Please take a moment of silence today to remember the anniversary of the tragic hanging of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and David Herold.
You know something, I sense a conspiracy within a conspiracy here. Why is it that of the three people targeted that night, the only person who was left unscathed—and for that matter, whose position and power was in fact elevated—just happened to be the only one among the three who was, himself, a Southerner? Why is it that of the those three assassins—two of them went ahead with their assassination agenda against their Northern masters, and the other one lost on his way and mistook Andrew Johnson's residence for a Tavern and was so thoroughly confused - that he thought "Kill the Vice President" meant "Go to a saloon and get smashed."
Who knows, maybe George and Andrew cut a deal that night? Maybe Mr. Atzerodt made his way to Johnson's home and held up the knife to the Vice President's throat while he slept - only to have Andrew Johnson wake up just in time to plead for mercy and make a deal with the devil's henchman.
However which way it happened, Andrew Johnson was a sellout. He was a traitor to the North — not the other way-round. He went soft on the South, set back civil equality between Southern blacks and whites for a century or more, redacted General Sherman's general order No. 15, and even tolerated the terrorist campaign of the confederate insurgents — aimed at disenfranchising those who had been liberated by the Federal occupation. That's not how you subdue the enemy, that's not how you advance freedom and democracy and bring about reconciliation; only after total, utter and definitive defeat, can you hope to teach them a lesson that will move them 'forward' in the right direction. Johnson was just a completely backwards, unprincipled and feckless president all around.... worst, president, ever!
I honestly don't think any American who is aware of their History can ever forgive this man — Mr. George Atzerodt — for failing to carry out his objective and getting drunk in some Yankee saloon instead. What a worthless human being (worst assassin ever).
