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TV, Documentary The American President 02 Happenstance
The American President is a series that aired on PBS in 2000 profiling 41 U.S. chief executives, using exclusive interviews with Presidents Clinton, Bush, Ford, and Carter. Well known figures lend their voice to presidents of the past who lived before sound recordings, including: Colin Powell, Bob Dole, Walter Cronkite, Ben Bradlee, John Glenn, James Carville, Andrew Young, and the Rev. Billy Graham. Narrated by Hugh Sidey.
The American President is a series that aired on PBS in 2000 profiling 41 U.S. chief executives, using exclusive interviews with Presidents Clinton, Bush, Ford, and Carter. Well known figures lend their voice to presidents of the past who lived before sound recordings, including: Colin Powell, Bob Dole, Walter Cronkite, Ben Bradlee, John Glenn, James Carville, Andrew Young, and the Rev. Billy Graham. Narrated by Hugh Sidey.
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LearningTranscript
00:37Eight of our presidents have died while in office, either from natural causes or by assassination.
00:44We're going to focus on five of their vice presidents, who were suddenly raised to power in the wake of
00:50national tragedy.
00:52They were known in their time as the accidental presidents, each thrown into a situation of extreme difficulty.
01:00It's an unpredictable tradition that began with the country's 10th chief executive, John Tyler.
01:24By a deplored event, I was unexpectedly elevated to the presidency.
01:32For the first time in our history, the person elected to the vice presidency of the United States has had
01:39devolved upon him the presidential office.
01:44In many ways, John Tyler seemed like a natural for the high office.
01:49Raised on a 12,000-acre Virginia plantation, he'd attended William and Mary College, following in the tradition of Jefferson
01:57and Monroe.
01:59And he went on to become governor of Virginia, just as his father had done.
02:06Tall and gaunt, he had a prominent Roman nose, which he liked to make fun of.
02:12He had a courtly bearing and a silvery voice, which he frequently utilized for impassioned oratory.
02:20It led him to Congress and then the Senate, where he switched parties and became a Whig.
02:29And in 1840, he was chosen to run as William Henry Harrison's vice president.
02:37He was the Tyler II to Harrison's Tippecanoe, and the popular duo were victorious in November.
02:53Just one month after Harrison's inauguration, John Tyler was awakened at his home in Williamsburg, Virginia,
03:01with a message that the president was dead.
03:06Now, after 52 years of nationhood and nine presidents,
03:11the question of presidential succession would have to be faced.
03:16But interpreting the Constitution on the subject was confusing,
03:20and it was unclear whether the vice president was to assume the office itself with all its powers
03:26or merely to serve as a temporary fill-in.
03:30I am under providence made the instrument of a new test,
03:33which is for the first time to be applied to our institutions.
03:39When Tyler reached Washington on the following morning,
03:43he found he was being called the vice president, acting as president,
03:48and his accidency.
03:50And when he summoned Harrison's cabinet to meet with him at Brown's Hotel,
03:55he was told that all administration matters would have to be approved by them.
04:00But the cabinet members were not counting on what Tyler said next.
04:07I am very glad to have in my cabinet such able statesmen as you,
04:11but I can never consent to being dictated to as to what I shall or shall not do.
04:19I am the president.
04:21When you think otherwise, your resignations will be accepted.
04:32John Tyler had claimed the presidency itself with all its powers,
04:37and soon afterwards he was officially sworn into office.
04:42By assuming the office, by declaring he'd assumed it,
04:46by swearing the president's oath to preserve and defend the Constitution,
04:51and actually by delivering an inaugural address,
04:53Mr. Tyler went whole hog, he did the whole thing.
04:58And this took lots of people aback,
05:01but there wasn't anything they could do about it.
05:04I think it was a good precedent, a necessary precedent,
05:07and I think Tyler is to be congratulated on his decision, on his action.
05:13Despite his strong assertion of executive authority,
05:17from the outset, Tyler's presidency came under fire.
05:21Refusing to subordinate himself to Congress,
05:24he vetoed a series of important Whig bills,
05:27and was called a traitor to the party.
05:30Just four months into his administration,
05:34five of his six cabinet members resigned in protest.
05:38And when he immediately replaced them with men he believed would be more loyal,
05:43the congressional Whig leaders formally expelled him from the party ranks.
05:49From the moment of my assuming the helm,
05:52my ship was tempest-tossed.
05:55A vice president who succeeds to the presidency in this way
05:58has no party at his heels to sustain his measures.
06:03To make matters worse,
06:05his wife Letitia died a year later,
06:08leaving Tyler also with the distinction of being the first president
06:12to become a widower while in office.
06:18But it wasn't long before Tyler became interested in Julia Gardner,
06:23a wealthy New Yorker 30 years his junior.
06:27The two were together during a weapon demonstration
06:30aboard the Navy's newest vessel, the Princeton.
06:35When a bow gun exploded,
06:37killing Tyler's secretary of state,
06:39the secretary of the Navy,
06:41and Julia's father.
06:45The incident pulled the couple together,
06:47and four months later,
06:49it was reported that they were secretly married
06:51in New York City.
06:54What has been talked of is consummated.
06:58And Julia Gardner,
06:59the most lovely of her sex,
07:01is my own wedded wife.
07:05Back in Washington,
07:08Tyler faced more disruption within his cabinet
07:10than has ever occurred in presidential history.
07:14It's six positions filled and refilled
07:17by 22 different occupants.
07:20Tyler's most important act,
07:22his support of the annexation of Texas,
07:25was heavily criticized
07:26as a cynical effort to expand the reach of slavery.
07:32And when Tyler vetoed a tariff bill,
07:35the House of Representatives
07:37introduced the first impeachment resolution
07:39ever lodged against a president.
07:43Though the effort by members of Congress
07:45was unsuccessful,
07:46Tyler was burned in effigy
07:49in a dozen different cities.
