Swing Around the Circle
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16th Vice President of the United States
17th President of the United States
Vice presidential and Presidential campaigns
Post-presidency
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Swing Around the Circle is the nickname for a speaking campaign undertaken by
Johnson undertook the speaking tour in the face of increasing opposition in the Northern United States and in Washington to his lenient form of Reconstruction in the Southern United States, which had led the Southern states largely to revert to the social system that had predominated before the American Civil War. Although he believed he could regain the trust of moderate Northern Republicans by exploiting tensions between them and their Radical counterparts on the tour, Johnson only alienated them more. This caused a supporter of Johnson to say of the tour that it would have been better "had it never been made."[1] Critics simultaneously derided the tour as boring and irrelevant and as a platform for showcasing Johnson's weaknesses: "ill-tempered, illiterate, semi-insane, and thoroughly undignified."[2] But the tour eventually became the centerpiece of the tenth article of impeachment against Johnson.
Background
Johnson had first intended his approach to Reconstruction as a delivery of predecessor Abraham Lincoln's promise to benevolently "bind up the nation's wounds" after the war was won. However, as Congress began enacting legislation to guarantee the rights of former slaves, former slaveowner Johnson refocused on actions (including vetoes of civil rights legislation and mass pardoning of former Confederate officials) that resulted in severe oppression of freed slaves in the Southern states, as well as the return of high-ranking Confederate officials and pre-war aristocrats to power in state and federal government. The policies had infuriated the Radical Republicans in Congress and gradually alienated the moderates, who along with Democrats had been Johnson's base of congressional support, to the point that by 1866 the Congress had gathered enough antipathy towards the President to enact the first override of a Presidential veto in over twenty years, salvaging a bill that extended the life of the Freedmen's Bureau. Johnson also managed to alienate his own cabinet, three members of which resigned in disgust in 1866.
Thus the elections that year were viewed as a referendum on Johnson himself, who had not been elected president but had acceded to power upon Lincoln's murder. However, in Johnson's earlier political campaigns he had earned a reputation as a masterful stump speaker, and to that end he determined to undertake a political speaking tour (which at that time was unprecedented for a sitting president). His two dedicated supporters in the cabinet,
One problem that would affect the tour was the difference between the impression that Johnson made on his hearers and the impression that his speeches made on those who merely read them afterward:
Mr. Johnson's manner in delivering public speeches was one which could not be translated into newspaper language. **** He had a calm, assured way of talking which gave the most startling remarks authority. His bearing was quiet and dignified, his voice low and sympathetic. He had one of the best voices for public speaking that I have ever heard. It was singularly penetrating; he could make it carry to the edge of the largest gathering without effort. Yet it was always a pleasant voice. I have been startled myself to read the same speech in the paper that I had heard the day before. One would think, from what was written, that a violent demagogue was brandishing his arms and shrieking at the top of his lungs.[5]
Tour
Initial success
In the 18 days of the tour, Johnson and his entourage made stops in
Because Presidents had traditionally not undertaken political campaigning in the past, Johnson's action was seen even before he began as undignified and beneath the office. Johnson's advisors, aware that the President could get carried away in his own sentiments, pleaded with him to give only carefully prepared speeches; Johnson, as he had often done on the campaign trail, instead prepared a rough outline around which he could spontaneously speak.
Initially, Johnson was enthusiastically received, particularly in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. According to Johnson biographer Hans Trefousse, at each stop on the tour he had delivered
[...] substantially the same speech, in which he thanked his audience for its welcome, paid homage to the army and navy, and declared that the humble individual standing before them had not changed. His views were the same he had held during the war, and he still favored the preservation of the Union of the states. Generally recounting his rise from the tailor's bench to the presidency, he compared himself to Jesus Christ and explained that like the Savior, he, too, liked to pardon repentant sinners. But Congress, and especially Thaddeus Stevens and the radicals, still wanted to break up the Union, an effort he was trying to prevent.[6]
The press nonetheless gave him overwhelmingly positive coverage throughout the first leg of the tour (although the circumstances made his customary introduction—"Fellow citizens, it is not for the purpose of making speeches that I now appear before you"—a particular laugh line). However, when Johnson entered the Radical Republican strongholds of the Midwest, he began facing much more hostile crowds, some drawn by reports of his prior speeches and others organized by Republican leadership in those towns. Overall, Unionists and Radical Republicans did not respond well to the President's performances.[7] For example, according to the writer from the Missouri Democrat in the September 10 issue:
[Johnson's tone of voice was] sneering, sarcastic, and malignant whenever he referred to the Freedmen's Bureau, to Congress ... or to impartial suffrage; defiant and revolutionary when he talked of the vote; boastful and triumphant when he spoke of having "turned loose" over 40,000 of captured rebels; intensely and over poweringly egotistic at all times. His favorite beginning for a sentence was "Yes," sounded like something about half way between "Yeas," and "yahs," in a drawling manner and loud, harsh tone, and no words can express the sheer, dogmatic, and insufferably self-satisfied meaning which he threw into it. He spoke very deliberately, apparently weighing the effect of every word.[7]
Disaster
Johnson's stop in Cleveland on September 3 marked the turning point in the tour. Because the audience was as large as it had been at previous stops, nothing seemed out of the ordinary; however, the crowd included mobs of hecklers, many of them plants by the Radical Republicans, who goaded Johnson into engaging them in mid-speech; when one of them yelled "Hang
When he left the balcony from which he had spoken, reporters heard supporters reminding Johnson to maintain his dignity; Johnson's reply of "I don't care about my dignity" was carried in newspapers across the nation, abruptly ending the tour's favorable press.
