I was 17 at the time, I remember walking into the house and my parents were glued to the television. It was basically on every channel, the House of Representative voted to impeach President Bill Clinton. I remember the news asking people what they thought. The people they asked were divided. The older crowd was for his removal from office and the younger crowd was against it.
President Bill Clinton’s impeachment was not the first in American history. The first presidential impeachment was in 1868 when President Johnson had removed the then War Secretary. This was two years after the Tenure of Office Act, which barred the president from removing some major office holders in the government without the consent of the Senate.
After
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In 1867, the Republicans passed the Tenure of Office Act that occurred over the president’s veto. According to the Tenure of Office Act, the president did not possess enough power to remove an official that was put in office through senatorial approval. The act was mainly meant to protect those officials who were Republicans. Late 1867, President Johnson decided to put the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act to the test, this was done by replacing Stanton with Ulysses Grant. However, Johnson was forced to return the office back to Stanton after the Senate had put in place a measure to protest the president’s move. On February 21, 1968, Johnston decided to do away with Stanton forever. Johnston did this by replacing Stanton with Lorenzo Thomas. This Simple act leads to the impeachment of President Johnson and unlike Bill Clinton’s, it was a successful one (Foner 653). Fifty years from now, the Americans will be able to see that in a democracy, no one is indispensable including the president.
It was a sexual harassment case in 1994, by Paula Jones, a former Arkansas employee, in which the origins of Bill Clinton’s impeachment start. Ms. Jones made accusations that President Clinton had infringed some of her federal civil rights while she was an employee at Arkansas state while Clinton was the then governor of Arkansas. As per the allegations, President Clinton had
is all that people seem to remember about President Nixon's 6 years in office. This makes some
The first reason why Clinton was the worst President is because of the scandals of his extra marital affairs that came out to light. Clinton impressed people with the idea of a family man in office. In the face of allegations that he committed adultery and maintained a twelve-year love affair with Gennifer Flowers, Clinton used five strategies: denial, bolstering, attack accuser, transcendence, and differentiation (Blaney & Benoit, 2002). His strategies would not work again when the media brought to light another affair. It was a slap to the face of the Americans when in 1995 Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern (Blaney & Benoit, 2002). Clinton lied about his relationship with Lewinsky and he allowed his family, cabinet and staff to repeat his lies for seven months while he remained silent (Blaney & Benoit, 2002). Pandora’s Box was open and the reason for his impeachment is that he lied under oath during the testimony in the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit, and to the grand jury during the Monica Lewinsky investigation. So, the question arises, “Do we want our Chief Executive and Commander-in- Chief distracted by scandal when facing decisions of great domestic and foreign importance?” Regardless of one’s ideological learnings the answer ought to be “no,” because potential problems affecting all Americans might develop without recourse to the best possible decisions (Blaney & Benoit, 2002).This brought doubt among the American people that his
Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon should have been impeached. Andrew Jackson was in violation of tenure of office act because he replaced another person without the senate approval. Richard Nixon was accussed for the watergate break in which it was the tape recording that it was recorded. He knew about the break in at the watergate. Nixon was looking at impeachment and conviction but instead of those he resigned as a president. Nixon took the smart move was to take the money if he resigned from presidency if he was impeached he would not get the money. That tells me he was desperate for money. So he took the easy way out. Bill Clinton had the sex scandal going on with Monica and he had faced the impeachment of prejury and obstruction of justices.
