Andrew Johnson’s drunk VP inaugural address, March 4th, 1865In 1864 Abraham Lincoln had won hi

Andrew Johnson’s drunk VP inaugural address, March 4th, 1865In 1864 Abraham Lincoln had won his second term as PODUS after a grueling campaign against former General George C. McClellan, and the American Civil War was still raging.  For his second term Lincoln chose Tennessee Senator Andrew Johnson, as his previous vice president, Hannibal Hamlin was retiring.On the trip to Washington D.C. Johnson was stricken with typhoid fever and was in pretty poor health.  Back then the cure all for almost any illness was a hearty dose of alcohol, particularly whiskey.  peashooter even knows people today who swear that a dose of corn whiskey can clear up any chest cold.  Johnson began drowning himself with several drinks.  On the night before the inauguration, he fortified himself with more alcohol. The next morning Johnson awoke still feeling the effects of typhoid fever as well as a terrible hangover.  He asked for three more glasses of whiskey, which he drank straight, and he had a few more on the carriage ride to the capital.Typically, the Vice Presidential Inaugural Address is a brief formality, about seven minutes long.  Johnson rose, stumbled onto the podium red faced and visibly intoxicated, and gave a seventeen minute long speech about his humble roots and his goals in politics.  His speech was slurred, largely incoherent, and at several points Johnson would ramble about completely unrelated topics.  Many of the congressmen in attendance covered their face with their hands in shame, including none other than President Lincoln himself.  Michigan Senator Zachariah Chandler wrote home to his wife. “I was never so mortified in my life, had I been able to find a hole I would have dropped through it out of sight.” By the time Johnson’s address was reduced to indecipherable babbling, former Vice Pres. Hannibal tugged at Johnson’s coattails and carefully helped him off the stage. Johnson was then sworn in as Vice President.  Upon taking the oath of office he said in a loud and slurred voice, “I kiss this Book in the face of my nation the United States.”  He then kissed the Bible, nearly loosing his balance in the process and tumbling to the floor.  It was then Johnson’s duty to swear in new Senators and Federal officials, but at this point he was too inebriated to do it.  Instead the duty was performed by a Senate clerk. -- source link
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