Eight Presidents We Didn't Elect

In 1868, President Andrew Johnson found himself impeached and on trial before the U.S. Senate. Over the course of his term, he had essentially declared war on his own government, vetoing an outrageous 29 bills, firing officials without Senate permission, and pardoning old pals. Congress fought back: 15 vetoes were overridden, and after a nearly three-month trial Abe Lincoln's successor barely escaped conviction. “The question of whether a president could govern while being on trial was a hot topic,” writes Jared Cohen in Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America, out this month from Simon & Schuster. “Johnson clearly thought he could.”