RALEIGH – Andrew Johnson became America’s 17th president the day after President Lincoln was assassinated. Three tumultuous years later, he was the first president to be impeached.
“Andrew Johnson and the Challenge of Presidential Leadership after the Civil War” will be presented at the State Capitol at noon, Dec. 1, by Dr. Dan T. Carter, one of the nation’s foremost Southern historians.
The free lecture will be in the Old House Chamber and is sponsored by the Office of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, and is part of the “Telling Our Stories” year-long theme observance. Dr. Carter is a University of South Carolina Education Foundation Professor of History Emeritus. His doctoral degree is from UNC-Chapel Hill; he lives in western North Carolina.
Of Dr. Carter’s recent book “From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Counterrevolution, 1963-1994,” the Journal of Southern History said, “Carter’s essays present graphic evidence of the extent to which race continues to matter in American politics.” Carter’s publications include “Scottsboro: a Tragedy of the American South; When the War Was Over: the Failure of Self-Reconstruction in the South, 1865-1867”; and “The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics.”
The State Capitol will feature an exhibit on Johnson’s North Carolina roots and turbulent times in office in “Raleigh’s Own President: Andrew Johnson’s Life in North Carolina,” Nov. 21, 2008, to Jan. 16, 2009, commemorating his 200th birthday. Johnson was too poor to attend school so he apprenticed with a local tailor. In his Raleigh shop, Johnson learned two life-changing skills: how to perform the tailor’s craft and how to read.
A National Historic Landmark, the N.C. State Capitol is located in downtown Raleigh and bounded by Edenton, Salisbury, Morgan and Wilmington streets. At 5 East Edenton Street, the N.C. Museum of History lies between the Capitol and the Legislative Building. Its main entrance faces Bicentennial Plaza pedestrian mall linking Jones and Edenton streets. Parking is available in state lots near the Capitol. For more information call 919-733-4994.
Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, the State Capitol is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Now podcasting 24/7 with information about the Department of Cultural Resources, all available at www.ncculture.com.