"FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE IN WATERGATE AFFAIR"

NIXON CHARGED WITH ARTICLE OF IMPEACHMENT BY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 27, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon was charged with the first of three articles of impeachment for "obstruction of justice" in the Watergate* affair.

The charges came as a result of Mr. Nixon's refusal to release audio tape recordings of his private conversations about the scandal.

The President was finally forced to release edited transcripts of the tapes but continued to refuse giving up the tapes themselves.

 JFK+50 NOTE

The House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 in approval of Article I.  6 Republicans joined 21 Democrats in this historic vote.  Two additional articles of impeachment were approved on July 29 and July 30, 1974.

The full House of Representatives never voted on the articles of impeachment because President Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.

Only 3 POTUS have been impeached (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton & Donald Trump x 2) but none have been found guilty & removed from office by virtue of a 2/3 majority.

*On June 17, 1972 a group of men linked to the Nixon White House were caught breaking into the Democratic HQ at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.  In July 1973, it was revealed that RMN had recorded his private conversations about Watergate.

SOURCES

"House begins impeachment of Nixon," www.history.com/

"Nixon Charged With Article One By House, July 27, 1974," JFK+50, July 27, 2011, www.jfk50.blogspot.com/

 

 

President Nixon Releases Tape Transcripts

April 29, 1974

White House Press Photo

RADICAL REPUBLICANS SEE THE PRESIDENT'S RECONSTRUCTION POLCIES TOO LENIENT

ANDREW JOHNSON IMPEACHED

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 24, 1868, the United States House of Representatives voted 11 articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.

Nine of the eleven articles related to Johnson's violation of the Tenure of Office Act by the removing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a radical who like many members of Congress opposed Johnson's reconstruction policies.  Radical Republicans*, who wanted to punish the South for the rebellion against the Union, believed the President's policies were too lenient.

Andrew Johnson became the first President of the United States in history to be impeached or charged with "high crimes and misdemeanors."**  The Senate impeachment trial (March 1868 ) ended with Johnson's acquittal. 

The final vote was 35 GUILTY, 19 NOT GUILTY, one vote shy of removal.  7 Republicans joined 12 Democrats to save Andrew Johnson's presidency.

*Radical Republicans (1854-1877) sought equality for African-Americans, free land for former slaves and voting rights for freedmen.  They also wanted to hold the South accountable for the Civil War.
 
**Two other POTUS would be impeached.  William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton was found not guilty and finished out his 2nd term.  Donald John Trump was found not guilty and is on track to not only finish his 1st term, but to be renominated by his party for a 2nd.

JFK+50 NOTE

By requiring a two-thirds GUILTY vote in the U.S. Senate, the Founding Fathers made the removal of a POTUS a daunting task for House prosecutors.  That is why, out of three impeachments, there have been no convictions.

After the most recent impeachment trial, in which every Senator save one in the charged president's party voted NOT GUILTY, a conviction in a future impeachment trial seems highly unlikely.

Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson

United States Senate

"EACH MAN MUST DECIDE FOR HIMSELF THE COURSE HE WILL FOLLOW"

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER ASKS MEMBERS TO "LOOK INTO...OWN SOUL" IN IMPEACHMENT VOTE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Nearing the end of eight hours of debate on the floor of the House of Representatives today, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer* (D- Maryland), speaking in favor of passage of two articles of impeachment of President Donald J. Trump, quoted the last words of Senator John F. Kennedy's Profiles In Courage...

"The stories of past courage can...teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration.  But they cannot supply courage itself.  For this each man must look into his own soul."

JFK preceded this quote with the following words...

"In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience, each man must decide for himself the course he will follow."

Chapter Six of Profiles In Courage covers Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas who defied his Republican party line to find President Andrew Johnson NOT GUILTY in his impeachment trial of 1868.  Senator Ross later wrote...

 "The Senators...leaned over their desks, many with hand to ear...It was a tremendous responsibility...I almost literally looked down into my open grave."

Senator Ross had cast the deciding vote which, to the dismay of the Radical Republicans, allowed Andrew Johnson to be acquitted and serve out the remainder of his presidential term.

*Steny Hamilton Hoyer was born in 1939 in New York City.  He graduated from the University of Maryland & Georgetown University Law Center (1966). SHH has served in the U.S. Congress since 1981.

SOURCE

"Profiles In Courage," by John F. Kennedy, The Illustrated Edition, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, New York. 

JFK+50 NOTE

Two articles of impeachment (abuse of power/obstruction of Congress) of President Trump were approved by majority vote on the floor of the House of Representatives tonight, December 18, 2019.

Both votes followed closely to party lines with not one Republican voting in favor of either article.  Mr. Trump is now the third POTUS to be impeached.  It is widely believed that he, like Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton before him, will be acquitted in a Senate trial. 

 Steny Hoyer

(D-Maryland)

U.S. Congress Photo 

                       JFK Library Image

HIGH CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS

ANDREW JOHNSON'S IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OPENS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week that a prospective impeachment of President Donald J. Trump "wasn't worth it" unless major transgressions were to be uncovered.  

