As we recently learned about the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, it made me curious about other presidential impeachments and the situations surrounding them.
President Andrew Johnson
Southerner and democrat Andrew Johnson had taken over after the assassination of President Lincoln. Radical Republicans were advocates for reconstruction of the south, and equal rights for the black southerners. They had a huge majority in Congress. When Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 in response to the black codes, Johnson vetoed it, saying that it was an invasion of State's Rights and it "would cause discord among races". The Radical Republicans overrode this veto, however, and interpreted the vetoing as an act of aggression, and were outraged. He continued to oppose Radical Republican legislature, including the fourteenth amendment, and he attempted to veto Military Reconstruction Act, Command of the Army Act, and Tenure of Office Act, but each of these vetoes were overridden. When Johnson attempted to impeach Stanton, Congress was outraged, as it went against the Tenure of Office Act, and they used it as grounds for impeachment. The trial in the Senate began March 5, 1868. He was one vote from the two thirds needed to impeach him, but the last voter, Edmund Ross voted against him leaving office. So, he stayed in office, but played more as a puppet for Congress for the rest of his term. He actually returned to politics as a Senator five years after.
President Richard Nixon
On June 17, 1972, five burglars were caught breaking into Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate apartment complex. The investigation led to suspicions that the break-in had been organized by newly-elected Richard Nixon. However, the White House staff denied all of these rumors. This opened the floodgates to a lot of people coming out and exposing issues that Nixon had covered up, including a secret bombing campaign against neutral Cambodia in the Vietnam war, and illegal wiretapping of politicians both in his party and in the Democratic party. It also exposed a number of dirty tricks used in the election by Nixon, He had done things such as wiretapping opposing candidates, forging letters that seemed to be written by enemies of his, and most importantly, the breaking into the Watergate building. When Nixon attempted to fire a governmental official who was picked to specifically help in the investigation of the scandal, the calls for impeachment began. In interviews with the media, he tried to keep his innocence, saying "I am not a crook". While the impeachment processes were underway, and new evidence had come to light, Nixon decided to resign. Although he wasn't impeached, the impeachment vote was about to begin. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford, who pardoned him of all crimes as president.
Bill Clinton
Clinton's administration had been followed by controversy ever since he had been elected. It started when many of Clinton's subordinates were abruptly fired and replaced by friends from his home state. Another came when after one of Clinton's men, Vince Foster, was found dead, having apparently committed suicide, and Clinton refused to let investigators into Foster's office, only letting them in after his aides had gone through the office. He had allegedly removed papers about an ongoing investigation of Whitewater Development Corporation, which was created by Bill and Hillary Clinton, and some associates. It led to the investigations of Clinton being led by Republican Kenneth Starr. For four years, he led what were known as the Starr investigations, which included many more scandals. This included a sexual assualt case in Arkansas, and more famous the Lewinsky affair.
During this investigation, Clinton began having an affair with young White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Criticisms came after she had gotten help from Clinton's associates to get a high-up job in New York. During the investigation, Clinton, under oath, denied that he had had sexual relations with Lewinsky. For months, he and his cabinet continued to deny the affair. Eventually, Starr was able to contain a DNA match, and proved that the allegations were true. Lewinsky came before the court and denied that she had been told to be quiet, but described what had happened. Clinton admitted to the court, and apologized to the public on live TV that night. Starr then brought forward 11 impeachable crimes, and there were calls for Clinton to resign. Despite Democrats in Congress pushing hard to stop the impeachment of President, the Republicans managed to get their small majority (218 votes) that they needed to get him removed from office. Clinton was technically the first president to be impeached and removed from office.
Source: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/impeachments/
On June 17, 1972, five burglars were caught breaking into Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate apartment complex. The investigation led to suspicions that the break-in had been organized by newly-elected Richard Nixon. However, the White House staff denied all of these rumors. This opened the floodgates to a lot of people coming out and exposing issues that Nixon had covered up, including a secret bombing campaign against neutral Cambodia in the Vietnam war, and illegal wiretapping of politicians both in his party and in the Democratic party. It also exposed a number of dirty tricks used in the election by Nixon, He had done things such as wiretapping opposing candidates, forging letters that seemed to be written by enemies of his, and most importantly, the breaking into the Watergate building. When Nixon attempted to fire a governmental official who was picked to specifically help in the investigation of the scandal, the calls for impeachment began. In interviews with the media, he tried to keep his innocence, saying "I am not a crook". While the impeachment processes were underway, and new evidence had come to light, Nixon decided to resign. Although he wasn't impeached, the impeachment vote was about to begin. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford, who pardoned him of all crimes as president.
Bill Clinton
Clinton's administration had been followed by controversy ever since he had been elected. It started when many of Clinton's subordinates were abruptly fired and replaced by friends from his home state. Another came when after one of Clinton's men, Vince Foster, was found dead, having apparently committed suicide, and Clinton refused to let investigators into Foster's office, only letting them in after his aides had gone through the office. He had allegedly removed papers about an ongoing investigation of Whitewater Development Corporation, which was created by Bill and Hillary Clinton, and some associates. It led to the investigations of Clinton being led by Republican Kenneth Starr. For four years, he led what were known as the Starr investigations, which included many more scandals. This included a sexual assualt case in Arkansas, and more famous the Lewinsky affair.
During this investigation, Clinton began having an affair with young White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Criticisms came after she had gotten help from Clinton's associates to get a high-up job in New York. During the investigation, Clinton, under oath, denied that he had had sexual relations with Lewinsky. For months, he and his cabinet continued to deny the affair. Eventually, Starr was able to contain a DNA match, and proved that the allegations were true. Lewinsky came before the court and denied that she had been told to be quiet, but described what had happened. Clinton admitted to the court, and apologized to the public on live TV that night. Starr then brought forward 11 impeachable crimes, and there were calls for Clinton to resign. Despite Democrats in Congress pushing hard to stop the impeachment of President, the Republicans managed to get their small majority (218 votes) that they needed to get him removed from office. Clinton was technically the first president to be impeached and removed from office.
Source: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/impeachments/
Thanks for posting! One thing I'm a little confused about... was Clinton impeached solely because of the Lewinsky affair, or did any of it have to do directly with the Vince Foster case?
ReplyDeleteThe Johnson impeachment stuff shows how democracy doesn't always work, which is weird for us to think about because most of us feel like a democracy/republic is the best type of government there is. The Johnson case shows that corruption can still occur, since Johnson was being controlled by Congress and couldn't do anything about it. I wonder if there are any safeguards against this today, or if the three branches are supposed to prevent this?
Clinton was directly impeached (in a strict legal sense) for lying about his relations with Lewinsky in a deposition for a suit brought against him for sexual harassment by Paula Jones. Of course the affair with Lewinsky certainly brought a moral element to his impeachment but in the strictest sense it was the perceived deception while under oath in the deposition.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify President Clinton was impeached but was not removed as the necessary 2/3 vote for removal was not reached, though the vote in the Senate did produce a significant push for removal but in the end, it fell short of the necessary 2/3 threshold. He served the remainder of his second term (ending in 2000).