Brenda Wineapple

A delightful biography of two complex and fascinating individuals who become more interesting in the conjoining of their stories. Too long considered a "wacky old maid", Dickinson comes off well in this work, without it being a hagiography so much as a correcting of the record that shows her with passions that burn like any other person, and willing to circumvent the onerous conventions that society laid (and still lays) on women. Was she depressed? Suffering from agoraphobia? This book does show more not engage in such futile speculations, instead presenting Dickinson through her own words and the words of contemporaries, not assuming that something must have been wrong with her, but also not going to great lengths to assure us that there wasn't. Higginson is also presented in his own right, rather than as history later judged him when standards changed and literature became a new type of commodity from what it was when he was writing. She allows them flaws and faults, without feeling that she must carp and scold about those. The writing is interesting and lucid, and the author includes enough photographs of the individuals she mentions to help make it real. Perhaps the one that comes off the worst in this work is Mabel Loomis Todd, but even then the author attempts to be as fair as possible, and avoid drawing conclusions beyond evidence, while presenting the various sides in terms of her motivations and her claims. show less

My father-in-law was born and raised in Dayton, Tennessee and when in college, I was able to visit and sit inside the handsome old courthouse where the Scopes drama unfurled. All these decades later, I was eager to read Wineapple's hefty tome on the trial and the era.

You must be patient. It takes well over 100 pages to really get to the trial; the earlier sections cover the earlier lives and development of the two "stars," Darrow and Bryan. But they're interesting enough, difficult enough, show more and dramatic enough to deserve the attention. And I was quite delighted to encounter an old friend, Dudley Malone, about whom I had read as I was researching the suffrage movement, conscientious objectors, WWI and the Wilson administration for another project...he was a welcome figure on the Scopes defense team.

There is much more to this dense book than just the trial: religious fervor, socioeconomics, racism... it's frankly frightening how much of what riled people up in 1925 has been seething in the decades since, and how thought processes and prejudices and self-justifications spouted by the Ku Klux Klan are all over our daily news sources every day now. Right down to the rationalizations of censoring school curricula and books. And yet, somehow, it seems lacking in a certain vitriol: Bryan shook Malone's hand and earnestly congratulated him on a rousing, dramatic speech that Bryan - that great orator - said was the best thing he'd ever heard. The opposing teams all gathered for dinner together. One of the newspapers covering the trial offered to pay Scopes's bond.

Some of it can get repetitive - how many times do we need to hear that Darrow had deep grooves in his face? I must credit Ms. Wineapple for her long pages of thanks to the *many* librarians who helped her in this huge endeavor. Very satisfying for those of us with a serious interest in this propulsive episode of American demagoguery and history; or you can just watch "Inherit the Wind," which is captivating and mostly honorable. show less

I came across this one on Overdrive, and given current events here in DC, it couldn’t be more timely. Wineapple tells the story of the first impeachment of a US President - Andrew Johnson - during Reconstruction. And as the title says, it’s also about the people involved in the impeachment, with very interesting looks at the personalities involved.

What most fascinated me about the story is how similar it is to today. Johnson was a boorish egotist with an over-inflated sense of show more Presidential power, and a populist who played to the white South for support. He was opposed by Radical Republicans, the progressives of the day, who couldn’t quite pull together enough support to make impeachment happen. Since there was no Vice President, the Senator next in line to take over was eerily like Bernie Sanders in his politics. The fights in trial could be word-for-word from the current proceedings - whether to allow witness testimony, was there enough evidence to convict, did an actual crime have to take place for this to be impeachable?

Wineapple’s book is well worth a read, and a worthy antidote for anyone who thinks we live in special circumstances. My only criticism is that the editor should have tightened up the story - it did get a bit repetitive towards the end. show less

Summary: A history of the accidental presidency of Andrew Johnson, his resistance to the civil rights fought for in the Civil War, and the impeachment proceedings against him.

Impeachment. Only twice in American history has Congress pursued impeachment proceedings against a President of the United States. Neither instance resulted in conviction of "high crimes and misdemeanors." This book chronicles the first instance where this remedy was pursued, during the presidency of Andrew show more Johnson.

