Tennessee Johnson (1942)

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Milton Gunzburg (story) and
Alvin Meyers (story) ...

Release Date:

December 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Washington D.C. | Tennessee | Conspiracy | Presidential Election | White House

Cast

Van Heflin	...	Andrew Johnson
Lionel Barrymore	...	Thaddeus Stevens
Ruth Hussey	...	Eliza McCardle Johnson
Marjorie Main	...	Mrs. Maude Fisher
Regis Toomey	...	Blackstone McDaniel
J. Edward Bromberg	...	Coke
Grant Withers	...	Mordecai Milligan
Alec Craig	...	Sam Andrews
Charles Dingle	...	Senator Jim Waters
Carl Benton Reid	...	Congressman Hargrove
Russell Hicks	...	Lincoln's emissary
Noah Beery	...	Sheriff Cass (as Noah Beery Sr.)
Robert Warwick	...	Major Crooks
Montagu Love	...	Chief Justice Chase
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Mr. Secretary

Also Known As:

The Man on America's Conscience (UK)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #8802) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

There was a protest from some sectors that the film distorted the life of Thaddeus Stevens (who initiated the impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson). Additional filming occurred in October 1942, but it is not known if it was because of these protests. One line in the script (Stevens referring to Lincoln as "the old ape") was eliminated. Still, the film treats Johnson much more favorably than it does Stevens.

Goofs:

Factual errors: A key scene in the film depicts Johnson entering the Senate while it is debating his impeachment and removal from office, and making a major speech there in his defense. In reality, the actual President Johnson, despite his desire to confront his enemies in the Senate, never once entered or addressed that body during his impeachment trial.

Quotes:

Jefferson Davis: I must pronounce our solemn farewell. Under these circumstances, of course, my functions - and those of my colleagues - terminate here. We but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our independence - and take the hazard, putting our trust in God, and in our own firm hearts - and strong arms - we will vindicate the right as best we may.
[looking slowly around the room]
Jefferson Davis: I see now around me some with whom I have served long; there have been points of collision. For whatever offense I have given, I ask forgiveness. Of whatever of offense there has been to me, I leave here. I carry with me no hostile remembrance. I go hence unencumbered of the remembrance of injury received, and having discharged the duty of making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered.
[...]

Soundtrack:

When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Good Film - Mixed reality and history

I doubt if a film made in 2004 or after about Andrew Johnson would be as kind as this 1943 film. Johnson did support the North in the Civil War (he was the only Southern Senator to remain in the U.S. Government during the war, and would be appointed Governor of that portion of Tennessee from 1863 - 64). Lincoln, in order to have a strong National ticket in her 1864 election chose Johnson (a Democrat)as his running mate. So Johnson became Vice President. And then John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln, and Johnson became President.

Johnson was illiterate, until his wife taught him to read and write. He educated himself, and rose in the legal and political world of Tennessee (and then the nation). But he was a piece of "po' white trash", and remained so with all it's cultural baggage. He supported the North because he (rightly) distrusted the Southern plantation aristocracy (epitomized by Jefferson Davis). However - he hated slaves and free Black people. Hence his willingness to be soft on the South. Lincoln would have been soft too, but Lincoln had great gifts at managing his adversaries and probably could have arranged a compromise. Johnson was pig-headed. He antagonized the Radical Republicans controlling Congress. They waited for him to make a mistake, and he did (technically he violated the Tenure of Office Act, by firing Secretary of War Stanton without getting Congressional permission - this act was declared unconstitutional in the 1880s). Then followed his impeachment and the saving of his skin by seven Republican Senators who voted not to remove him. And those men all lost their Senatorial seats.

In 1943 Johnson was considered a hero, for saving the Executive Branch from becoming a rubber stamp for Congress. Actually, there was nothing to show that some Radical Republican President could not have restored power to the Executive Branch if Johnson had been removed. He gets high grades for his grit and courage, but his pig-headed stupidity and racism sink his historical rating.

Still Van Heflin, Lionel Barrymore, and the other actors (like Charles Dingle) make the film interesting and enjoyable enough. Good film making but mixed history. Two final points: Edmond Ross was in good health when he voted, but James W. Grimes of Iowa also voted for acquittal, and he had a paralytic stroke a few weeks earlier (he died within a year). Second: Andrew Johnson is the second Vice President of the name Johnson (and Lyndon Johnson the third Veep). The first was Martin Van Buren's Vice President, Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky, whose career as a politician might make a diverting comedy.