History Podcast / EighteenSixtyFive

''1865'' is a historical fiction audio drama created by Steve Walters and Erik Archilla, in association with Lindsay Graham for Wondry and Airship. It’s website can be found [[https://airship.fm/1865-podcast/ here]].

April 14th, 1865. America reels with shock at the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Washington DC has been thrown into chaos, most especially especially Lincoln’s presidential cabinet. Is the assassination a plot by the Confederates? A lone wolf? Or perhaps it was sanctioned by one of Lincoln’s own inner circle.

* CrusadingLawyer: Stanton was one of these before going into politics.

** Towards the end of the series we hear the a monument is being constructed to honor the Confederacy in West Virginia, a state that stayed loyal to the Union. This symbolically represents the birth of the Lost Cause narrative.

* WarIsHell: Grant certainly think so. He’s haunted by his time in the war, and feel an immense amount of guilt over all the men who died under his command. The brief flashbacks of the war evoke this trope in spades.

* TimeSkip: The last two episodes skip ahead to 1867 and 1868 to cover Johnson’s impeachment.

* {{Prequel}}: The main show is followed by a three episode prequel miniseries that follows the life of John Wilkes Booth.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton must guide the nation through these turbulent times, and ensure a smooth transition once Vice President Andrew Johnson takes office. However, Johnson stands oppossed to almost everything Lincoln stood for. Moreover, Stanton begins to wonder if Johnson might have had a hand in the assassination. Thus begins a game of cat and mouse as the two men fight to ensure their vision for the future of America. In doing so, Stanton and Johnson must decide how far they’re willing to go, and what lines they’re willing to cross, to achevie their visions.

* ChangingOfTheGuard: Season two focuses on the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, and sees most of the characters from the first season depart the show. The is most exemplified by the end of the first episode which sees [[spoiler: Stanton’s death. Johnson also does midway through season two]].

* DoomedMoralVictor: The podcast ends with [[spoiler: Stanton finally succumbing to his asthma, five days after achieving his dream of being appointed to the Supreme Court]].

Season two follows the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. From the early days of his election, and his fight against the Ku Klux Klan, to the many accusations of corruption in that would come to haunt the letter half of his time in the White House.

* ChangingOfTheGuards: Season two focuses on the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, and sees most of the characters from the first season depart the show. The is most exemplified by the end of the first episode which sees [[spoiler: Stanton’s death. Johnson also does midway through season two]].

* TheAlcoholic: Grant is a Downplayed example. He does drink, with whisky being his drink of choice, but only during times of stress and emotional distress. This is hinted to be due to untreated PTSD from his time in the war.

* RebelliousRebel: Johnson, despite being a Southerner, stayed loyal to the Union during the civil war. On the other hand, he holds many views that aren’t all that different from the Confederates. [[NotSoDifferent He believes that blacks are inferior to whites, wants the South to be granted amnesty as quickly as possible, and even allows former Confederate generals to resume positions of authority within the South]].

* WonTheWarLostThePeace: Stanton and his fellow Radical Republicans feel this way regarding Reconstruction. True, the North defeated the South militarily, and the nation is reunited. However, not nearly enough is being done to protect the rights of African-Americans, and it will only get worse if the South receives amnesty, and thus Southerners are able to oppose Reconstruction from within Congress.
* YourCheatingHeart: Stanton leaks news of Johnson’s affair with Ella Star in an attempt to undermine Johnson’s credibility.

* AHouseDivided: Fittingly enough, this trope happens, with the cabinet picking sides between Johnson and Stanton. Later, Congress also picks sides, largely along partisan lines, after Johnson is impeached.
* InSeriesNickname: Lincoln refereed to Stanton and Welles, the secretaries of, respectively War and the Navy, as Mars and Neptune.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Stanton struggled with asthma for most of his life, and coughs constantly. [[spoiler: His asthma ultimately claims his life by 1868]].
* KnightInSourArmor: Stanton is very much this. He knows that the world is a cruel and often unkind place, and that he’s in for a considerable fight with Johnson, but he keeps fighting because he triply beleive that Lincoln’s legacy with ensure a more fair and just America for Americans of all races. This is especially the case after [[spoiler: Johnson grants amnesty to the South.]]

* UnexpectedSuccessor: Nobody, not even Lincoln and Johnson, expected Johnson to become president. Lincoln primarily took him on Vice President in hopes to keeping Boarder States from joining the Confederacy. Johnson becoming president at such a crucial times for America, and his opposition to many of Lincoln’s policies, forms the bulk of the plot and his conflict with Stanton.

* WonTheWarLostThePeace: Stanton and his fellow Radical Republicans feel this way regarding Reconstruction. True, the North defeated the South militarily, and the nation is reunited. However, not nearly enough is being done to protect the rights of African-Americans, and it will only get worse if the South receives amnesty, and thus Southerns are able to oppose Reconstruction from within Congress.

!! 1865 contains examples of: