ANDREW JOHNSON (D) - 1865-1869
Johnson was a Southerner, but a fierce pro-Union Democrat, and Lincoln invited him to be his Vice-President under the National Union Party of 1864. Later, after Lincoln's assassination, the Republican Party took back its original name, and Johnson went back to being a Democrat. The times after Lincoln were sensitive and turbulent, and Johnson's quick moves under Reconstruction were shaped by his white-supremicist views. He, after all, owned slaves until reluctantly supporting the Emancipation Proclamation, viewing it as a necessary step in the war.
The 17th president vetoed civil rights legislation which wound up setting back the rights of blacks several decades. He fought constantly with Congress, and his stubbornness more than anything led to his impeachment. As a last slap, he granted amnesty to all Confederates before handing over the presidency to his successor. It's amazing that the US survived not only the Civil War, but the Johnson presidency that followed.
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