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Description:

Accidental presidents are not unique in American History. Some have ascended to the office like Vice President Andrew Johnson did after the assassination President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, Vice President Chester Arthur after the assassination of President James Garfield in 1881, and Vice President Lyndon Johnson after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Then there are those who believed they won a presidential contest but really didn't like Andrew Jackson in 1832, Samuel Tilden in 1876, and Al Gore in 2000. Then again is the unique case of what was America's first acting and woman president: Edith Bolling Wilson. She was called the "steward" of the Executive Office after her husband, President Woodrow Wilson, suffered a severe and debilitating stroke in 1919 yet continued to serve as president until his term expired in 1921; Mrs. Wilson made the decisions on his behalf.

Join Compass Classroom's political science/economics instructor, retired college professor John Kornacki, to learn more in his new seminar series where students will examine more closely what happened during these eventful transitions in presidential leadership which left lingering consequences for the nation. This seminar employs a Socratic style format of questions, responses, and discussion. Students write short essays from time to time and choose one of the accidental or almost presidents to write a longer profile paper.