07:52He regarded himself as above parties,
07:55as non-party,
07:56and naturally,
07:58Whig partisans in Congress
08:00were rendered furious by that.
08:03Once the party system is established,
08:05nothing can be worse
08:07than a president who forgets
08:09the party he's supposed to belong to.
08:13I have been so rudely buffeted
08:16by the waves of party politics
08:18that I sigh for the quiet
08:20of my country residence.
08:22I look most anxiously
08:23to when my connection
08:25with political life will expire.
08:32On February 22nd, 1845,
08:36Washington said farewell to Tyler
08:38at a gala White House party,
08:40where he managed one of the few witticisms
08:42of his presidency.
08:44They cannot say now
08:46that I am a president without a party.
08:50In the end,
08:51the hallmark of John Tyler's
08:53turbulent presidency
08:54was the manner in which it had begun.
08:58Stubborn and uncompromising,
09:00he had permanently established
09:02the pattern of vice presidential succession,
09:06a tradition which would forever after
09:08be known as the Tyler president.
09:11A president elected by the people
09:14comes into office
09:16at the head of a triumphant party.
09:19Not so, however,
09:20with a vice president
09:21who succeeds to the presidency
09:23by the demise of the president.
09:26I had to follow
09:28the lights of my own judgment.
09:39Just five years later,
09:41death once again
09:42struck down a sitting president.
09:44Another aging Whig general,
09:47Zachary Taylor.
09:52This time,
09:53the vice president waiting in the wings
09:55was a civic-minded,
09:57union-loving,
09:59self-made New Yorker.
10:01He was Millard Fillmore.
10:12I was called to the executive chair
10:14by a bereavement,
10:16which shrouded the nation in mourning.
10:19However much I may be oppressed
10:20by the discharge of the duties,
10:23I dare not shrink from them.
10:25All his life,
10:27Millard Fillmore had driven himself
10:29to succeed in everything he attempted.
10:32As a young man,
10:33he had fought his way
10:34out of dire poverty
10:35in western New York State.
10:37He became a respected lawyer,
10:40New York State controller,
10:42and then a U.S. congressman.
10:44And in 1848,
10:46he was nationally recognized
10:47at the Whig Convention
10:49in Philadelphia,
10:50where he was chosen
10:51as Zachary Taylor's
10:53presidential running mate.
10:54Millard Fillmore was a self-made man.
10:59He'd come up by his own bootstraps,
11:01a person of considerable capability,
11:05not of particular distinction.
11:09Fillmore was the classic balancing candidate.
11:14I don't think he would ever have occurred
11:17to the Whigs
11:19as a presidential candidate.
11:22He was in that sense
11:24the classical vice president we think of,
11:27who has nothing to do
11:29but sit there
11:30in case the president should die.
11:35In Washington,
11:36Fillmore's vice presidency
11:38was not a happy one.
11:41He lived alone
11:42in a single room
11:43at Willard's Hotel
11:45after his wife Abigail
11:47insisted on returning to Buffalo.
11:51To make matters worse,
11:53he soon found himself caught
11:54in the middle
11:55of a political firestorm.
11:58As settlers headed west
12:00to occupy new territory,
12:02seized from Mexico,
12:04the burning question
12:05across the country
12:06was whether slavery
12:08would be permitted there.
12:10President Zachary Taylor
12:12argued that western territories,
12:14such as California
12:15and New Mexico,
12:17be admitted to the Union
12:18as states without slavery.
12:22But his vice president,
12:23whose chief job
12:25was presiding over the Senate,
12:26was at odds with him
12:28and favored a position
12:29more conciliatory to the South.
12:32And it was Millard Fillmore
12:34who held the tie-breaking vote
12:36on the volatile issue.
12:38In early July 1850,
12:41Fillmore told Taylor
12:42he would be forced
12:44to vote against him.
12:45I wished him to understand
12:47that it was not
12:48out of any hostility
12:50to him or his administration,
12:52but the vote would be given
12:54because I deemed it
12:55for the interest
12:55of the country.
12:58Just days after threatening
13:00to vote against the president,
13:02Fillmore was in the Senate chamber
13:03when a message
13:04was handed to him.
13:07President Taylor,
13:08who had been stricken
13:09by a stomach disorder,
13:10was dying in the White House.
13:15At Willard's Hotel,
13:16it was approaching midnight
13:18on July 9th
13:19when there came
13:20a fateful knocking
13:21at Fillmore's door.
13:23A note from the cabinet
13:25told him,
13:26Zachary Taylor is no more.
13:29I have no language
13:31to express the emotions
13:32of my heart.
13:34The shock is so sudden
13:35and unexpected.
13:37I am overwhelmed.
13:39The following morning,
13:41Fillmore wrote out
13:42his first official contact
13:43with Congress
13:44as president to be.
13:47I have to perform
13:49the melancholy duty
13:50of pronouncing to you
13:52that it has pleased
13:53Almighty God
13:54to remove from this life
13:55Zachary Taylor.
13:58I propose this day
13:59at 12 o'clock
14:00in the presence
14:01of both houses of Congress
14:02to take the oath
14:03prescribed by the Constitution.
14:08And so Millard Fillmore
14:10followed the Tyler precedent
14:11and was sworn in
14:13as the nation's
14:1413th president.
14:16Though a large inaugural ceremony
14:18took place
14:19in the House chamber,
14:20Fillmore refused
14:22to make an inaugural address,
14:24setting a pattern
14:25that would be followed
14:26by the majority
14:27of accidental presidents.
14:31As president,
14:32Fillmore immediately
14:33swung his support
14:34behind the congressional
14:36compromise involving
14:37slavery's fate
14:38in the new
14:39Western territories.
14:42The compromise of 1850
14:45was not in all respects
14:46what I desired,
14:47but it was the best
14:48that could be obtained
14:49after a protracted discussion
14:51that shook the Republic
14:52to its foundation.
