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so in this thread, about Andrew Johnson being killed in 1861 it came out that Benjamin Franklin Butler was offered the Vice-Presidency by Lincoln for the 1864 election:

Abraham Lincoln apparently had actually asked Benjamin Butler to run on the ticket with him in '64 before later settling on Johnson. So it is a matter of convincing Butler to take the leap or not. Reconstruction I imagine will be very much in the Radical mold.

Edit: Found his response:



Found here.

Please say to Mr. Lincoln that while I appreciate with the fullest sensibilities his act of friendship and the high compliment he pays me, yet I must decline. Tell him that I said laughingly that with the prospects of a campaign before me I would not quit the field to be Vice-President even with himself as President, unless he would give me bond in sureties in the full sum of his four years' salary that within three months after his inauguration he will die unresigned.

So it is a matter of Benjamin Butler being more politically astute, or sensible. That and the final line gives me the chills slightly.

so what if Butler said "yes" would it effect the Presidential election of 1864? would it effect the assassination of Lincoln? would having a more hated VP lead to George Atzerodt having the nerve to kill? and if Lincoln dies in office what does Butler do as President?
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