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Impeachment

Impeachment


The precedent of impeachment of high public officials took place for several times in political history of the United States. However, there were only two cases in which the President of the US was impeached by the House of Representatives and one case in which that nearly happened. It is remarkably that Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton are mostly known not for their political decisions and work for the welfare of the nation, but for the scandals around their names. This essay will analyze the grounds for each President's impeachment and compare the character of the events which unrolled around each case.

The US constitution reserves a place for the impeachment of president in Article I, Sections 2 and 3, and in Article II, Section 4. The first regulate the procedures, while the letter provides grounds for impeachment: "the President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" (Brunner, B., 2006). The procedure is twofold involving the formal accusation by the majority vote of the House of Representatives and a trial and conviction by the two-thirds of the Senate. Since 1797 the House of Representatives voted for the impeachment of 16 high federal officials two of which were the Presidents.

The first President to be impeached by the House was Andrew Johnson. He took office upon the death of President Lincoln and became the first Vice President who succeeded to Presidency upon the assassination of his precursor. The developments which culminated in his attempted impeachment by the House of Representatives and the Senate were caused by his confrontation with the latter over the issue of freedmen and the sanctions against the southern states. After the 1866 scandal in which the group of ex-confederates attacked the members of Radical political convention in New Orleans it became clear that Johnson's reconstruction politics were too tolerant. This was the key reason for the later tensions the between the President and the Northern states. Johnson's vetoing the Radicals' initiatives only poured oil on the flames. The battle between the President vetoing the Congress laws, and the Congress, overriding vetoes, led to the pressure the Congress started to put upon the President himself.

Finally, the Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act which deprived the President of the right to fire any government officials without Senate’s approval. The law was again vetoed by Andrew Johnson and again his veto was overturned. The crisis culminated in Johnson's attempt to fire Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War. This act was the reason for the House of Representatives to vote on impeachment on February 24, 1868. While the key discord in President vs. Congress relations was the issue of black rights and Southern states governmental reform there were no such grounds to impeach Johnson. Thus, the bulk of accusation imputed to him was in regard to Stanton’s firing. The latter was a weak reason for charging the President of "high crimes or misdemeanors". Consequently, a month later the President, who did not even attend the court, was acquitted of charges. The entire conflict brought no resolution to the existing tensions and problems. While Johnson won his Presidency the military reconstruction in the South continued. With 9 month left till the elections Johnson could do little to defend his political course (The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, 1998).

While President Johnson is said to have lost the entire battle with the opposing Senate his case serves the example of an attempt to overtake the government by one of the branches of power. Such a crucial decision as impeachment can not be taken on the grounds of opposite political views. In Johnson's case the constitutionality prevailed and the efficiency of the separation of powers between the Congress, the President and the Judiciary was substantiated.

The President who was nearly impeached by the Congress was Richard Nixon. He was the 37th president of the United States elected in 1968 and re-elected for his second term in 1972. During his presidency Nixon achieved notable economic changes. He imposed a wage price freeze to stop inflation, removed the US from the gold standard, and eventually, introduced the complex system of wage price controls. However, no economic or domestic achievement could be compared in its publicity and social impact to the Watergate scandal which eventually led to President Nixon's resignation (Richard Nixon, n.d.).

The developments around his future impeachment unrolled in 1972, when five night burglars were arrested for entering Watergate office complex in Washington, where the Democratic National Committee offices were situated. The subsequent scandal and investigation revealed the series of violations and facts of abuse of power by the President's administration. The break-in started the series of disclosures and denunciations which involved the secret bombing campaign against Cambodia during the Vietnam War, gathering intelligence information to prevent political enemies of Nixon from success, bugging the Democratic National Committee, secret funding of political spying etc.

The scandal achieved its climax in February 1973, when the Senate initiated an investigation into presidential campaign activities to examine the events surrounding Watergate and other sabotage and political spying precedents which had place on behalf of Nixon's office. During the trial Nixon denied his personal involvement in any case and refused to accept accusation his team was charged with. Despite that, the series of Nixon's officials who conceivably participated in sabotages resigned. On August 8, 1974, in light of his almost certain impeachment and critical loss of support in Congress President Nixon announced his resignation. A month later, Gerald Ford, who succeeded Nixon, granted him a full pardon for any crimes that might have been committed by Nixon (Richard Nixon: 37th U.S. President, n.d.). After his resignation Richard Nixon committed himself to further work. He gained praise as elder statesman and written the number of books on foreign policy and public life. He died on April 22, 1994, being the only President ever to resign.

The most recent precedent of impeachment happened to President Bill Clinton as the result of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The key accusation which made the House of Representatives to vote articles of impeachment consisted in the fact of lies the President allegedly resorted to during the grand jury testimony. The charges, passed in the House of Representatives, were based on the Republican initiative and a couple of democratic votes, and involved the accusation of perjury and the obstruction of justice. On February 12, 1999, the President was acquitted with the vote falling short of two-thirds majority, necessary to convict the office holder under the Constitutional requirement. The perjury charge received 55 votes to acquit and the obstruction charge gained 50/50. As well as the President Johnson Bill Clinton retained his office and remained the President till the end of his term (Clinton Impeachment, n.d.).

While the precedents of impeachment of Presidents happened very rare in the United States' political practice each of the reviewed cases had different grounds for its legitimacy and held different message for the nation. The case of Andrew Johnson is the example of political struggle and the attempt of "legal" assuming of the full governmental power by one of the three branches. In this case the law was proved to be the leading force in the United States and the anti-presidential lobby failed to overthrow the President. On the contrary, the case of Richard Nixon is the example of abuse of power by the President and his office. In this case the governmental machine was found to be effective in preventing the key political figure of the country from excessive use of authority for attaining personal goals. At the same time, having most evident grounds for impeachment the scandal was smoothed to maintain the image of honor of the President. The recent Clinton vs. Monika Lewinsky case was also absolutely different from the preceding cases. Here, the initial conflict had interpersonal character but was later swelled to unexampled extent. As the outcome of the scandal the precise after-pains emerged as the very case had the shade of intentional discredit of the President.

The most remarkable is the fact that in each case the President was acquitted or merely did not lose his face. At the same time, each case demonstrates that there could be no possible tolerance for the violation of law by the President. Being the key political figure and the leader of the country the President cannot afford himself to be involved in any scandal dishonoring his name and position. Also, all of three cases demonstrate the effectiveness of the separation of power in United States which proved to be unbiased and provided for independent justice.




References
Brunner, B. (2006). A Short History of Impeachment: High crimes and misdemeanors. Retrieved October 16, 2006, from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/impeach.html
Clinton Impeachment. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2006, from http://www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/e-gov/e-politicalarchive-Clintonimpeach.htm
Richard Nixon. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2006, from http://www.historycentral.com/bio/presidents/nixon.html
Richard Nixon: 37th U.S. President. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2006, from http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/impeachments/nixon.htm
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. (1998). Retrieved October 16, 2006, from http://www.crf-usa.org/impeachment/impeachment1.html
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Posted by: Helen P. Nash

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