A Smarter U
A Smarter U
A Smarter U
Impeachable Character: Lessons from Andrew Johnson’s impeachment
36 minutes Posted Nov 18, 2019 at 8:47 pm.
0:00
36:24
Download MP3
Show notes
A president stands accused of wrongdoing. A nation is divided on the president's policies and fitness for office. A polarized media environment plays to each end of the political spectrum with little agreement on reality.

Sound familiar?

This is actually a description of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States and the first to be impeached. He escaped conviction by only one vote.

Dr. Adam Dean, a University of Lynchburg professor and the John M. Turner Distinguished Chair in the Humanities, joins A Smarter U to talk about Johnson's impeachment and compare Johnson with other presidents who have faced impeachment or threats of it — Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump. He leaves us with a few pointers to consider while digesting news about impeachment investigations. Ironically, it sounds a lot like the advice professors gave in our last episode, What to do about 'fake news'.

Read the transcript.

Subscribe to A Smarter U on Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or Apple Podcasts.