14:55God knows I detest slavery,
14:57but it is an existing evil
14:59and we must endure it
15:00and give it such protection
15:02as is guaranteed
15:03by the Constitution.
15:05The compromise of 1850
15:07helped calm the concerns
15:09of the nation
15:09and made Millard Fillmore
15:11extremely popular
15:13for a while.
15:14But the last great effort
15:16to hold the country together
15:18was only briefly effective.
15:21Southerners came to regret
15:23the many concessions
15:24they had been forced
15:25to make
15:25and Northerners
15:27objected to a new
15:28fugitive slave law
15:29which had been included
15:31to appease the South.
15:33It mandated
15:34not only the search for
15:36and return of runaway slaves
15:38even in the North,
15:39but harsh penalties
15:40to all harbors
15:42of runaways.
15:43Caught in the middle,
15:45Fillmore claimed
15:46that he was misunderstood
15:47by both sides.
15:50In the North,
15:51I was charged
15:52with being a pro-slavery man,
15:54seeking to extend slavery
15:55over free territory.
15:57And in the South,
15:58I was accused
15:59of being an abolitionist,
16:01but I am neither.
16:03The Compromises of 1850
16:06was a bundle of measures.
16:09Millard Fillmore
16:11proceeded to approve them all,
16:13including the Fugitive Slave Act.
16:15This means
16:17that he assured
16:20the South
16:22of temporary advantage
16:24and long-term disadvantage.
16:27Whether Fillmore
16:29could have convinced
16:30the South
16:30to insist on less,
16:33oh, I doubt.
16:37Fillmore worked hard
16:38to implement
16:39the policies of his party,
16:41which he believed
16:42could prevent civil war.
16:43But he lacked the drive
16:45to go after the presidency
16:46in his own right.
16:48And though he was convinced
16:49by party leaders
16:50to seek the 1852 nomination,
16:53he was unable
16:54to rally enough support.
16:57After just two and a half years
16:59in office,
17:00he drifted back to Buffalo,
17:02where he lived on
17:03through the years
17:04of civil war.
17:06I feel no regret
17:07that I was relieved
17:08from the thankless task
17:09of administering
17:10this government.
17:12The agitation
17:13which disturbed
17:13the peace of the country
17:14was unavoidable.
17:18It was the muttering thunder
17:20and the gathering storm
17:21of an unholy rebellion.
17:30Twelve years later,
17:32following the Civil War
17:33and the assassination
17:35of Abraham Lincoln,
17:37the vice president
17:38who assumed office
17:39was a stubborn
17:40white supremacist.
17:42One contemporary wrote,
17:44he is the elect
17:45of an assassin
17:46and not of the people.
17:48He was Andrew Johnson.
17:59An inscrutable providence
18:01saw proper
18:01to remove Lincoln
18:02from this
18:03to I trust a better world
18:05and I came into his place.
18:10This is a country
18:11for white men
18:13and by God,
18:14as long as I am president,
18:16it should be a government
18:17for white men.
18:20One can't imagine
18:21anything worse
18:23than the circumstances
18:24under which Johnson,
18:27the first Johnson,
18:29took office.
18:30Oh, the only thing
18:34sort of comparable
18:35to the circumstances
18:36under which the second
18:36Johnson took office,
18:38but I think the first Johnson
18:40had it even worse.
18:42Andrew Johnson
18:43was a man
18:44of considerable talent
18:46but uncertain temperament.
18:50an uncertain temper
18:52and very limited capacity
18:55to hold his liquor.
18:57And the combination
18:59meant that he was constantly
19:01getting inflamed,
19:03constantly getting angry,
19:05constantly feeling abused,
19:08persecuted with the need
19:10to strike out.
19:12It was not a good temperament
19:15for the situation
19:17he faced.
19:23The son of an illiterate porter
19:26and a laundress
19:27in the little settlement
19:28of Raleigh, North Carolina,
19:30Andy Johnson never went to school
19:32a day in his life.
19:35Instead, he was apprenticed
19:37to a tailor
19:38under an arrangement
19:39that indentured him
19:40from age 10 to 21.
19:45Running away from what he felt
19:47was no better than slave labor,
19:49he ended up in Greenville, Tennessee,
19:51where he married
19:52and opened his own tailor shop.
19:56If I'd been educated
19:57in early life,
19:58I would have been
19:59a schoolmaster,
19:59but I feel proud
20:01that I was the proprietor
20:02of my own shop.
20:04He soon became known
20:05as the tailor politician
20:08as he worked his way up
20:09from mayor of Greenville
20:11to congressman
20:12and eventually governor
20:14and U.S. senator.
20:17I am a mechanic,
20:18a plebeian mechanic,
20:19and not ashamed
20:20nor afraid to own it.
20:22I speak for the working man
20:23regardless of the frowns,
20:25taunts, and jeers
20:26of an upstart aristocracy.
20:30Although he especially despised
20:32wealthy plantation owners,
20:34he was a firm believer
20:35in the institution of slavery,
20:37and he himself
20:39was a slave owner.
20:41If you liberate the Negro,
20:43what will be the next step?
20:45It would place
20:46every splay-footed,
20:47bandy-shank,
20:48humpback Negro
20:49upon an equality
20:50with the poor white man.
20:52You can't get rid of the Negro
20:54except by holding him
20:55in slavery.
20:57As a politician,
20:59Johnson was strongest
21:00when standing in opposition,
21:02and in the great national crisis
21:04of 1860 and 61,
21:06he bravely stood up
21:08to his fellow Southerners
21:09and supported the Union.
21:13I took grounds
21:14against secession
21:15because I knew
21:16that it would bring
21:17war and bloodshed.
21:18I said to the people,
21:20let us fight this battle
21:22in the Union
21:22and under the Constitution.
21:25Let it be a battle
21:26of words
21:27and not of swords.
