Five Minutes a Day
 With Our Presidents Copyright 1e2o-By James Morgan
ON THE EMBERs OF

ON THE EMBERs OF I865-Aprn Is, Vice President An
 drew Johnson took the oath
 as 17th President, aged 56.
 1S66-April, Congress OverrOde his
 veto of the Civil Rights bill.
 August-September, his swing around
 the circle" November, Repub-
 Iican victory in Congressional
 elections.
 A loud rapping on his hotel door in Washington awakened the sleeping vice president to the startling news that the president had been mortaily shot. Even before Andrew Johnson took the oath the next morning, strong men were lay ing plans with unseemly haste, to have him reverse Lincoln's enerous policy toward the conquered south.
 Secretary Stanton turned directly from the death bed to order the imprison- ment of Jacob Thompson, the fleeing confederate emissary, whose arrest Lin coin had refused to sanction only the evening before, and he offered a reward for the capture of Jefferson Davis as an accompliee in the presidents assas- sination.
 At the same time radical republicans in caucus at Washington were -haling the change of leaders as a godsend. By the gods! there will be no trouble now in running the government" explained Senator Wade of Ohio, as he grasped the hand of the new president. Meanwhile, as the southern people saw this poor white" of the south enthroned over them, they sank to a still lower | level of despair than they had fallen when their armies surrendered. When l Davis heard of the monstrous charge that he had conspired with Booth, he made the bitter retort that there was at Ieast 1 one man who knew It was not true ] Johnson knows that I would have pre- ferred Lincoln to him."
 i Power quickly cooled the vindictivt i passions kindled in Johnson by his long bitter feud with the southern leaders and he returned to Lincoln's policy oi reconciliation. Wisely, no one was pun ished for treason. Happily, vengeance | for a great war was not wrecked oI any individual.
 The radicals, who had secretly rejoic ed in Johnson's accession, turned upol him furiously. It was easy for them tt l Southerner, and to estrange the republi cans from this democrat.
 l For the first time even the sobriety o a president was called into question Johnson's unfortunate condition at hi inauguration as vice president had shock ed Charles Sumner into starting a whis pered discussion of his enforced resigna tion. When he became president his in temperance in speech lent color to exag gerated reports of his intemperance il drink.
 !, It is an unanswerable question in his tory whether even Lincoln could hay mastered the rising opposition to him i congress and restored the Union on tn plan which he had adopted. That pla had small chance of success in John sons hands, with his lack of Lincoln good-humored tact, modesty, forbearanc , and hold on the public confidence $ For two years before Lincoln died tn radical leaders had been insisting tha congress not the president, should fl
 the terms of peace for the souther
 states. They had angrily denounced hil
 as despot an autocrat and a usurpe f because of his policy of reconstruction
 And congress had consistently refused |
 admit the senators and representative
 from the states which he had construc
 ed on his liberal plan.
 There were patriotic men who honestl shrank from entrnsting the liberty an welfare of the millions of freed slay,
 to the rule of their old masters. Thel o also were calculating politicians wi l. were troubled only by the thought tn;