Forty-five years before this softcover edition of High Crimes and Misdemeanors is first published in 2019, the only bipartisan impeachment of a US president occurred. Technically, Richard M. Nixon was not impeached; he resigned before he could be. But, he resigned because impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal from office by the US was assured. And, the House took an overwhelming vote to impeach him in absentia.There were two others, but history has labeled both of them unjustified and purely political ...
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Forty-five years before this softcover edition of High Crimes and Misdemeanors is first published in 2019, the only bipartisan impeachment of a US president occurred. Technically, Richard M. Nixon was not impeached; he resigned before he could be. But, he resigned because impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal from office by the US was assured. And, the House took an overwhelming vote to impeach him in absentia.There were two others, but history has labeled both of them unjustified and purely political actions-Andrew Johnson in 1868, and Bill Clinton in 1999. Neither was removed from office, however, the Senate votes to do so falling short of the two-thirds majority necessary to do so. Only Nixon left office because of impeachment.The hardcover edition of High Crimes and Misdemeanors was published in 1978 by W.W. Norton. The book jacket flap read: Several units of government played vital roles in Richard Nixon's eventual ouster. He could resist all but one. Congress.The Congress most directly represented the American people. After twenty-eight of the thirty-eight members of the House Judiciary Committee voted for impeachment in July 1974, the choices Nixon had were obvious.Howard Fields covered the total impeachment process for United Press International from April 30, 1973, until the summer of 1974, when Nixon resigned and the committee issued its final damning report, probably putting presidential impeachment to rest for another one hundred years.His is the dramatic story of an impeachment inquiry that was accidentally successful, a process directed by an overly cautious Peter W. Rodino, concerned lest he go down in history as the leader of a kangaroo court. But, it is also the story of an impeachment inquiry that probably would have failed in other hands.Richard Nixon has continued to claim his innocence, but this book sets forth the evidence as it was put before an extraordinary gathering of congressmen and congresswomen of every political persuasion, lawmakers who, for the most part, reluctantly, concluded that there was sufficient evidence of impeachable offenses to warrant Nixon's removal from office.The impeachment proceedings against Nixon not only established the facts of a case, but strengthened the democratic system of government.Howard Fields lives in Arlington, Virginia.Unfortunately, the book flap was not prophetic; impeachment was not put to rest "for another hundred years."This edition of High Crimes and Misdemeanors is being published now because the word "impeachment" is being heard increasingly in relation to another president, Donald J. Trump. In fact, many of the allegedly impeachable offenses peppered throughout this book are being leveled against him.
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