21:29When the Civil War
21:30broke out,
21:31Johnson was the only senator
21:33from a seceding state
21:35to remain in Washington
21:36and back the Union.
21:37The following year,
21:40even though he was a Democrat
21:41and Lincoln a Republican,
21:43the president rewarded
21:44his loyalty
21:45by naming him
21:46wartime governor
21:48of Tennessee.
21:51And in 1864,
21:54after Johnson publicly
21:55supported Lincoln's policy
21:57of emancipation,
21:58he was chosen to run
22:00on the Union ticket
22:01as the candidate
22:02for vice president.
22:06On November 8th,
22:08Lincoln and Johnson
22:09won the election.
22:13But the president
22:14soon had reason
22:15to regret his choice,
22:17for Johnson's behavior
22:18at the inauguration
22:20was a severe embarrassment.
22:23Having taken
22:24considerable whiskey
22:25to fortify himself
22:26from a recent illness,
22:28the swaying,
22:30stammering,
22:30beet-red vice president
22:32stood up
22:33and publicly called
22:34on each member
22:35of the cabinet
22:36by name
22:37as they sat mortified.
22:41I am gonna for
22:42to tell you here today,
22:44yes,
22:44I am gonna for
22:45to tell you all
22:46that I am a plebeian,
22:48a glory in it.
22:50The people,
22:51yes,
22:51the people have made me
22:52what I am.
22:53And I am a going for
22:55to tell you here today,
22:56yes,
22:57today,
22:57in this place,
22:59that the people
23:00are everything.
23:04To think,
23:05proclaimed an editorial
23:06in the New York world,
23:08that one frail life
23:10stands between
23:11this insolent,
23:12clownish creature
23:13and the presidency.
23:18Little more than
23:20a month later,
23:21Lincoln died
23:22of a gunshot wound
23:23to the head.
23:25And the 56-year-old
23:27Democrat from Tennessee
23:29was sworn in
23:30as the 17th president.
23:37I feel incompetent
23:39to perform duties
23:40so unexpectedly
23:41thrown upon me.
23:43Right from the start,
23:45the new president
23:45was forced
23:46to confront
23:47the difficult problem
23:48of Reconstruction.
23:50But unlike
23:51the majority of Congress
23:52who wanted to hold
23:53the South accountable
23:54and safeguard
23:55black rights,
23:57Johnson was determined
23:58to remain faithful
23:59to what he saw
24:00as Lincoln's policy
24:02of leniency.
24:04On May 29th,
24:06he announced
24:07a general amnesty
24:08to former Confederates
24:09to be supplemented
24:11by presidential pardons
24:12for the top leaders
24:14of secession.
24:16Bolstered by what they saw
24:18as the president's
24:19strong support,
24:20southern states
24:21began acting
24:22as if the Civil War
24:23had never been fought,
24:25reinstating their
24:26old leaders.
24:28Elected to Congress
24:29were four Confederate generals,
24:31five colonels,
24:32and even the former
24:34vice president
24:35of the Confederacy,
24:36Alexander Stevens.
24:39Outraged,
24:40Congress refused
24:41to seek them.
24:43Instead,
24:44also invoking
24:45the spirit of Lincoln,
24:46it passed
24:47a sweeping
24:47civil rights bill
24:48declaring blacks
24:50to be full citizens
24:51of the United States.
24:53Johnson vetoed it.
24:55Their talk about
24:57benevolence to the Negro
24:58meant nothing.
24:59I am right.
25:00I know I'm right.
25:01And I am damned
25:02if I do not adhere to it.
25:06When Congress
25:07overrode Johnson's veto,
25:09it became open war.
25:13Congress has undertaken
25:14to poison the minds
25:15of the American people.
25:17This common gang
25:18of cormorants
25:19and bloodsuckers
25:20have been fattening
25:21upon the country
25:22for the past
25:22four or five years.
25:24Everybody is a traitor
25:26that is against them.
25:29You can only imagine
25:31the anger
25:33on both sides,
25:34the fury
25:35on both sides,
25:36the sense in Congress
25:38that this,
25:39this,
25:42no good
25:43little Democrat
25:44short of stature
25:46prone to drink
25:47was going to
25:51deprive
25:52these Northerners
25:54of their just
25:55imposition
25:56on the South.
25:57The opposition
25:58of the president
25:59was absolutely
26:00unbounded
26:01and unrestrained.
26:03And his manner
26:06and his paranoia
26:09only fueled it.
26:12With Congress
26:13taking full control
26:15of Reconstruction,
26:16Johnson was
26:17virtually ignored,
26:18referred to
26:19by one observer
26:20as the dead dog
26:22of the White House.
26:24In March 1867,
26:27to further constrain him,
26:28Congress passed
26:29the Tenure of Office Act,
26:31forbidding the president
26:32to dismiss
26:33his top officials
26:34without the Senate's
26:35concurrence.
26:37In defiance,
26:39Johnson ignored the law
26:40and fired Edwin Stanton,
26:42the secretary of war,
26:44claiming he was disloyal.
26:46Republicans insisted
26:48Johnson had committed
26:49a convictable crime,
26:51and the following year,
26:52the House of Representatives
26:54voted to impeach.
26:57Impeachment of me
26:58for violating
26:59the Constitution?
27:00Damn them!
27:01Am I not been struggling
27:03ever since I have been
27:04in this chair
27:05to uphold the Constitution
27:06which they trample
27:07underfoot?
27:17As Congress debated,
27:19Johnson wondered
27:20and waited,
27:21kept informed
27:22of the Senate's proceedings
27:23through eyewitness reports.
27:32after more than a month,
27:34the day of decision
27:35arrived.
27:36In the end,
27:37it all came down
27:38to one man's vote,
27:41that of Edmund G. Ross,
27:44Republican senator
27:45from Kansas,
27:46to whom Johnson
27:47had quietly promised
27:49that he would
27:49change his ways.
