Which U.S. vice president became president after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated?

Andrew Johnson became president after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

Johnson had been Lincoln’s vice president since March 1865, when the two men ran together on the National Union ticket during the Civil War. Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, and died early the next morning. Johnson took the presidential oath on April 15 at Kirkwood House in Washington, D.C.

Johnson was a Democrat from Tennessee who supported the Union, making him a politically useful running mate for Lincoln’s 1864 reelection campaign. His accession came just as the Civil War was ending, so his presidency immediately faced enormous questions about Reconstruction, the former Confederate states, and the rights of formerly enslaved people.

A frequent mistake is choosing William H. Seward, the secretary of state, because he was also targeted in the assassination conspiracy. Seward survived an attack. Hannibal Hamlin had been Lincoln’s vice president during his first term, but Johnson was the vice president in 1865. Johnson served until 1869 and was succeeded by Ulysses S. Grant.