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What happened when US presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton faced impeachmenthttps://www.businessinsider.in/miscellaneous/what-happened-when-us-presidents-andrew-johnson-richard-nixon-and-bill-clinton-faced-impeachment/slidelist/71301141.cms2019-09-25T23:40:47+05:30

What happened when US presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton faced impeachment

Sep 25, 2019, 23:40 IST

Former President Andrew Johnson was the first sitting president to ever face impeachment proceedings.

It all began when he removed his Secretary of War Edward Stanton from office in 1867, which breached the Tenure of Office Act.

Three days later, on February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives impeached Johnson by a vote of 126-47.

From March to May 1868, over 11 weeks, the Senate tried Johnson's case, and finally voted to acquit him. The vote was 35 guilty to 19 not guilty.

Over 100 years later, the two-year crisis that would lead to Nixon's resignation began on June 17, 1972, when five men were arrested after breaking into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate hotel in D.C.

In July, Nixon refused to hand over taped phone calls, which were thought to connect Nixon to the burglary and its cover-up. They are known as the "Nixon tapes."

In October, more controversy followed, including several high White House officials resigning rather than following Nixon's order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was leading the investigation into misconduct by Nixon.

On May 9, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee began impeachment proceedings against Nixon. The House of Representatives authorized the proceedings with an overwhelming vote of 410-4.

By July 1974, the House Judiciary Committee found Nixon had obstructed justice, misused his power, and was in contempt of Congress. The three charges were sent to the floor for a full House vote.

But before the house could vote to impeach Nixon, he resigned on August 8, 1974. He is the only president to ever resign.

President Bill Clinton is the most recent president to face impeachment proceedings. From early 1994, he was dealing with scandals, beginning with a financial investigation known as "Whitewater."

That same year, Paula Jones sued him, accusing the president of sexual harassment.

In January 1998, during Jones' case, Clinton denied under oath that he'd ever had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

But news of Clinton's affair with Lewinsky got out.

On October 8, 1998, just days after the tapes were released, the House of Representatives voted for impeachment proceedings to begin against Clinton.

On December 11, 1998, the House approved three articles of impeachment along party lines — that Clinton had lied to a grand jury, he had committed perjury by denying his relationship with Lewinsky, and he had obstructed justice.

On December 19, 1998, the House impeached Clinton for two of the articles — perjury and obstructing justice. The votes were 228-206, and 221-212, also largely along party lines.

Clinton was tried by the Senate and acquitted on February 12, 1999.

Clinton sill had two years of his second term in office left. He spent it winning a 79-day war in Kosovo, normalizing US trade relations with China and Vietnam, and presiding over a very strong economy.

Now President Donald Trump will be the fourth president to face a formal impeachment investigation.

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