Dinner with a Successor by Kira

Dinner with a Successor by Kira - October 2017 Scholarship Essay

There have been 44 men to hold the office of President of the United States. Each one with their respected successes and failures, but what I find most fascinating are the Vice Presidents that have taken over after an assassination. I would like to have dinner with Andrew Johnson to discuss his feelings of taking over the office and how he feels about following one of the most accomplished Presidents of all time.

To be elected to the hold the most important position in our nation is one thing, but to assume it because the person who actually deserved it died is a whole different story. I would like to ask him how he felt about being given a job that he necessarily did not win. It is a peculiar situation to be in and I would like to hear his thoughts or even doubts he had about taking over the job.

President Johnson took over after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Lincoln is one of the most well known and most successful presidents of all time. He essentially brought the entire country back together as one nation and won the Civil war for the North. Andrew Johnson had to succeed all of this. Not only did he just have to follow Lincoln he also had to finish all that was started with no clue or idea where he was suppose to go next. When Lincoln died the war had not yet finished but had been won by the North, and the plans that He had to peacefully bring all the states back together was never written down or shared. Andrew Johnson not only succeed this great man he also finished what was started with great authority and persistence. Having him as a dinner partner would be so humbling and intriguing because of all that he has accomplished.