Second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln Second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln The second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States took place on Saturday, March 4, 1865. The inauguration marked the commencement of the second term of Abraham Lincoln as President and only term of Andrew Johnson as Vice President. Lincoln died days into this term, and Johnson succeeded to the presidency. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase administered the Oath of office. Before the president was sworn in, Vice President-elect Andrew Johnson took his oath. At the ceremony Johnson, who had been drinking to offset the pain of typhoid fever (as he explained
Memorials to Abraham Lincoln Memorials to Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln, U.S. president 1861–65, has been memorialized in many town, city, and county names, Along with George Washington, he is an iconic image of American democracy and nationalism. Barry Schwartz, a sociologist who has examined America's cultural memory, states that in the 1930s and 1940s, the memory of Abraham Lincoln was practically sacred and provided the nation with "a moral symbol inspiring and guiding American life." During the Great Depression, he says, Lincoln served "as a means for seeing the world's disappointments, for making its sufferings not so much explicable as meaningful." Franklin D. Roosevelt,