Benjamin Wade (October 27, 1800 – March 2, 1878) was a Radical Republican US Senator representing the state of Ohio during the period of the American Civil War. He chaired the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, among other committees. He also served as Preseident pro tempore of the Senate, and so was next in line to the presidency during the Andrew Johnson Administration. Wade's role in the impeachment of Johnson was seen as distasteful by many, Republican and Democrat, precisely because he had a unique interest in the trial's outcome.