27:54not guilty,
27:56Ross intoned.
27:58The news was run
28:00by foot
28:00to the White House,
28:02where on hearing it,
28:03the president wept.
28:06So one single vote
28:08saved him
28:10from being
28:11the first president
28:12removed
28:14from office
28:16for high crimes
28:17and misdemeanors.
28:19At least up to the time
28:21of Mr. Nixon's
28:23resignation,
28:24historians have generally
28:26seen
28:27the first President
28:29Johnson's
28:30administration
28:31as a low point
28:34in presidential history.
28:36Now, the Senate
28:37didn't convict him,
28:38but he was left
28:39in a crippled state
28:42and an isolated state
28:44as president
28:45for the months
28:46of his remaining
28:47term.
28:52In November
28:541868,
28:55General Ulysses S. Grant
28:57was elected
28:58president.
29:00And four months later,
29:02Johnson returned
29:02to Tennessee.
29:05I have performed
29:06my duty
29:06to my God,
29:07my country,
29:08and my family.
29:09I have nothing
29:10to fear.
29:13Five years later,
29:15in an attempt
29:16to restore
29:16his reputation,
29:18Andrew Johnson
29:19ran for a seat
29:20in the U.S. Senate.
29:22When news
29:23of his victory
29:24reached him
29:24in Tennessee,
29:26making him
29:26the only former
29:27president ever
29:28to be elected
29:29to the Senate,
29:30the old fighter
29:31grew emotional.
29:34I'd rather have
29:35this information
29:36than to learn
29:36that I had been
29:37elected president
29:38of the United States.
29:40Thank God
29:41for the vindication.
29:52Just eight years
29:53later,
29:54in 1881,
29:55the death
29:56of James Garfield
29:57propelled the next
29:58president by happenstance
29:59into office.
30:01He was a man
30:02many considered
30:03the epitome
30:04of corrupt politics,
30:06Chester Arthur.
30:16The most frightful
30:18responsibility
30:19which ever devolved
30:20upon anyone
30:20would be the casting
30:22of the presidency
30:23upon me.
30:26Chester Arthur's
30:27professional career
30:28began in northeastern
30:30Vermont.
30:31He was a preacher's
30:32son who became
30:33an idealistic lawyer
30:34whose chief interest
30:36was civil rights.
30:37He went on to serve
30:39in the Civil War
30:39as a quartermaster
30:40general,
30:41and at war's end
30:43he became active
30:44in New York City
30:45politics.
30:50Arthur liked money
30:51and he liked power.
30:53Always impeccably
30:55dressed,
30:55he was a smooth
30:56back slapper
30:57noted for his loyalty.
31:00I was always
31:02to be counted on
31:03to stand by the friends
31:04who have for so long
31:06acted together.
31:08New York City
31:10in the mid-1800s
31:12contained the best
31:13and worst of America.
31:15Sprawling,
31:16energetic,
31:17immensely creative,
31:18it was also dirty
31:19and crime-ridden
31:21and riddled
31:22with corruption.
31:23And no place
31:25more so than
31:25New York's
31:26infamous waterfront
31:27and the offices
31:28that Chester Arthur
31:30came to fill.
31:32In 1871,
31:34President Grant
31:35appointed him
31:36customs collector
31:37for New York City,
31:38the highest-paying
31:39civil service job
31:40in the federal government.
31:4375% of the nation's
31:45customs receipts
31:46came through
31:47the Port of New York,
31:48creating countless ways
31:50to siphon off money,
31:51from fixed scales
31:53and rigged measurements
31:54to out-and-out bribery.
31:57Though Arthur
31:58was never personally
31:59involved with
32:00illegal payoffs,
32:01he tolerated
32:02the crookedness
32:03of others.
32:04And when this
32:05was pointed out
32:05to him by a friend,
32:07the portly spoilsman
32:08bridled.
32:10You are one of those
32:11goody-goody fellows
32:12who set up
32:13a high standard
32:14of morality
32:14that other people
32:16cannot reach.
32:18Civil service reform
32:20swept in
32:21during the Hayes
32:22administration,
32:23and the Customs House
32:24was accused of dishonesty
32:26from top to bottom.
32:28When Arthur tried
32:29to stonewall
32:30the investigating commission,
32:32President Hayes
32:33fired him.
32:35But the gentleman boss
32:37continued to oversee
32:39party strategy,
32:40and when Grant lost
32:41the 1880 nomination
32:43to Ohio's
32:44Senator Garfield,
32:46Arthur made a bid
32:47for the vice presidency.
32:49The Ohio men
32:50have offered me
32:51the vice presidency,
32:52and I shall accept
32:53the nomination.
32:56Considered the shrewdest
32:57political manager
32:58in the country,
33:00Arthur assumed
33:01overall charge
33:02of the Republican campaign,
33:04raising money,
33:05booking speakers,
33:06and organizing publicity
33:08throughout the pivotal
33:09state of New York.
33:11At a celebration dinner
33:13following a Garfield-Arthur
33:15victory,
33:16Chester Arthur
33:16all but admitted
33:17his orchestration
33:19of the ballot box.
33:20I don't think
33:22we had better get
33:23into the minute secrets
33:24of the campaign
33:25because I see
33:26the reporters
33:27are present.
33:28If I should get
33:29to going about
33:30the secrets,
33:31there is no saying
33:32what I might say.
33:38Just three months
33:40into his term,
33:41President Garfield
33:42was shot
33:43by an assassin
33:44who claimed
33:45he did it
33:45to get Arthur
33:46into the White House.
33:48As rumors spread
33:49that Arthur
33:50had hired the assassin,
33:51a wave of panic
33:52swept across the nation.
33:55Though there was
33:57no truth to the rumors,
33:58Arthur avoided the press
34:00as the president
34:01hovered between
34:02life and death.
34:05What can I say?
34:07What is there
34:08to be said
34:09by me?
