Wrong. He technically was never impeached.
Articles of Impeachment against President Nixon, 1974
These articles were passed by the House Judiciary Committee but never voted upon by the full House because President Nixon resigned before a vote could occur.
RESOLVED, That Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. . . .
Article One: [for] making false or misleading statement to delay, cover up, or conceal evidence relating to the Watergate break-ins by:
* making false and misleading statements to the government and the people
* withholding information
* allowing/encouraging witnesses to give false or misleading statements
* attempting to interfere with FBI and other investigations into the break-ins
* allowing secret payments to influence witnesses
* attempting to misuse the CIA
* leaking information about the investigation to help the accused
* insinuating that people who refuse to testify against him or who give false testimony will receive favors
Article Two: . . . [for having] engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens . . . and impairing the due and proper administration of justice . . . by:
* using confidential tax return information to initiate tax audits in a discriminatory manner
* misusing the FBI, Secret Service, and other government employees by allowing their information to be used for purposes other than national security or the enforcement of laws
* allowing a secret investigative unit within his office
* using campaign contributions and the CIA in an attempt to sway the fair trial process
* has failed in faithfully executing the law
* knowingly misusing the executive power by interfering with agencies within the executive branch
Article Three: . . . has willfully disobeyed the subpoenas of and failed without lawful cause or excuse to produce papers and information for the House Judiciary Committee . . . assuming to himself the functions and judgments given to the House of Representatives by the Constitution.
Two U.S. presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth chief executive, and William J. Clinton, the forty-second.
Johnson, a Southern Democrat who became president after Lincoln's assassination, supported a mild policy of Reconstruction after the Civil War. The Radical Republicans in Congress were furious at his leniency toward ex-Confederates and obvious lack of concern for ex-slaves, demonstrated by his veto of civil rights bills and opposition to the Fourteenth Amendment. To protect Radical Republicans in Johnson's administration and diminish the strength of the president, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in 1867, which prohibited the president from dismissing office holders without the Senate's approval. A defiant Johnson tested the constitutionality of the Act by attempting to oust Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. His violation of the Act became the basis for impeachment in 1868. But the Senate was one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict, and Johnson was acquitted May 26, 1868.
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Senator Charles Sumner, witness to the proceedings, defined them as "political in character." Historians today generally agree with his assessment and consider the grounds for Johnson's impeachment flimsy—the Tenure of Office Act was partially repealed in 1887,and then declared unconstitutional in 1926.
Bill Clinton was ultimately dragged down—though not defeated—by the character issues brought into question even before his election. An investigation into some suspect real estate dealings in which Clinton was involved prior to his presidency failed to turn up any implicating evidence. However, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr managed to unravel a tangled web of alleged sexual advances and affairs in Clinton's past. The trail led to former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky. After months of denials, including in a videotaped legal testimony, Clinton admitted in August of 1998 that he had had a sexual relationship with the young woman during the time of her internship.
The infamous "Starr Report" outlining the findings of the Independent Counsel's investigation was delivered to the House of Representatives on Sept. 9, 1998, and subsequently made available to the public. Many felt the report, filled with lurid details of Clinton's sexual encounters with Lewinsky, to be a political attack against the President rather than a legal justification for his impeachment. Of the 11 possible grounds for impeachment cited by Starr, four were eventually approved by the House Judiciary Com
Articles of Impeachment were voted on and approved by the House Judiciary Committee.
That means that he was impeached. The votes for impeachment in the House were there as well, which was well known to Nixon, which prompted Nixon to resign and avoid the subsequent trial in the Senate.
In other words...his goose was cooked.
Orca |
