On March 4, 1865, the United States stood on the precipice of peace. As Abraham Lincoln prepared for his second inauguration, the atmosphere inside the Senate Chamber was heavy with historical significance. The Civil War was drawing to a close, and the room was packed with Supreme Court justices, foreign diplomats, and cabinet members.
However, the solemnity of the moment vanished the instant the Vice President-elect took the stage. Instead of a dignified acceptance, the audience witnessed a humiliating spectacle of intoxication that left the President bowing his head in shame and the nation stunned.
A Recipe for Disaster
Andrew Johnson arrived in Washington, D.C. in poor health, recovering from a severe illness that some reports identified as typhoid fever. On the morning of the ceremony, feeling weak and unwell, he entered the office of outgoing Vice President Hannibal Hamlin. Johnson requested a stimulant to help him get through the proceedings. Hamlin produced a bottle of whiskey.
According to witnesses, Johnson did not just take a sip. He poured a tumbler to the brim and drank it down without water. He immediately poured a second glass. Just as the procession was called to start, Johnson rushed back to the bottle, nearly colliding with Hamlin’s son, to down a third glass of undiluted liquor.
The Senate Spectacle
When Johnson entered the Senate Chamber, observers noted his face was extraordinarily red. He was scheduled to speak for only seven minutes, but he held the floor for twenty. His address was an incoherent harangue. He shouted about his “plebeian” roots and aggressively lectured the Supreme Court on the source of their power.
At one point, he turned to the foreign ambassadors, mocking their formal attire and “fine feathers.” The speech was so disjointed that reporters struggled to transcribe it, capturing only fragments of his slurred boasting. Hamlin attempted to intervene by tugging on Johnson’s coat and whispering for him to stop, but Johnson ignored him and continued his ramblings.
Lincoln’s Quiet Fury
President Abraham Lincoln sat in the front row, watching the performance with deep sorrow. Observers noted that he looked down in humiliation during the ordeal. When Johnson finally finished, he stumbled through the oath of office and theatrically kissed the Bible. He was too disoriented to perform his next duty—swearing in the new senators—forcing a clerk to step in.
As Lincoln prepared to move to the East Portico for his own address, he gave a strict order to the marshal: “Don’t let Johnson speak outside.” The Vice President was kept away from the microphone for the remainder of the day.
The Morning After
The fallout was immediate. The New York World described Johnson as an “insolent clownish drunkard.” Frederick Douglass, who was present, noted that Johnson looked like a man “just from a drunken debauch.” While Johnson was not formally punished, the Senate reacted by removing two other senators from their committees for “habitual inebriety.”
Johnson himself fled the capital, hiding at a friend’s estate in Maryland for weeks to recover his health and sobriety before returning to duty.
On March 4, 1865, the Senate witnessed a spectacle that mortified Abraham Lincoln.
As the Civil War ended, the Vice President-elect didn't offer dignity.
Instead, he downed three tumblers of whiskey and delivered a slur-filled harangue that left the nation stunned…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/EuRbx7ChPA
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) November 24, 2025