Lincoln’s assassination not only affected Congress, but also affected the oval office in general. Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States after Lincoln’s assassination. Johnson was inexperienced in politics. He grew up as a poor tailor before assuming his first role in politics as Tennessee governor. Johnson was not the smartest of people either. He was illiterate until he got married. Johnson got taught by his wife to write and read very long comprehensive documents. During the inauguration of President Lincoln, Johnson was recovering from typhoid fever. He drank whiskey in an attempt to make him feel a little better, although it just made him give a slurred incoherent speech and people assumed Johnson was an alcoholic. Johnson did escape death however, because on the night of Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson’s murderer, George Azterodt, lost his nerve at the last minute (History.com Staff). There is a good chance there would not have even been an attempt to assassinate Johnson if Booth would have known that Johnson wanted to grant amnesty to the South, by letting …show more content…
In 1937, Otto Eisenschiml wrote the book Why was Lincoln Murdered? and he proposed that Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was the mastermind. The book stated that Stanton was against Lincoln’s mild Reconstruction plans and wanted something more radical to do with the Southern states. Eisenschiml said that Ulysses S. Grant was supposed to attend Our American Cousin, but Stanton to him to reschedule his plans. Stanton had supposedly said this because he knew there would be more security if Grant attended the play because he like the thought of being safe. Stanton knew there would be more guards around Lincoln, therefore making it virtually impossible for Lincoln to be killed by Booth since Grant and Lincoln would have been in the same booth