With a redacted version of the Mueller report now in the hands of lawmakers, what will they do with it?
- There have been only three major impeachment episodes involving the president: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton
- The Republican House tried to remove President Johnson over his handling of reconstruction after the Civil War
- President Nixon was never impeached, but ultimately resigned
Some Democrats, including presidential candidates, are calling for the start of impeachment proceedings against the president. But some in House Democratic leadership are pushing back, urging lawmakers to take it slow.
Throughout 240 years of United States history, there have been only three major impeachment episodes involving the president: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. What, if anything, can those cases teach us?
Presidential Impeachment in U.S. History
In the 1860s, the Republican House impeached President Johnson amid a fight over his handling of reconstruction after the Civil War. He was never removed from office, however, because there were not enough votes in the Senate to convict him.
A similar scenario played out in the 1990s, when the the Republican-lead House tried to ouster Clinton, a Democrat. Though the House impeached Clinton, the Senate acquitted him.
President Nixon was never impeached, but ultimately resigned amid mounting pressure from Capitol Hill. He feared that both chambers of Congress would agree to remove him in the fallout from Watergate.
Lessons from History
Does this history of impeachment offer any lessons? If anything, it proves that the bar for impeachment is rather high, says Matt Dallek, an associate professor in The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
“The forces would really have to align. You would need a moment in which there was bipartisan support,” he said.
Impeachment is inherently a political process. Removing a president requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate, meaning lawmakers need to work across the aisle to make it happen. For example, in the case of Nixon, as the evidence continued to pile up and his poll numbers dropped, some Republicans joined with Democrats in supporting impeachment.
However, Dallek questions whether the Nixon scenario could be repeated in today’s hyper-polarized political environment.
“Nixon did not have Fox News, he didn’t have the same conservative apparatus to defend him,” he said. “Trump in contrast to Nixon has a much more ideological, ideologically homogeneous Republican party to support him.”
Democratic Division on Impeachment
History is also fueling concern among some Democrats, who worry that impeachment could lead to a repeat of the late 1990s, when Congressional Republicans suffered at the ballot box after starting the impeachment fight.
“The fear that Democrats have is that this becomes a partisan brawl, and that it becomes unpopular because a lot of the electorate sees Congress as dysfunctional, as engaging in partisan warfare, and not focusing on the issues that they were elected to focus on: infrastructure, healthcare, jobs,” Dallek said.
This week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for reining in talk of impeachment, saying there are other ways to hold the White House accountable. But there is a clear schism in the party, with some wanting to move ahead on trying to ouster the president.