Transcripts For CSPAN3 First Lady Eliza Johnson 20240622 : v

Andrew and eliza did purchase slaves. So they did have domestic help. It was used as a hospital. It was used as a place to stay and it was basically destroyed. Eliza being ill with tuberculosis wasnt able to get out much. Eliza received many gifts that she brought home with her. This is the room she returned to after their years in the white house. Shes just obscure, as she probably wouldve wanted it. But shes who he needed. Susan swain Abraham Lincolns assassination, just weeks after his second inaugural shocked a warravaged nation, and brought his southern democrat Vice President , Andrew Johnson, into the white house. Johnsons wife, eliza, was 54 years old and an invalid when she was thrust into the role of first lady, determined to be a helpmate to her husband as he navigated the turbulent end of the civil war, reconstruction in the south, and his own impeachment. This week on cspans first ladies, the life and times of Eliza Mccardle johnson. Good evening, and thank you for being with us. As we learn more about Eliza Johnson, let me introduce you to our two guests, who will help us do that. Jacqueline berger is in the midst of a threevolume biography collection on the first ladies, called love lies, and tears the lives of americas first ladies and shes joining us from her home in southern california. Susan swain Kendra Hinkle is a greeneville, tennessee native, as Andrew Johnson is, and a longtime employee of the National Park service. She serves as a Museum Technician at the Andrew Johnson National Historic site. Thanks for being with us tonight. Jacqueline berger, were going to start with setting the scene. The country had lost president s before through natural death but this was the first assassination. So, what was it like in washington, d. C. , the capitol and in the white house . Was it an orderly transition, or chaos, or something in between . Jacqueline berger well, as you can well imagine, susan, in the very beginning, it was just disbelief. They just could not believe that it had happened. But secretary stanton really took charge immediately and he decided that the president was going to be there was going to be a funeral in the east room, and he went ahead and had i believe the gentlemans name was major french, set up the funeral and do everything for it. And he was went to work immediately to elaborate, you know, this most beautiful funeral for the president. And unfortunately, the first lady, who was upstairs constantly in tears and in mourning, they were building this beautiful setting for this funeral, and they were banging and hammering, and all night long, she would call downstairs and ask them to please stop because she thought gunshots were going off into the inside the white house. So, it was pretty terrifying for her. Susan swain well, to the transition in government, how is it, Kendra Hinkle, that a republican president ended up with a southern democrat as his Vice President . Kendra hinkle mmhmm. A unique situation, and one since Abraham Lincoln was trying to appeal to a broader segment of the population. In another sense, i think he was making good on his second inaugural, to bind up the nations wounds. So, he was trying to bring the north and south back together again, because johnson was a southerner, he was a democrat, he was intensely loyal to the union. He was the only senator who retained his seat when all the other senators from the south left. And he had spent time as tennessees military governor, restoring a Union Government there, and freeing the slaves in tennessee while he was military governor. So, he was a good choice. Susan swain how prepared was he for the job of president . Kendra hinkle well, he had held nearly every Political Office that you can hold on the rise to the presidency. It was just a completely different situation going in after lincolns assassination, it was just a very chaotic time. Susan swain but in fact, the new president s graciousness towards mary lincoln made it difficult for him in his transition. How did that all work . Jacqueline berger well, it was difficult in the beginning. Mary, of course was upstairs like i say, in total mourning, and she remained there for about six weeks. Susan swain six weeks. Jacqueline berger so, the new president was gracious enough to not set up his office in the white house, so that he could give her time to make the adjustment. It was pretty difficult on him and although in the very beginning, he was obviously shaken to the core, he started to get into action very quickly. He was prepared to take over the presidency. Susan swain where did he work during that time . Kendra hinkle at the Treasury Department. Jacqueline berger at the Treasury Department in washington, and his family was not here, so Kendra Hinkle no, they came later. Susan swain the and what were his early days like . Do you have a sense of how he adjusted himself and how quickly he assumed the control of the country and what was going on . Kendra hinkle it was kind of twosided, because at one point it was very tumultuous because he had the grand revue , he had the lincoln trial, and murders to deal with. On another hand, it was somewhat his golden hour, because congress wasnt in session, so he just immediately jumped in to trying to implement a variation of lincolns very lenient plan of restoration for the south. Susan swain in fact, werent there still in the early days some skirmishes going on from the civil war . Kendra hinkle im sure there were, yeah. Susan swain so, that was hardly settled in a lot of peoples minds. Taking over this job, at this particular time, in this city, i mean, he had a cabinet that he inherited. Jacqueline berger thats