Two of the three presidential impeachment proceedings in the history of the United States occurred in the late 20th century. The first of the two was against Richard M. Nixon in 1974 for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress for his part in the Watergate scandal. The second was against William J. Clinton in 1998-99 for perjury, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power in the Lewinsky affair.
On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee approved its first article of impeachment, charging Nixon with obstruction of justice. This article maintained that Nixon used the powers of the presidency to impede the investigations into the Watergate break-in (a burglary by Republican operatives into the Democratic campaign headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D. C., during the 1972 election) and to protect those responsible. President Nixon was accused of making false statements, withholding relevant materials, approving the false statements of others, interfering in investigations by the Department of Justice and the FBI, misuse of the CIA, leaking information to suspects, and promising favors to defendants to remain quiet about executive involvement. This article was approved by a vote of 27-11.
The second article, abuse of power, was adopted on July 29, 1974 by a vote of 28-10. This article dealt with the Nixon administration’s use of the Internal Revenue Service as a political tool, conducting audits against political enemies. In addition, it deemed as abuse Nixon’s use of the FBI and Secret Service to conduct illegal electronic surveillance, and the concealment of records from this surveillance was deemed abuse. The use of the “burglars” to obtain information about Daniel Ells-berg, a former Pentagon official who had released documents concerning America’s involvement in Vietnam, was another source for this charge. Finally, the second article charged that Nixon failed to take action against his subordinates when he learned of their participation, and that he used executive power to interfere with investigations. The final article, contempt of Congress, stemmed from his resistance to releasing to the Judiciary Committee White House tapes of his conversations in the Oval Office. This article was approved by a largely party-line vote of 21-17 on July 30, 1974.
The committee’s articles never reached a full House Of Representatives vote and Senate trial. On August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned the presidency, the only president ever to resign. Vice President Gerald R. Ford succeeded him and granted Nixon a full pardon for any crimes he may have committed.
The second impeachment proceeding led to the first impeachment of an elected president, Bill Clinton, since 1868. The beginning of the investigation concerned President Clinton’s involvement in the Whitewater scandal, but the investigation of this affair led to an investigation of an obstruction of justice concerning Clinton’s affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The first article of impeachment held that the president had lied under oath about the intimate relationship with Monica Lewinsky. This article was approved 21-16 along party lines, with Republicans in the majority, by the House Judiciary Committee on December 11, 1998.
The second article charged that Clinton also perjured himself in a civil sexual harassment case brought against him by a former Arkansas state employee, Paula Jones. This article was approved 20-17 on December 11, 1998. The third article, relating to the Jones case, cited seven instances of obstruction of justice. The first two charged that Clinton had suborned (encouraged) perjury of a witness in the form of an affidavit and testimony. The third charged that Clinton had concealed evidence; the fourth charged that Clinton had found a job for a witness with harmful testimony; the fifth said that Clinton allowed his attorney to make false and misleading statements to a federal judge; the sixth was that Clinton recounted a false account of the events in question to a potential witness; and the seventh charge was that Clinton tampered with grand jury witnesses, causing them to give false information to the grand jury. This article was also approved 21-16 on December 11, 1998.
The final article of impeachment against Bill Clinton charged that he abused executive power by making perjurious statements to Congress in his answers to the 81 questions posed by the Judiciary Committee. It was approved 21-16 along party lines on December 12, 1998.
The full House of Representatives approved Articles One and Three, and the Senate began President Clinton’s impeachment trial on January 7, 1999. For the president to be removed from office, 67 senators would have to vote against him. The prosecution argued that Clinton’s perjury and obstruction of justice were grounds for impeachment, even though these actions occurred over “personal” matters. The defense argued that the entire case was circumstantial and did not rise to the constitutional standard to remove the president. After five weeks of testimony and deliberation, the Senate acquitted Clinton on both articles. The Senate was split along party lines, 55 Republicans and 45 Democrats. On Article One, 55 senators, including 10 Republicans, voted not guilty. On Article Three, the Senate split 50 for and 50 against, thereby ending the impeachment proceedings.
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