Anyone happen to catch the History Channel's series called "The
History Channel Presents the Presidents"?

I happened to catch the segment covering Andrew Johnson who was
Lincoln's VP and became President after Lincoln died.

All too familiar story. Different issues, mostly related to
reconstruction after the Civil War, but the same kind of dirty
partisan politics in Congress that we see today, except it was worse.

Lincoln was a Republican but Johnson was a Democrat. The House was
controlled by Republicans and the same kind of bickering, name calling
and in-fighting that we witness today. Congress even tried to impeach
Johnson but he survived by a single vote.

Johnson was not a "negotiator". He demanded that things went his way
or no way. Congress voted to over-ride something like 73 Johnson
vetos on various bills.

It left me with a sense of optimism that this nation will survive all
the BS that is going on in Washington DC today. It isn't really new,
and we have survived much worse.