Dr. Deaton looks at the life of Alexander Stephens, one of two Georgians memorialized in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol in Washington DC, the Vice President of the Confederacy and the author of the infamous “Cornerstone” speech.
Would you live out of your office–and sleep under your desk like George Costanza–for nearly three months to keep your job? In this Dispatch, Dr. Deaton discusses the conflict between President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and the role he played in our nation’s first impeachment in 1868.
Stan looks at the history of this quadrennial event that goes back 232 years, from the Bible Washington used to the only inauguration held on an airplane, the only president sworn in by a woman, two inaugurals almost cancelled by cold weather, and why there have been 9 “non-scheduled extraordinary” inaugurations.
In the midst of the current Supreme Court nominee controversy, Dr. Deaton looks at another nomination to the Supreme Court that was made and confirmed after the incumbent president had lost the election–and it turned out to be one of the most momentous Supreme Court appointments in American history.