![]() ![]() In other words, between George Washington's first inauguration in 1789 and Nixon's resignation in 1974, the United States experienced just two impeachment crises. ![]() Facing all-but-certain impeachment by the House and likely conviction and removal from office by the Senate, Richard Nixon resigned his post in 1974. Johnson escaped conviction and removal by a single vote, and after his baleful example a full century elapsed before Congress made another concerted effort to drive a president from office. He earned the distinction of becoming our first impeached president in 1868, at the end of his single tumultuous term. Far from it-Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, two presidents consistently rated by historians among the most unworthy and disastrous in the whole sweep of our history, presided over the end of this period, contributing significantly to the onset of disunion and civil war.Īfter that incomparably destructive conflict, and the tragic assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, came another leader of dubious ability and questionable judgment: Andrew Johnson. That impeachment-free era didn't arise from a consistent pattern of integrity and competence among all White House occupants. ![]() ![]() Our constitutional republic somehow managed to survive the first 80 years of its existence, and to sustain the highly varied leadership of its first 16 presidents, without once enduring a serious effort to impeach any of those early chief executives. ![]()
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