Impeachment is certainly a last resort and the Founding Fathers wanted to make sure it was not undertaken lightly.  That is why they required a two-thirds guilty vote in a Senate trial for conviction.

Accordingly, only two POTUS have been impeached or "charged with high crimes or misdemeanors."  The first was Andrew Johnson* who went on trial March 13, 1868 although the Chief Justice agreed to give the defense ten days to prepare its case. 

In the end, President Johnson was acquitted and finished out the term to which he and Abraham Lincoln had been elected in 1864.  The second POTUS to be impeached was William Jefferson Clinton (1999) who also was acquitted but by a much wider margin.  Because of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon resigned the presidency (1974) and in doing so avoided certain impeachment and possible conviction.

*Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was born in Raleigh, NC & became a tailor in Greenville, TN.  AJ was elected to the TN House of Representatives (1835) & served in the US House of Representatives (1843-1853).

Johnson was Governor of TN (1853-1857) & US Senator (1857-1862 & 1875).  He served as Military Governor of TN & VPOTUS.  AJ assumed the presidency upon the death of Lincoln in 1865.

Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson

United States Senate Chamber

Illustration by T. R. Davis

Harper's Weekly

HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2230

PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON FACES ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) 149 years ago today, February 24, 1868, the United States House of Representatives voted in favor of eleven articles of impeachment* against President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.

Representative John Covode** of Pennsylvania presented the resolution for impeachment which passed, strictly along party lines, by a vote of 126 to 47.
According to Time-Life, however, the resolution called for appointment of a committee to 'report articles of impeachment,' which..."ignored the constitutional impeachment procedure..." that requires a preliminary investigation to be followed by, "the drawing up of formal charges (if warranted)."

Nine of the eleven charges related to the President's violation of the Tenure of Office Act by the removal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton who, like many Republican members of Congress, opposed Andrew Johnson's reconstruction policies which they considered to be too lenient.

Andrew Johnson, the first President of the United States to be impeached, had first suspended the War Secretary in August 1867 at a time when the Congress was recessed.    General Ulysses S. Grant was the temporary replacement.

The Senate restored Stanton after the Christmas break but the President then removed Stanton "outright," replacing him with General Lorenzo Thomas.
The Senate impeachment trial, held from March 13 to March 26, 1868, ended with Johnson's acquittal.  He completed his term which began on the death of President Abraham Lincoln.

*Impeachment is the process by which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which may include the removal of that official from office. 

Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states "The President, Vice-President & 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." 

**John Covode (1808-1871) was born in West Fairfield, PA.  He was the first president of Westmoreland Coal Company and served in the US Congress from 1855 to 1863 and 1867 to 1869.  He strongly supported the Freedman's Bureau, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Congressional Reconstruction.

SOURCE

"The Nation Reunited:  War's Aftermath," The Civil War Series, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1987. 

Honorable John Covode

Member of Congress (R-PA)

Photo by Matthew Brady &

Levin Corbin Handy

Library of Congress Image

DIEN BIEN PHU

BATTLE OF DIEN BIEN PHU BEGAN 60 YEARS AGO TODAY

French Indo China (JFK+50) Sixty years ago, March 13, 1954, 40,000 Viet Minh communists surrounded 15,000 French troops near the Laotian border.

The attack began with a surprise artillery barrage and very quickly the French command was decimated.

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu continued until May 7, 1954 with a Viet Minh victory over the French.

US M24 CHAFFEE Light Tank

used by the French in Vietnam

TENNESSEE SENATE PASSED ANTI-EVOLUTION LAW 89 YEARS AGO TODAY

Nashville, Tennessee (JFK+50) 89 years ago today, March 13, 1925. the state senate of Tennessee passed the Butler Act by a vote of 24 to 6.

The act, previously passed by the Tennessee House of Representatives, prohibited...

"the teaching of the Evolution Theory in all the Universities and all other public schools of Tennessee."

The Butler Act would be signed into law by Governor Peay on March 21 but was challenged in the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee in July 1925.

Journalist Walter Lippman compared the Butler Act to Jefferson's Virginia Act for Religious Freedom which says:

"to compel a man to furnish...money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is....tyrannical..."

Lippman pointed out that the Butler Act only prohibited the teaching of the evolution theory in schools of Tennessee which the taxpayers were required by law to contribute.

Walter Lippman

ANDREW JOHNSON IMPEACHMENT TRIAL BEGINS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, accused of the violation of the Tenure of Office Act, went on trial 141 years ago today, March 13, 1868, before the Senate of the United States.

Johnson, the 1st president to be impeached or "charged with high crimes or misdemeanors", became president on the death of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865.

Since becoming president, Johnson had been the target of radical Republicans who believed his reconstruction policies, like Lincoln's, were too lenient on the South.

Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presided over the trial which required, by the United States Constitution, a two-third guilty vote for removal from office.

The President's attorneys requested a 40 day period to prepare a defense. 

The Chief Justice ruled they would have only 10 days to prepare.  The trial would resume on March 23.

Ticket to Senate Gallery for Trial