His appointment of Hancock and Hancock’s acceptance were political maneuvers, not acts of violence. Yet they did strike fear in the hearts of the weak-kneed or paranoid—and Johnson’s recklessness disturbed his defense team. As for the rumors, cooler heads said they should be ignored. “I cannot believe there is really any danger of armed resistance to impeachment, the force which Johnson could command is so small, and the suicidal folly of such a course so evident,” Moorfield Storey wisely observed. “Still,” he added, as if with a shake of the head, “Johnson is an exception to all rules.”
