Dinner with Andrew Johnson by Lari

Dinner with Andrew Johnson by Lari - October 2017 Scholarship Essay

As I am waiting in the McDonald’s parking lot for Andrew Johnson to arrive on his horse, I am coming up with multiple questions I have to ask him. I won a contest where I could go to dinner with any United States President, dead or alive, and I chose Andrew Johnson. He came back to life just for this event!
There are many reasons as to why I chose him out of all the Presidents. For starters, we both have the same last name and we were both born in almost the same place. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and I was born in Smithfield, North Carolina. These two places are about 30 minutes away from each other. I also chose him because he was put into office by accident. He never ran to become President, but since Abraham Lincoln got assassinated, Johnson was immediately put into office as the President. He was also the first American President to be impeached. I would ask him questions including, “What were you feeling on the day of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, look around at the world now; what is different about your time period and this time period, and how did you go from being poor and uneducated to becoming the President?” Andrew Johnson once said, “If I am shot at, I want no man to be in the way of the bullet.” I would ask him why he said this and if he was referring to an assassination, such as Lincoln's.
There were many great American Presidents, but Andrew Johnson would have my pick because his story is very interesting. He went from the bottom and ended up becoming a leader for many. The fact that he got put in office right after the President before him got killed must have been scary. There were some people who thought he was not fit to be the President, but he took on the very tough role and implemented a plan to restore the South. Johnson would be a great person to eat and chat with.