Wallet
Banned
18. Benjamin Wade (Ohio)
1868
Benjamin Wade became the President of the United States on May 16, 1868 after the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. The impeachment had passed by only one vote, and with no Vice President, Wade became the 18th President because he was the President pro tempore of the Senate. Considered a radical even by the Radical Republicans, he supported women's suffrage, trade union rights, and full equality for blacks. Truly a man before his time, historians to this day long debate the outcome had happened had he been able to run the still removing nation, or how he would have dealt with the crises to come. Sadly, he was assassinated by a drunk Andrew Johnson weeks after taking office. Johnson, who had come to ''visit'' the new president, shot Wade several times in the chest when he entered the Oval Office. Johnson was gunned down by White House guards moments later. A popular story was that Wade had in his pocket a civil rights act when he was gunned down, but this has never been proven. Today a monument stands across the street from the White House, built on orders from his successor.