Brenda Wineapple gives us a well-crafted account of the presidency of Andrew Johnson, the circumstances leading to his impeachment, the key figures from the House of Representatives that prosecuted the impeachment, as well as the presiding Chief Justice, the defense, and the final denouement.

Andrew Johnson was always a bit of a lone wolf, rising from tailor to accidental president when Lincoln was assassinated. When the Civil War began, though sympathetic with the white supremacy of the South, Johnson argued against secession as unconstitutional, and that in fact it was impossible for states to secede from the Union, a position he maintained later on as president. When Tennessee seceded, he continued to take his seat in the Senate. Later, Lincoln named him military governor of Tennessee. When it came time for Lincoln the Republican to run for his second term, he did the unusual thing of offering Johnson, a Democrat, the Vice Presidency, partly to weaken the Democrats, and perhaps with a view toward the restoration of the Union.

Wineapple describes how Johnson quickly instituted his own version of Reconstruction, allowing many of the old leaders of the south to return to office, undercutting newly won civil rights for blacks, and looking the other way when blacks were violently attacked, lynched, and slaughtered. He undercut the efforts of moderate Republican Lyman Trumbull to extend the Freedman's Bureau by vetoing the bill, even after Lyman's extensive consultations with Johnson led him to think it would be passed. It increasingly appeared that all the sacrifice of Union troops was for naught, as Blacks still were treated as slaves in all but name. The crowning insult was Johnson's campaign trip, the "swing around the circle" during the 1866 elections where he denounced Republicans Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Wendell Philips by name.

While Republicans in Congress seethed at this treatment and the reversal of gains fought for during the Civil War, all of this occurred under the cloak of legality. Wineapple then discusses the efforts to limit the military occupation, including the work of Secretary of War Stanton and General Grant. This was one of the remaining protections for Black citizens. To protect Stanton, Congress passed over Johnson's veto the Tenure in Office Act, prohibiting the firing of cabinet officials without Congressional approval. Johnson, believing the act unconstitutional, eventually sacked (or tried to) Secretary Stanton, which represented the crossing of a threshold that triggered the vote of impeachment in the House, and the impeachment trial in the Senate.

Wineapple takes us through the trial, introducing us to the managers for the House prosecution: Benjamin Butler who presented much of the evidence, and George Boutwell, and the courageous Thaddeus Stevens, enfeebled and dying. She gives us sketches of Chief Justice Chase, the defense for the president, key senators like Ben Wade, who stood to succeed to the presidency if Johnson was convicted, and correspondents including Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Georges Clemenceau. Then came the vote, 35-19, with a key Republican, Edmund Ross changing his vote to acquit at the last hour. Six other Republicans joined him and twelve Democrats in voting to acquit. Though never proven, there was evidence of payoffs.

Johnson served out his term, but was disappointed not to receive the appointment of his party. He eventually returned to the Senate, dying in office in 1875. Ulysses Grant succeeded to the presidency, reversing to some degree the effects of Johnson's "Reconstruction." But the promise briefly glimpsed by Lincoln was never to be.

Wineapple does an outstanding job of unfolding the history and the fascinating characters around the impeachment. Her account of the life and death of Thaddeus Stevens was particularly striking. Her book makes the case for the challenges of impeachment: the ambiguities of language and procedure. The truth was, Andrew Johnson was a disaster and a white supremacist and could not be removed for these reasons alone. Only the violation of a questionable law (later ruled unconstitutional) provided the pretext. Even this effort fell short. Wineapple also shows us that white supremacy is nothing new but has a long and ugly history in our country, one accustomed to the commission of sordid acts and the constraining of civil liberties with the pretext of respectable legality.

Essentially, impeachment is an unproven remedy for the removal of presidents considered to have committed "high crimes and misdemeanors." Section IV of the 25th Amendment has never been attempted. This brings us back to the critical importance of the choices we make for who we elect to be president and vice-president. Whether in office by vote or accident, the only proven way presidents may be removed from office is by the Electoral College, reflecting (hopefully) on a state by state basis the results at the ballot box, an opportunity that comes only every four years. The attacks of White Supremacists on voting rights in Johnson's day also remind us of the vital task of rigorously protecting voting rights for all our citizens, recognized as critical for "liberty and justice for all" then--and now.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review e-galley of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. show less