Impeachment

October 8, 2018
Four scholars plumb the meaning and mechanics of presidential impeachments past—and, possibly, future—in this illuminating historical study. Pulitzer-winning biographer Meacham (American Lion) analyzes Andrew Johnson’s impeachment as a political act by House Republicans exasperated with Johnson’s opposition to their Reconstruction and civil rights policies. It failed in the Senate because Johnson hadn’t committed the “high crimes and misdemeanors” envisioned in the Constitution. Historian Naftali (George H.W. Bush) contributes a gripping recreation of impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon, focusing on House Judiciary Committee chairman Peter Rodino’s efforts to build an airtight case that Nixon had criminally undermined the Constitution and to win bipartisan support. Journalist Baker (Obama) probes Bill Clinton’s campaign to convince Congress and voters that impeachment charges against him were a partisan witch hunt over purely private misdeeds. Historian Engel (When the World Seemed New) adds two shrewd essays exploring the framers’ attitudes toward impeachment—collusion with foreign powers was their biggest concern—and assessing the still unlikely prospect that impeachment proceedings against President Trump would meet standards of serious constitutional import, clear guilt, and public acceptance. Well researched, thoughtful, and engagingly written, this is one of the best of the current books mulling this suddenly fraught question.

A set of scholarly essays introduced by presidential scholar Engel offers historical context and precedent to a sticky Constitutional issue very much in the current public debate."Only three times in American history has a president's conduct led to such political outrage or disarray as to warrant his potential removal from office," writes Engel (Founding Director, Center for Presidential History/Southern Methodist Univ.; When the World Seemed New: George H.W. Bush and the End of the Cold War, 2017, etc.) in his introduction. Here, Engel and three other notable scholars present and analyze the cases. Weary of the sins of tyrants, the framers of the Constitution recognized the need for a strong unifying leader yet had the prescience to know that the ballot box alone could not deter corruption. Moreover, impeachment guarded against the recourse to assassination, while the steep legislative hurdles to the impeachment process resisted removing a president solely due to unpopularity. Yet, as Pulitzer-winning historian Meacham (The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, 2018, etc.) points out, in the precedent-setting case of Andrew Johnson, impeachment became "a weapon of politics" that could be used during a time of "great political passion but without clear violation of law." As Naftali (Public Service/New York Univ.; George H.W. Bush, 2007, etc.) notes, for Richard Nixon, whose Saturday Night Massacre "awoke presidential impeachment from a century-long slumber," the subsequent impeachment hearings proceeded in a nonpartisan fashion; the attempt to hide the tapes exposed "the ugliness of Nixon's approach to power." Nixon clearly demonstrated what the framers decreed "high crimes and misdemeanors." In the case of Bill Clinton, as astutely delineated by New York Times chief White House correspondent Baker (Obama: The Call of History, 2017, etc.), impeachment became an "out-of-control coup d'état by prurient Republicans who sought to exploit personal failings for partisan gain." While Engel does not offer as much speculation about Donald Trump as many readers would like, he reminds us that "one need not act illegally in order to act treasonably."An important book: impeccably researched and well-presented.

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November 1, 2018

American history authors Meacham, Peter Baker, Timothy Naftali, and Jeffrey A. Engel come together to offer a comprehensive and timely look at impeachment throughout U.S. history. An introduction to the background, discussion, and vote to add impeachment to the U.S. Constitution at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia is provided first with the intent to explore what the concept meant to the Constitution's framers, who, according to Engel, saw George Washington's political integrity as a model to be followed by his successors. The work's remaining sections provide an accessible narrative about the three instances of U.S. impeachment: the trial of Andrew Johnson in 1868, in which it was unclear if any wrongdoing took place, the Watergate scandal involving Richard Nixon in 1974, which "set the standard by which all ensuing scandals are measured," and Bill Clinton's perjury charge about an extra-marital affair in 1999. While not covered in-depth, the 2016 presidential election is discussed to explain that the framers would be surprised to learn that impeachment was used as a talking point by both candidates against each other. VERDICT An engrossing work about a consequential subject, this is a must for readers of history and politics, as well as those interested in the current state and future of the nation.--David Miller, Farmville P.L., NC

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