Swing Around the Circle

The high point, or perhaps it's better to say the low point, for presidential demagoguery was Andrew Johnson's 1866 swing around the circle.

Now, Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States.

He succeeded Abraham Lincoln after Lincoln's assassination.

Johnson would be impeached in 1868 for trying to overturn congressional reconstruction.

But prior to this, in 1866, and in service of this larger political goal, Johnson does a political tour of the country.

This is his infamous swing around the circle.

He's going from town to city campaigning for himself ahead of a presidential election in a few years, but also trying to build out this new political coalition.

The whole thing is a disaster.

The St. Louis, Missouri harangue.

It was a campaign tour called the Swing Around the Circle.

And so he was like traveling the country by train and saying wild stuff.

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He believed America was a white man's republic, and he governed accordingly.

In 1866, he embarked on a speaking tour, known mockingly as the "Swing Around the Circle," to rally support for his policies.

It backfired spectacularly.

Johnson, never known for subtlety or tact, attacked Congress, praised white supremacy, and compared himself to Christ.