correct. Susan swain so, what were his challenges . Jacqueline berger well, he made the decision to keep the cabinet. He said, you know, this is what i have and im going to live with it the best i can. And he discovered later on that might not have been the best decision for himself, because he was constantly struggling with him. They thought for sure that he would go ahead and have a harsher stance on the south, and johnson did not. He had a very lenient opinion on how he wanted the south and the north to get back together. Jacqueline berger so, he had a very, very difficult time with congress, with the senate. Susan swain weve used the world tumultuous in many of the weeks of this series, but this four years in particular seems to deserve the description. Heres a look at just some of the highlights of that time period, the four years that hes been in office. First of all, in 1865, his first year, the 13th amendment was ratified. Those of you who saw the movie lincoln will remember that that was the great fight. In 1867, vetoes the tenure of office act, which ultimately led to his impeachment, and suspended secretary of war edwin stanton. In 1868, the fourteenth amendment to the constitution was ratified. That was one of the reconstruction amendments, and among other things, it had a citizenship clause which overturned the dred scott decision of the Supreme Court earlier, and as we mentioned his impeachment proceedings were held. So, thats just kind of a look at at the kinds of things the Johnson Family had to deal with. Now, did he have a Vice President . Kendra hinkle no. Susan swain was there any any provision for selecting a Vice President at that point . Kendra hinkle no, and if if the impeachment had resulted in conviction, the presidency wouldve gone to the president protempore of the senate. Susan swain so lets move on to the eliza and her story. So, eliza arrives when . Jacqueline berger it was probably, i think, about four months later that she finally came with her family. You know, they had set up a situation where she took care of the home, took care of the finances. Her life was pretty well set. And the fact that her husband became president didnt change things instantaneously. But she did follow. She did bring her entire family with her. Of course, she had two daughters. One was married and had two children of her own. Her other daughter was now a widow at this point, brought her three children with her. Jacqueline berger so, its very, very crowded upstairs in the white house. And of course, we do know that eliza was an invalid when she got to the white house, but people think that she in fact didnt participate much, and that isnt exactly true. She was very, very involved. Berger she set up her own bedroom upstairs, right across from the president s office basically, and she was always able to hear what was going on. She was very active. She read daily newspapers, brought different points of view to the president , was able to calm him down constantly, and of course, she was the grandmother of the house as well as you know, taking care of her daughters and her grandchildren. Susan swain well, her Health Status is what she discussed and the only known Statement Public statement we have from Eliza Johnson, which we have on screen, my dears, i am an invalid. This was her announcement to the press, and after making it, what did she do . Kendra hinkle she just went upstairs. And the sources say that her face showed interest, but no enthusiasm. And another quote attributed to her is, i do not like this public life at all, and ill be happy when were back where i feel we best belong. Susan swain what was the source of her Health Problems . Kendra hinkle consumption. Tuberculosis. Her health seems to have weakened after the birth of her last son, who was 18 years younger than his brothers and sisters, but then, by 1860 there are many references to you know, Mothers Health in letters. Susan swain here is our first question from the our viewers, and before i take it, i want to remind you, if you are new to this series, the best thing about it is your participation, and there are three ways you can do it. Susan swain first of all, you can call us, and well put those phone numbers on the screen. You can also send us a message on twitter using the hashtag firstladies, and you can, as a third choice, go to cspans facebook page, and weve got a conversation already underway with questions coming in from viewers around the country. And well try to mix a number of those in throughout our 90 Minute Program tonight. Susan swain Gary Robinson asked the question, was eliza concerned for her husbands safety after the lincoln assassination . Jacqueline berger absolutely. She was absolutely terrified. First of all, her husband, his life of course was in danger as well, when he was a senator, because he in fact did not want his state to secede from the union, so he himself was considered a traitor, and oftentimes his life was in danger. And then of course when the president was assassinated, she was absolutely terrified. Her daughter, one of her daughters wrote her father before they got to the white house and said, mother is just deranged that you in fact are going to be assassinated, so she was extremely worried about it. Susan swain there was some reason for her worry other than the general atmosphere in washington. Some of the investigations suggest that there was in fact part of the overall plot someone assigned to kill johnson. Kendra hinkle and he had some heavy drink beforehand and lost his nerve. Jacqueline berger he did stalk the Vice President though. He was stalking him that whole day, and he was planning to assassinate him that night. And he did he went out, had a