34:10I am overwhelmed
34:12with grief.
34:14When President
34:16Garfield was shot,
34:17he lingered
34:18for 80 days,
34:22unable to perform
34:23most functions
34:25of his office.
34:26But the vice president,
34:28of course,
34:28could perform
34:29no functions.
34:31nothing had been done
34:34about disability.
34:36The word wasn't even
34:37used or understood
34:38in those days.
34:40The issue had not
34:41previously arisen.
34:44So neither man
34:46was in position
34:47to perform
34:48the functions
34:49of the presidency.
34:52On September 19,
34:541881,
34:56a messenger brought
34:57Arthur the news
34:58of Garfield's death.
35:01Alone in his home
35:02in New York City
35:03with his face
35:04buried in his hands,
35:06Arthur wept.
35:11Once again,
35:12the political situation
35:13was volatile.
35:15An Arthur presidency
35:16could be as dangerous
35:18as Andrew Johnson's.
35:19So different was he
35:21from James Garfield.
35:23But determined
35:24to take the high road
35:25as president,
35:26Arthur made the decision
35:28to put aside
35:29his past
35:30and permanently
35:31distance himself
35:32from his old cronies.
35:34Unlike Fillmore
35:36or Johnson,
35:37he delivered
35:38an inaugural address
35:39designed to prove
35:40the seriousness
35:41with which he took
35:42his new position.
35:44I think what happened
35:47to Chester Arthur
35:49when he became president
35:50was best described
35:51by a wise civil servant
35:54who once said,
35:55where you stand
35:56depends on where
35:57you sit.
35:58He needed
35:59to seem different
36:01in the presidency
36:02since he'd been
36:03a controversial character
36:05as a spoilsman
36:06in New York.
36:08Therefore,
36:09he did the natural thing
36:11that an intelligent
36:11politician would do.
36:13He became a champion
36:14of civil service reform.
36:16And this,
36:17quote,
36:17transformation,
36:18unquote,
36:19made him very popular.
36:22In addition to signing
36:23the Civil Service Act
36:25of 1883,
36:27Arthur argued
36:27for the establishment
36:28of a government
36:29for Alaska,
36:30for decent housing
36:31for the Library
36:32of Congress,
36:33and for a line item veto.
36:36He championed
36:37naval development
36:38and he received praise
36:39for his sometimes
36:40courageous vetoes.
36:42And he took interest
36:44in the West,
36:45in particular,
36:46the country's
36:46natural resources.
36:48The conditions
36:49of the forests
36:50of the country
36:51and the wasteful manner
36:52in which their destruction
36:53is taking place
36:54give cause
36:56for serious apprehension.
37:00Bored by endless desk work
37:02and by matters of state,
37:04he began to live
37:05for his time off
37:06and for his vacations
37:07which he spent fishing
37:09or cruising
37:09on the presidential yacht.
37:12And he wouldn't tolerate
37:13any intrusions
37:14by the press.
37:15I may be president
37:17of the United States,
37:19but my private life
37:20is nobody's damn business.
37:26Hidden from the public
37:27at Arthur's insistence
37:29was the fact
37:30that he was suffering
37:31from Wright's disease,
37:32a fatal kidney ailment
37:34which produced lethargy
37:36and depression.
37:38Diagnosed in his second year
37:40in office,
37:41the illness increased
37:42Arthur's distaste
37:43for the presidency
37:44and led him
37:46to oppose
37:46his own renomination.
37:49I have been so ill
37:51that I have hardly
37:52been able to dispose
37:53of the business
37:54before me.
37:55I do not want
37:57to be re-elected.
38:00Arthur's wife,
38:01Nell,
38:01had died shortly
38:02before his presidency.
38:04With no one
38:05to share his retirement
38:06and knowing
38:07that he was dying,
38:08the outgoing president
38:10made no plans
38:11for the future.
38:13There doesn't seem
38:14anything for an ex-president
38:16to do
38:16but to go out
38:17into the country
38:18and raise big pumpkins.
38:21Honors to me now
38:22are not what they once were.
38:25Once out of office,
38:27Arthur's health
38:28deteriorated quickly.
38:31Consumed by worries
38:32about his shaky past
38:34and about his place
38:35in American history,
38:36the day before he died
38:38in 1886,
38:40he tried to make sure
38:41that no damning evidence
38:43would be left behind.
38:46From his bedside,
38:48Arthur ordered
38:49that all his private
38:50and public papers
38:51be stuffed
38:52into garbage cans
38:53and burned.
39:01Sixteen years
39:02after Chester Arthur,
39:03Vice President
39:04Theodore Roosevelt
39:05was propelled
39:06into the office
39:07after the assassination
39:08of William McKinley.
39:11And in 1923,
39:13Vice President
39:14Calvin Coolidge
39:15took over
39:16for Warren G. Harding
39:17who died
39:18of natural causes.
39:21Then,
39:22in 1945,
39:24the country's
39:25seventh president
39:26by happenstance
39:27replaced FDR.
39:31He was an outspoken
39:32Midwesterner
39:33known as
39:34Give Them Hell, Harry.
39:42When people ask me
39:43where I stand
39:44on certain subjects,
39:45I tell them
39:45and tell them why.
39:47And they used to charge me
39:49with giving them hell.
39:50I wasn't giving them hell.
39:50I was only telling
39:51the truth on them
39:52and they thought
39:53it was hell
39:53because they'd been lying.
39:56Harry Truman
39:57was a really
39:59wonderful character.
40:01He believed
40:03in the United States
40:04with a belief
40:05that no contemporaries
40:07could quite understand.
40:12I think he
40:14profoundly believed
40:15without ever
40:16articulating it
40:17that nothing
40:18fundamentally bad
40:20could happen
40:21to this country.
40:24And that was
40:25a 19th century
40:26belief
40:28from a
40:29Midwestern optimist.