Subsequent to this and other vituperative appearances in southern Michigan, the Illinois governor
At other points in Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, spectators drowned out Johnson with calls for Grant, who refused to speak, and for "Three cheers for Congress!"
After the honeymoon period early in his tour, Johnson found the Radicals in his audiences increasingly vocal. The give-and-take discussion he envisioned before leaving the White House proved impossible when on warm September evenings huge crowds gathered under hotel balconies under conditions of high tension and excitement. Taking advantage of the anonymity granted by the hour and the crowd, Radical sympathizers unmercifully heckled the President...Repeatedly Johnson let himself be carried away by the occasion. His Cleveland and St. Louis speeches approach the ultimate in audience adaptation as the situation—balcony, gas lights, torches, noisy crowd drew him into long and contentious speeches. His topics were forced upon him by friendly and unfriendly calls from the crowd. Warming to his subject and faced by an audience willing and anxious to talk back, he could not admit defeat and leave his audience without a full defense of his policies.
— Gregg Phifer, "Not for the purpose of making a speech:" Andrew Johnson's Swing Around the Circle (1954)
Tragedy
Finally, on September 14 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a temporary platform built beside the railroad tracks for the president's appearance gave way, sending hundreds into a drained canal 20 feet below, killing thirteen. Though Johnson attempted to halt the train and use it for triage for the injured, it could not wait due to conflicting train traffic. A few members of the presidential party left the train to assist the victims, but Johnson and the rest of the party continued onto Harrisburg. To appearances, Johnson had callously abandoned the scene of massive casualties. Johnson gave $500 ($8,318 in 2016 dollars[11]) to assist the victims.[12]
Reaction
The press excoriated Johnson badly for his disastrous appearances and speeches. The
Johnson's Republican opponents took quick advantage of their good political fortune. Thaddeus Stevens gave a speech referring to the Swing as "the remarkable circus that traveled through the country" that "cut outside the circle and entered into street brawls with common blackguards."
Radical Republicans also began spreading rumors that Johnson had been drunk at several appearances. Because Johnson had been drunk at his own vice-presidential inauguration the year before, reporters and political opponents took his inebriation as fact and declared him a "vulgar, drunken demagogue who was disgracing the presidency."[13]
Aftermath
By the time he returned to Washington from the speaking tour, Johnson had even less support in the North than he had started with. His only remaining allies in Congress were Southern Democrats; since these were mostly former rebels, Johnson's reputation was diminished yet further by association. The Republican party would go on to a landslide victory in the congressional elections, and the new Congress would wrest control of Reconstruction from the White House with the Reconstruction Acts of 1867.
Johnson openly defied Congress and fought them bitterly for the control of the nation's domestic policy. However, the Republicans' vastly increased congressional voting bloc not only afforded them the political power to keep Johnson at bay, it gave the party sufficient votes to attempt
The Republicans captured the White House in
Itinerary
While ongoing it was known as the President's speaking tour, political tour, or electioneering tour.[17] Indented items were brief whistle stops.
- Baltimore, Maryland – August 23[17]
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Continental Hotel[18] – August 25[17] – "public officials refused the President an official welcome"[19] – George Meade, head of the local military district, greeted the President[2]
- New York City
- West Point
- Albany
- Auburn
- Niagara Falls
- Little Falls, New York – August 30(?)[20]
- Buffalo, New York – met with Millard Fillmore[21]
- Cleveland – September 3 – spoke from the balcony of Kennard House; per a 1954 history of the swing, "His Cleveland audience...persisted in talking back. When the President remarked that he was there 'for the purpose of exchanging views, and ascertaining, if he could, who was wrong,' he got the answer: 'You are!' One of his favorite rhetorical questions: 'Who is he—what language does he speak—what religion does he profess that can come and place his finger upon one pledge I ever violated or one principle I ever proved false to?' provoked replies like 'New Orleans!' and 'Why don't you hang Jeff Davis?' Before long the President became angry and accused Congress of 'trying to break up the government.' Hisses and cries of 'A lie!' replied to this accusation, and one voice suggested, 'Don't get mad!'"[22]
- Toledo, Ohio
- Detroit
- Chicago – Attended the laying of the cornerstone to a monument to Stephen Douglas;[24] the Chicago Tribune accused him of "electioneering on behalf of rebels at the funeral for a patriot...He is, beyond all comparison, the least reputable and most brazen man that ever rose to the presidency by accident or design."[25]
- Springfield – Mary Todd Lincoln, who despised Johnson,[26] was offended by his visit to Lincoln's tomb, stating, "The President encountered much that would humiliate any other than himself, possessing such inordinate vanity and presumption as he does."[21]
- Alton, Illinois
- St. Louis, Missouri – September 8 – In a private letter to his father in October 1866, one F. W. Drury of Alton, Illinois wrote: "His speech, his drunken driveling slobbering harangue at the Southern Hotel at St. Louiswas the straw that broke the camels back it was the most disgusting tirade that ever emanated from any man—it would have disgraced Ben Peake, or General Pomeroy. He was drunk, drunk!"
