On this day, in 1868, President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives for “high crimes and misdemeanors in office”.
Although Johnson was found not guilty by one vote short of the two thirds needed to remove him from the Presidency, his impeachment trial, based on accusations that he had defied an unconstitutional law which he had not defied, and charges that he had a foul mouth in his attacks on Congressional opponents (which he did), undermined the Presidential office for the next third of a century until the rise of Theodore Roosevelt to the Presidency in 1901.
Impeachment as a weapon had been attempted unsuccessfully against Andrew Jackson and John Tyler earlier, and would be threatened against Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush later, but was only actually utilized against Richard Nixon on a just basis, with Nixon resigning after being impeached by the House Judiciary Committee; and Bill Clinton, whose impeachment trial was politicized as much as Andrew Johnson’s trial was.
Impeachment has even been suggested by some irresponsible Republicans against Barack Obama, but it is something that should NOT be employed or threatened unless it is clear that the President has committed “high crimes” on the level of Richard Nixon.
Weakening the Presidency on flimsy grounds is an idea that undermines the safety and security of the nation, and takes our mind off important issues and problems.