little bit too much to drink lost his nerve, and thankfully did not, you know, follow through on his plans. Susan swain is there any historic documentation about how the president reacted to the threats on his life . Kendra hinkle you know, i have never heard any. I just know that grave concern for lincoln took priority. Kendra hinkle and people did try to tell him not to go to the Petersen House that night himself because of all the danger out there. But he went anyway to check in. Susan swain and the Petersen House was the rooming house across the street from the hotel where the president was taken after his shot and the cabinet was gathering around and he was warned to stay away in case there were more Kendra Hinkle because news was coming in of seward being attacked and and so they knew that this was a fullfledged attack on on highranking government officials. Susan swain well Jacqueline Berger and of course, it wasnt the first time in history. I mean, there was an assassination attempt on George Washingtons life. There was assassination attempts on many other president s. So i think they just kind of lived with that fact. I know harry truman made the comment that it just goes with the territory and you cant think about it, you just have to go about your business, do what you need to do. Susan swain before we leave the relationship with the lincolns president ial ponderings on twitter asked the question, did Eliza Johnson have any kind of friendship with mary lincoln . Jacqueline berger not to my knowledge. She was you know, once again, she stayed at home quite a bit. Its not like she travelled to washington any great times. You know, often times, other wives did travel to washington and spend time with their spouse when they were senators or congressmen. Eliza didnt. And to to the best of my knowledge, she did not have a relationship at all. Susan swain was that your understanding . Kendra hinkle my understanding as well. She eliza did come to washington for a couple of months but once but ill health forced her back home. Susan swain jacqueline, you were describing this very active private floor in the white house. Even though the public didnt see Eliza Johnson, there was lots of family going on Jacqueline Berger lots of family going on. Susan swain a centerpiece room for the family as we understand it was whats today called the yellow oval room which had been turned into a library by a former lady. We have a photograph of what it looks like today that were showing people at home here. But what how did they use this and what was there personal life like at the white house . Jacqueline berger they were an extremely closeknit family. Martha, the oldest daughter, of course, was always watching out for her mother and the grandchildren adored, well, both of their grandparents actually. They were very, very close. And often times, whether they were doing some studying with some tutors, theyd always come back in and visit their grandmother. Of course, the president also spent his mornings visiting with her before he went off to do his business. And everything seemed to revolve around eliza. Susan swain well, jenny standard webber on facebook is asking, can you tell us more about her two daughters, Martha Patterson and mary stover, who helped her with her role as hostess at the white house . In fact, did they both serve as official hostesses during the administration . Kendra hinkle martha was the official hostess and mary supported her in many ways. Kendra hinkle mary was back and forth to greenville several times. She was a bit more like her mother, i think, preferred to be, you know, with the children. Jacqueline berger with the children. I was going to say my understanding is when she was the white house, she was responsible for a lot of their education and a lot of their training. She did step in with her sister but they didnt like the public life. I mean, the entire family didnt care for it at all. She had lost her husband in the civil war. So that was difficult on her as well having three children and being a widow herself. Susan swain what did it mean to be official hostess in the Johnson White house . Jacqueline berger it basically meant Kendra Hinkle it was a period of mourning. I mean Jacqueline Berger it definitely was and i think that says a lot about eliza that she even though it was a state of mourning and of course, you know, the war had just totally ravaged the white house completely. I mean, i cant even describe in what disarray that it was in. I mean, they said there was mold in the state dining room. There was lice in the rooms. The carpetings were filthy. And so it gave martha a couple of months while congress not in session to get the house all cleaned up and she really scrubbed it down from top to bottom, was very, very astute at that. And then they had their weekly what they referred to as levies on thursday nights. One of the susan swain which is a traditional that weve seen all the way through from the from the Washington Administration Jacqueline Berger right. And that seems to be the in many cases the way it is. Martha washington kind of set the role for the first ladyship and many of them followed along with it. It was also johnsons intention to have the common man and the Common People come to the house. He didnt want to have such formal dinners, you know, when they were by written invitation but more inviting people to come in on a regular basis and just see the the president s home the peoples house. Susan swain Kendra Hinkle, just on that note, to capture the the johnsons approach to it, this quote from Martha Johnson we are plain people from tennessee called here for a little time by the nations calamity and i hope too much will not be expect