This trial took place in 1999. Before Clinton was ever elected as president he had an encounter with a women by the name of Paula Jones. Paula Jones would come out about the encounter after Clinton was elected to presidency. In July of 1995, women by the name of Monica Lewinsky would be hired as an intern for Clinton. Months later they would begin having sexual relations. Mr. Kenneth Starr was put in charge of the investigation of Clinton and Lewinsky’s relationship. Clinton denies the fact that he had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky at all times. In October 1998, the House would vote to have an impeachment trial and would win with a vote of 258 to 176. By the time the trial ended, Bill Clinton would not be kicked out of the office by the
The impeachment of President Clinton is something that will be remembered forever. Along with the fact that a presidential impeachment has only happened one other time since the Civil War, the publicity that came with the Clinton trial was extensive (Miller 2004). While the Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives had vastly different views on impeaching President Clinton, the fact that only five Democratic Representatives voted to impeach him truly shows how wide that gap was between the two parties. Clinton was impeached on the grounds of perjury to a grand jury and obstruction of justice, with the vote on both articles extremely close, a 228-206 vote on perjury to a
Congress brought impeachment charges against Johnson in early 1868. It was the first impeachment of a U.S. president. Congress said Johnson violated the Tenure of Office Act and was obstructing the will of the people through an abusive use of veto power
President Bill Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, in 1995. Later in 1998, when confronted with questions in regards to an affair with Monica Lewinsky, Clinton lied under oath in front of a grand jury. This, however, was not his first lapse in judgment as viewed by the Senate and Congress. The President and his wife, Hillary, found themselves involved in the Whitewater scandal beginning in 1978. In addition, during his campaign, Clinton was accused of draft dodging and rumors were spread in regards to his possible marriage infidelity. President Bill Clinton continued to find himself caught in the middle of scandals involving: Whitewater, Paula Jones, and most notably, Monica Lewinsky. The way Clinton handled
The reason why he faced impeachment is because in November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, she was a 21 year old unpaid intern. In April 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon. In the summer, Monica confided in Pentagon co-worker Linda Tripp about her relationship with the president. In 1997, the relationship was over, Linda began to secretly record conversations with Lewinsky, so she would get details about the affair. In December, lawyers for Paula Jones brought Monica. In January 1998, allegedly under the recommendation of the president, Monica denied having a relationship with the president. Five days later, Linda contacted the office of Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater counsel, to talk about Monica and the tapes she made of their conversations. Linda, who was wired by FBI agents, met with Monica again and Monica was taken by FBI agents and U.S. attorneys to a hotel room where she was questioned and was offered immunity if she cooperated. Few days later, the story was out and Clinton denied the allegations saying, “I did not have a relationship with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.” Clinton spoke a live television to a grand jury in a nearby federal courthouse. He was the first sitting president to testify before a grand jury investigating his conduct. Clinton gave a four minute televised address to the nation which he admitted he had a relationship with Lewinsky. On December 11th, the House Judiciary Committee
In 1868 the house impeached president Johnson; nevertheless, the trial in the senate was short one vote to kick him out.
by 1868 Radical Reps had decided Johnson must be removed from office; they tried early on to impeach him on flimsy charges before Johnson provided the occasion for impeachment when he deliberately violated the Tenure of Office Act in suspending Stanton
One of the things Clinton is most famous for, but not the proudest of, is his affairs. The issue of Clinton having an affair with Monica Lewinsky is purely personal. It should have been discussed within his family and in his family alone. Many people seem to forget that Presidents before him have done the exact same thing. John F Kennedy is probably the best known with his affairs. This doesn't diminish the fact that Clinton took it one step farther and lied about the affairs.
Richard Nixon's first term as president will always be connected with the Watergate scandal, the biggest political scandal in United States history. Various illegal activities were conducted including burglary, wire tapping, violations of campaign financing laws, sabotage, and attempted use of government agencies to harm political opponents to help Richard Nixon win reelection in the 1972 presidential elections. There were about 40 people charged with crimes related to the scandal. Most of them were convicted by juries or pleaded guilty. Watergate involved more high-level government officials than any previous scandal. It has been etched in the minds of millions and is still being recalled today when faced with the present day scandal of
Only two presidents, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, have officially been impeached, and neither was successfully removed from office.
On January 17th, 1998, President Clinton videotaped a deposition for the Paula Jones lawsuit against him. December 19th, eleven months later, Bill Clinton became only the second president in our nation’s history to face impeachment from congress. The 1998-1999 was a tumultuous year for the President, the media, and the American people as a whole.
There was an issue in 1998 that involved personal indiscretions with a young woman White House intern, which cause Bill to be the second U.S. President to be impeached by the House of Representatives.