Andrew Johnson holds the infamous distinction of being the first President of the United States to ever be impeached. 

So if you don’t know who the sitter is in this picture, and you hail from the good old U.S. of A. then I strongly advise you read through this whole thing as the man was, in fact, a President. I know what you are thinking, “So what? There have been a lot of unremarkable presidents over the years, what does it matter if I don’t know who this one is.” Unfortunately, this is one of the ones that do matter as Andrew Johnson was not just any president, but he was the President that came to office after Lincoln was shot, and the first to ever get impeached.

That's right, Andrew Johnson was initially the Vice-President of the United States under Abraham Lincoln. However unlike most vice-presidents Andrew Johnson was not of the same party as Lincoln. In fact he was selected specifically in hopes of helping to unify the country, as he was a proud Democrat (remember, the parties were switched back then) from the South. To his credit when the South seceded Johnson did not go with them. Rather the man was very pro-union, and so was in the White House on the day that Lincoln took his infamous trip to the theater.

At first the public actually was rather receptive to Johnson, even some die-hard republicans were behind his presidency. “By the Gods,” Senator Ben Wade of Ohio proclaimed, “there will be no trouble now in running this government.” Of course this did not turn out to be the case. Within weeks Johnson showed his true colors and started enacting restrictions on the freedoms of freed slaves while also seeking to pardon confederate leadership. In 1867, Republicans started to demand that the man be removed from office, and in 1868 he was promptly ejected from his position.

The interesting thing about this portrait is that Washington Bogart Cooper was from the same state as Andrew Johnson, and was a resident of the state at the time. As this painting was done while Andrew Johnson was in office, the artist would have been able to witness and understand the unique position that Johnson was in. However, if he tried to put that into this work it is unclear.