- Indianapolis – "After a long introduction by General Sullivan Meredith, the president tried to speak, but the unruly crowd, shouting 'Shut up,' would not let him finish.[21]
- Jeffersonville, Indiana
- Louisville, Kentucky - September 11[3]
- Cincinnati
- Columbus, Ohio
- Pittsburgh – "public officials refused the President an official welcome"[19]
- Altoona, Pennsylvania – According to the Chicago Tribune, which started calling the tour "jerking round the circle," at this stop Johnson said that "Reconstruction and harmony were what the nation needed; but when the work was nearly completed, we found a conflict between the Executive and the Legislative departments, and when he, the representative of the people, had attempted to restore the Union, he was declared a tyrant and a usurper. He defended his vetoes and declared he would always be found defending the people's rights.' This is clearly a new reading of the Constitution."[28]
- Johnstown, Pennsylvania – whistle stop? – September 14 – Johnstown, Pennsylvania platform collapse
- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- Baltimore (again) – Characteristic of Johnson on the tour was him saying, "I do not wish to take too much of your time" or "I'm not here to make a speech," and then making a 70-minute speech; in Baltimore he spoke so long that "his special train was delayed and Washington crowds had a long and unexpected wait at the station."[22]
I have great confidence in the American people, all except Members of Congress, Unionists and Niggers; they are all traitors, and I mean to fight them with the help of General Grant
— Satirist David Ross Locke, asPetroleum V. Nasby, recapitulating Johnson's speeches [29]
See also
- Presidency of Andrew Johnson
- Reconstruction Era
References
- ^ Foner (2002), pp. 264–265.
- ^ ISSN 0031-4587.
- ^ a b "Our President". The Louisville Daily Courier. 1866-09-12. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
- ^ "History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850. v.5". HathiTrust. p. 617. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
- ^ William H. Crook, Through Five Administrations: Reminiscences of Colonel William H. Crook, Body-Guard to President Lincoln, p. 106, Harper & Bros., 1910.
- ^ Trefousse, Hans L. Andrew Johnson: A Biography, 1989, p. 263
- ^ a b Phifer (1952b), p. 230.
- ^ a b c Foner (2002), p. 265.
- ^ "History of the city of Cleveland : its settlement, rise and progress / edited by W. Scott Robison". HathiTrust. p. 112. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
- ^ "Andrew Johnson". Britannica.com. 2019-07-27. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
- ^ Friedman, Morgan. "The Inflation Calculator". Westegg.
- ^ "Accident at Johnstown, PA.: A Bridge Containing a Thousand People Gives Way" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ "Andrew Johnson". President Profiles. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
- ^ "Articles of Impeachment presented against President Andrew Johnson". Archived from the original on 2010-11-04. Retrieved 2015-07-18. Articles of impeachment presented against President Andrew Johnson
- ^ "Impeachment – Butler's Additional Article – The Rules in the Senate". Newspapers.com. Chicago Evening Post at Newspapers.com. March 2, 1868. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ "The Impeachment Trial". Spirit Of Jefferson at Newspapers.com. April 7, 1868. Retrieved 22 July 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f "The President's political tour". Chicago Tribune. 1866-08-29. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-22.
- ^ Phifer (1952a), p. 149.
- ^ a b Phifer (1952a), p. 161.
- ^ Phifer (1952a), p. 158.
- ^ OCLC 463084977.
- ^ ISSN 0038-7169.
- ^ "The President's Tour". The New York Times. 1866-09-05. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
- ^ "In Chicago, the cornerstone of the monument at the grave of Stephen Douglas is dedicated. | House Divided". hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-22.
- ^ "Moses on the Stump". Chicago Tribune. 1866-08-29. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-22.
- ^ Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve; Kunhardt, Philip B. (1965). Twenty days : a narrative in text and pictures of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the twenty days and night that followed – the Nation in mourning, the long trip home to Springfield. Internet Archive. New York : Castle Books.
- ^ "(2) 1866 Letters re: Politics, President Johnson is a Drunk!". Fleischer's Auctions. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
- ^ "Chicago Tribune 17 Sep 1866, page 2". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
- ^ "Andy's trip to the West : together with a life of its hero / By Petroleum V. Nasby [pseud.]". p. 38 – via HathiTrust.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-06-093716-4.
- Phifer, Gregg (1952a). "Andrew Johnson Argues a Case". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 11 (2): 148–170. ISSN 0040-3261.
- Phifer, Gregg (1952b). "Andrew Johnson Delivers His Argument". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 11 (3): 212–234. ISSN 0040-3261.
Further reading
- OCLC 373564154.
- Swinney, Everette (1957). Andrew Johnson's Swing Around the Circle: the Study of an Appeal to the People (M.A. thesis). Penn State University.