Impeachment: An American History

Four experts on the American presidency review the only three impeachment cases from history—against Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton—and explore its power and meaning for today. Impeachment is rare, and for good reason. Designed to check tyrants, the process of impeachment outlined in the Constitution is what Thomas Jefferson called “the most formidable weapon for the purpose of a dominant faction that was ever contrived.” On the one hand, it nullifies the will of voters, the basic foundation of all representative democracies. On the other, its absence from the Constitution would leave the country vulnerable to despotic leadership. Only three times has a president’s conduct led to such political disarray as to warrant his potential removal from office, transforming a political crisis into a constitutional one. None has yet succeeded. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 for failing to kowtow to congressional leaders—and in a large sense, for failing to be Abraham Lincol