40:33I was born
40:34and raised
40:35in western Missouri.
40:37Lived
40:38most of my life
40:39in Jackson County,
40:41Missouri,
40:41all but one year.
40:43I come from
40:44a religious family
40:45and we believe
40:46there's an efficacy
40:47of prayer.
40:50It's awful hard
40:51to live up
40:51to those things
40:52but if a man
40:52comes as near it
40:53as he possibly can
40:54he usually makes
40:55a good citizen.
40:57Except for a few years
40:59when he served
41:00as a bank clerk,
41:01Harry Truman
41:02worked on the family farm
41:03until he was
41:0430 years old.
41:08He tried his hand
41:09at a series
41:10of speculative ventures.
41:12but failed
41:13at everything
41:13he attempted.
41:15Those who knew him
41:16said that these
41:18repeated business
41:19failures left him
41:20with an inner anger
41:21that he never
41:22really lost.
41:25By 1918,
41:28Truman was swept
41:28into World War I.
41:31Serving overseas
41:32as a combat
41:33artillery captain,
41:34he emerged
41:35a war hero
41:36and returned home
41:38the following year
41:39a more confident man.
41:43The first thing he did
41:45was marry his
41:45longtime sweetheart
41:47Bess Wallace.
41:50And to make a living
41:51he became a shopkeeper
41:53in Kansas City.
41:55I decided to open
41:56a men's furnishing store
41:58on West 12th Street
41:59street and dead
42:00and I went busted
42:02as one of the
42:02little businessmen.
42:04Never forgot it.
42:06Truman said
42:07his final failure
42:08in business
42:09left him utterly broke
42:11and convinced him
42:12to try his luck
42:13in politics.
42:17Backed by the notorious
42:18and powerful boss
42:20Tom Pendergast,
42:22Truman was elected
42:23to a series
42:23of increasingly
42:24important county offices
42:27and by 1934
42:29he was elected
42:30to the U.S. Senate.
42:34Serving two terms
42:35he became one
42:36of the most popular
42:37and powerful men
42:39in Washington.
42:42And at the Democratic
42:44National Convention
42:45in 1944
42:46he was selected
42:48to be President Roosevelt's
42:50running mate.
42:51And I expect
42:52to help shorten the war
42:54and win the peace
42:55under the direction
42:56of our great leader
42:57Franklin D. Roosevelt.
43:01The Roosevelt-Truman ticket
43:02swept to victory
43:04in the 1944 election.
43:09I was hoping
43:11that when I got through
43:12with that term
43:13as Vice President
43:13I could go back
43:14to the Senate.
43:16But it didn't happen
43:17that way.
43:20Just seven weeks
43:22into his term
43:23President Roosevelt
43:24collapsed and died.
43:28An insecure
43:29and unprepared
43:30Harry Truman
43:31was immediately
43:32sworn into office.
43:45I was shocked
43:46when I found out
43:47that I had become
43:48President of the United States
43:50in the midst
43:50of the war
43:51which was not over yet.
43:59And it was
44:00overwhelming almost
44:02to step right in
44:04and take charge
44:05of a situation
44:06with which I was not
44:08completely
44:08and entirely familiar.
44:12Harry Truman
44:13had never
44:14expected to be President.
44:17He'd never been
44:17ambitious to be President.
44:19He'd never run
44:20for the Presidency
44:21or even thought
44:22about running
44:22for the Presidency.
44:24And there he was
44:25all of a sudden
44:27President.
44:29A huge world war
44:31still on.
44:33Atomic weapons
44:34in the last stage
44:35of development
44:36although he didn't
44:36know anything
44:37about that.
44:39But he also
44:40was completely
44:42candid with the press
44:43in saying
44:45I felt like
44:46the moon
44:47and stars
44:47fell on me
44:48when Roosevelt
44:49died.
44:50You've got to
44:51help me.
44:52It's like
44:53a load of hay
44:54falling on me.
44:56Those were
44:57fine,
44:58honest,
44:59deeply felt
45:00sentiments.
45:01But they
45:02sent the wrong
45:03image
45:04to the country.
45:05And he suffered
45:07from that
45:07all through
45:08his first term.
45:12Germany surrendered
45:13shortly after
45:14Truman took office.
45:16And the President
45:17put all his
45:18attention on
45:19the Pacific
45:20where the war
45:21against Japan
45:22was taking
45:22a terrible toll.
45:25It was then
45:26he decided
45:27that if necessary
45:28he was willing
45:29to use the
45:30newly developed
45:30atomic bomb.
45:33I had no
45:34qualms about
45:35using it
45:35because when
45:36you have
45:36the weapon
45:37that'll win
45:37the war
45:38you'd be foolish
45:39if you didn't
45:39use it.
45:42Let there
45:43be no mistake
45:44we shall
45:45completely destroy
45:46Japan's power
45:47to make war.
45:50If they do not
45:51now accept
45:52our terms
45:52they may expect
45:54a rain of ruin
45:55from the air
45:56the like of which
45:57has never been
45:58seen on this earth.
46:02When Japan
46:03refused to
46:04respond to
46:04his final warning
46:05Truman ordered
46:07an atomic bomb
46:08be dropped
46:11and then a second.
46:16The impact
46:17was so utterly
46:18devastating
46:19it led to
46:20the unconditional
46:21surrender of Japan.
46:27And for the rest
46:28of his life
46:29Truman never
46:30doubted his decision.
46:35throughout his
46:36presidency
46:36Truman kept
46:37to the same
46:38routine.
46:39He awoke at
46:405 a.m.
46:41and began the
46:41day with
46:42morning exercise.
46:44Usually a
46:45one or two
46:46mile walk
46:46around the
46:47streets of
46:47Washington.
46:49When you're
46:50beyond 45
46:51about the only
46:52exercise that a
46:54man can take
46:54that really
46:55is a good
46:57walk.
46:58And the best
46:59time to take
46:59that is early
47:00in the morning.
