Historia Americana S1 E3: Andrew Johnson's Pickled Vice Presidential Inaugural Speech

thyOn March 4, 1865 A.D. Andrew Johnson was sworn in as Vice President of the United States. Unfortunately, this was no ordinary day for Mr. Johnson as he made a fool out of himself in front of his fellow constituents. He was on the benders of all benders in the weeks leading up to his arrival to Washington D.C. The night before his inauguration, he drank heavily at a party hosted by the Secretary of the Senate John Fourney.
The next morning he woke up with "A thunderous hangover" and drank three tumblers full of neat whiskey minutes before he was sworn in as Vice President. After a drunken display with a bizarre swearing in ceremony, Johnson gave a very intoxicated nonsensical speech before he was escorted away. He later attended Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration in a quiet stupor not wanting to talk to the press or give another speech despite the public crowd wanting one. The official reason for his behavior was that he was suffering from typhoid fever and the treatment he received made him appear "unwell" but according to Frederick Douglass. "Mr. Johnson was drunk."
Listen to the Illustrious Narrator talk about "Andrew Johnson's Vice Presidential Inauguration."