::::::::
I guess y'all have read the book, too. John Nichols' Genius of Impeachment. I hope everyone read where he talked about American presidents who were actually impeached and those who got the message after impeachment hearings. Guess what? Two were actually impeached, which meant they had to be tried in the Senate with the Chief Justice presiding. Many remember when Bill Clinton had that happen to him. The other was Andrew Johnson, after the Civil War, and he, too, did not have to leave office.So there are six more whose cases were seriously mentioned in the US House. Tyler--that was a long time ago and it's best to read in history books, because it involved political party shifts. The other five are within my life time, and I didn't understand nearly what I thought I knew about impeachment until I reread that section of John Nichols' book. (Around page 85).
Articles of impeachment against Herbert Hoover centered around mismanagement of the Federal Reserve Board and ordering troops to fire on veterans during the "Bonus March" after he was already a lame duck. (Remember presidents used to take office in March after a November election.) Then a man by the name of George Harrison Bender, equally outraged by the New Deal and the Fair Deal, did his best to unseat Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Someone was always on Roosevelt's case. I guess he was singled out over the "packing the Supreme Court" and maybe the first AAA (agriculture act). Congressman Bender lost his seat for a time after FDR died but gained it back to plague Harry Truman during his last two years in office. The beef was over going into Korea without proper legislation from Congress, and also ordering in the army to run the steel companies.
Next came Nixon. And most everyone knows how the committee met on television to discuss how Richard Nixon thought he could claim "executive privilege." Although he had a half term remaining, he decided to resign rather than face almost certain impeachment. Watergate, which started the fuss, happened in June 1972 and impeachment hearings were the last week of July 1974. But remember it took a long time to find the "smoking gun." John Dean is the one who knows that part of the case. Let's just say he was "no Alberto Gonzalez." Reagan and George Bush, the president's father, rounds out the list where there were serious thoughts of impeachment. The first for activity in the Iran/Contra affair, and the latter over his desire to save Kuwait from Saddam without asking for Congress' approval.
I'm sure glad I met up with David Swanson on a blog, and he told me to read the book! Good advice.