47:08I take
47:09plenty of rest
47:10always sleep
47:11well don't eat
47:12very much.
47:13What I do eat
47:14that Mrs. Truman
47:15sees to it that
47:16it's the right
47:16thing.
47:17And so I've
47:19always had very
47:20good health.
47:23Mr. Truman
47:25used to nap
47:26every afternoon.
47:27He swore by
47:28naps in the
47:29afternoon.
47:29He was in his
47:3060s and he
47:31said a man at
47:32that age really
47:33had to have a
47:34nap if he was
47:34going to perform
47:35well for the
47:36rest of the day
47:37and then work
47:38through the
47:39evening.
47:39He also said
47:41that the naps
47:42were no good
47:44if they lasted
47:45longer than 20
47:45minutes and
47:48also no good
47:49if you didn't
47:50strip down to
47:51your shorts.
47:52So Mr. Truman
47:53always stripped
47:54down to his
47:54shorts.
47:56I slept well
47:57and then when
47:59the time came
48:00to meet the
48:01presidency I was
48:03ready for it and
48:04I met it the best
48:04I could.
48:09Truman insisted
48:10that the country
48:11stay active on
48:12the world stage
48:13and contain the
48:14spread of
48:14communism.
48:16It came to be
48:17known as the
48:18Truman Doctrine
48:19backed up by the
48:20immensely successful
48:22Marshall Plan
48:22in which billions
48:24of American
48:25dollars were
48:25committed to the
48:26rebuilding of
48:27Western Europe.
48:33But it was also
48:34the start of the
48:35Cold War and of
48:37a nuclear arms
48:37race with the
48:38Soviet Union.
48:41and as foreign
48:42dangers multiplied
48:43Truman's presidency
48:45came under
48:46increasing attack.
48:48Following stunning
48:49defeats for
48:50Congressional
48:51Democrats in
48:521946, Truman's
48:54popularity dropped
48:55so low he was
48:57urged by his party
48:58not to run in the
48:59next presidential
49:00election.
49:02He seemed
49:03destined to fade
49:04away in much the
49:06same way as had
49:07all his 19th century
49:09predecessors by
49:10happenstance.
49:13But Truman refused
49:15to allow himself to
49:16be submerged.
49:23His surprise victory
49:25over Dewey in the
49:261948 elections was
49:28one of the great
49:29upsets in
49:30presidential history
49:31and put an end to
49:33his reputation as
49:34an accidental
49:36president.
49:37It's something of a
49:38rule of thumb.
49:39If you get two terms
49:40you get a chapter in
49:41the history book.
49:42If you only get one
49:44term you only get a
49:45few paragraphs.
49:47It's unfair but
49:49true.
49:52Truman was a two-term
49:54president.
49:55It gives him more
49:57weight than his
49:58predecessors by
50:00succession have had.
50:02And that's ironic.
50:06His second term was
50:08dominated by the
50:09Korean War which
50:12both abetted and was
50:13made worse by the
50:16eruption of
50:17McCarthyism.
50:19And those things
50:21shadowed Truman's
50:23second term.
50:25By 1951 his
50:28standing in the
50:29Gallup poll was
50:30down to 23%, four
50:33points below Nixon's
50:35low before his
50:37resignation.
50:39Yet having had a
50:41second term makes a
50:44great difference in his
50:46stature in the country.
50:48Actually it was in his
50:50first term that all the
50:52memorable things we choose
50:54to remember got done.
50:58On March 29th, 1952, as
51:02the war in Korea dragged
51:03on, Truman surprised the
51:05nation and announced that
51:06he would not seek another
51:08term in office.
51:11I do not feel that it is
51:13my duty to spend another
51:15four years in the White
51:16House.
51:24I quit because I thought
51:25I had made the
51:26contribution, all the
51:27contribution that I could
51:28make for the welfare of
51:29the country.
51:32When you've had your turn
51:33you ought to get out and
51:34give somebody else a chance.
51:40When Harry Truman returned
51:42home to Independence,
51:44Missouri, he took genuine
51:45pleasure in the fact that he
51:47was once again an ordinary
51:49citizen.
51:50And he lived long enough to
51:52see his reputation restored.
51:58I have no ambition to be
52:00present again.
52:01I've had all I wanted.
52:12The role of the vice
52:14president changed
52:15dramatically after the
52:16Truman experience.
52:18Recognized as an
52:19increasingly important
52:21figure in an era of chaos
52:23and assassinations, the
52:25vice president was given a
52:26seat at cabinet meetings,
52:28asked to join national
52:29security councils, and
52:31included in major
52:32presidential decisions.
52:35Our history is such that
52:37everybody ought to
52:38remember how often
52:42presidents disappear while
52:44in office and vice
52:45presidents succeed.
52:47But we don't.
52:50It's not our habit to do
52:51so.
52:55And we always are
52:56unprepared for it.
53:03With their sudden rise to power
53:05always taking the country by
53:07surprise, they are still
53:09referred to as the
53:10accidental presidents.
53:13And though they inherit all the
53:15power and responsibility of the
53:17high office, they rarely inherit
53:19their predecessor's popularity.
53:22But if being president by
53:24happenstance can be a terrible
53:26burden, it also provides an
53:29essential continuity.
53:31The smooth transfer of power,
53:34especially after the unexpected
53:36departure of a president, has been a
53:38key to the nation's political
53:40stability.
53:47To learn more about the
53:48American president, visit our
53:50website at pbs.org.
53:58Pbs.
53:58Pbs.
53:59Pbs.
53:59Pbs.
54:01Pbs.
54:31Pbs.
54:43They led by following their
54:45conscience.
54:46They championed the greater good.
54:48Humanity was their example.
54:50At New York Life, it's our very
54:53essence.
54:54That's why we're proud to bring
54:55you the American president.
54:59This is history's best, on
55:02on PBS.
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