President Breckinridge--Republican

[David Tenner]

No, not John C. Breckinridge, of course, but his uncle Robert Jefferson
Breckinridge. "He was chosen as the temporary chair of the 1864 Republican
National Convention [technically, it was called the National Union Party
convention--DT] that re-nominated Lincoln for president, and his pro-Union
speech was hailed by freshman Representative James G. Blaine as one of the
most inspiring given at the event."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jefferson_Breckinridge What if he is so
inspiring that Republicans conclude that *this* (rather than Andrew Johnson
or Joseph Holt) is the Southern Unionist Lincoln needs to balance his ticket?
Then, of course, the ticket wins--and Lincoln is murdered on schedule...

[Rich Rostrom]

Post by David Tenner
What if he is so
inspiring that Republicans conclude that *this* (rather than Andrew Johnson
or Joseph Holt) is the Southern Unionist Lincoln needs to balance his ticket?
Then, of course, the ticket wins--and Lincoln is murdered on schedule...

An interesting sidelight on this man: he had four sons:
two fought for the Union and two for the Confederacy.

One of the latter two (Willie) came back to Kentucky after the
war, and became a Democrat politician (eventually serving
five terms in the US House). He also became a fervent advocate of
racial equality before the law, pushing to have black testimony
admitted in courts, and to end black disfranchisement. As a
_Democrat_.