Grant responded that he considered Congress, and not the President, the final authority in the matter, and that he had never given the President any intimation that he would violate the law to support him. Grant concluded his letter, written on February 3, 1868, saying, “And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a soldier and integrity as a man have been so violently assailed, pardon me for saying that I can but regard this whole matter from beginning to end as an attempt to involve me in a resistance of law for which you hesitated to assume the responsibility, and thus destroy my character before the country.”
This was not the first clash between the two men. Shortly after the end of the Civil War, President Johnson sought to have Robert E. Lee arrested for treason, contrary to the surrender terms signed at Appomattox. Grant was furious that Johnson would even think about violating the term of the surrender that represented the nation’s solemn word of honor. When Lee appealed to Grant for help, Grant intervened on Lee’s behalf. He threatened to take his case to the people if the President did not drop his attempt to have Lee arrested. Johnson backed down, and Lee was not arrested.
Grant was elected in 1868 to succeed Johnson as President. The two had not reconciled by the time Grant was inaugurated President on March 4, 1869. President Johnson refused to ride with Grant, and therefore was not present at Grant’s inauguration.
Of course, some Presidents attended their successors inaugurations, only to wish they hadn’t. President Fillmore attended the inauguration of his successor, Franklin Pierce, on a cold day. Fillmore’s wife, Abigail, caught a cold that day, which turned into pneumonia from which she died shortly after.
Almost all of our Presidents have attended the inauguration of their successors, participating in the peaceful transfer of power that marks the history of our democratic system of government. Those few who have chosen not to can be forgiven, based on the personal nature of their reasons and the fact that their absences have caused no real problems for our republic.
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