Which US Presidents Have Been Impeached?
The founding fathers made it difficult, but not impossible, for Congress to remove a sitting U.S. president from office. Here's a look at the history of presidential impeachments.
What Is Impeachment?
The constitution states, "The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors."
The process begins in the House of Representatives with an impeachment inquiry. If the House Judiciary Committee finds ample evidence, then they write up articles of impeachment and the House votes. A simple majority is required in the House for the process to pass along to the Senate. If this happens, the president is formally impeached. In the Senate, a two-thirds majority must find the president guilty of the alleged crimes for him or her to be convicted and removed from office.
To date, no U.S. president has been removed, but three have been formally impeached and one has faced an impeachment inquiry in the House.
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson, the 17th U.S. president, took office after Abraham Lincoln's 1865 assassination. Johnson took over early in Lincoln's second term and right in the middle of post-Civil War Reconstruction. Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat, clashed with Northern Republicans in Congress who wanted to punish the South and see full rights extended to freedmen.
Johnson instead opted for a more tolerant approach toward the South. In retaliation, Republicans passed the Tenure of Office Act in 1867, which forbade the president from replacing cabinet members without Senate approval. Johnson thought the law was unconstitutional and fired his Secretary of War. This infuriated Johnson's political adversaries, who drafted 11 articles of impeachment. The House voted handily to impeach Johnson, but the vote in the Senate failed by a single vote.
President Andrew Johnson. Courtesy of the United States Library of Congress. Public domain.
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon famously resigned before facing an impeachment vote. However, he was the first president since Andrew Johnson to have impeachment articles drafted against him by the House. There were three articles of impeachment against Nixon, all of them surrounding his involvement with the investigation into the infamous Watergate Scandal. The first alleged that Nixon and others worked to delay and obstruct investigation into the scandal. The second stated that Nixon had impaired justice and violated the constitutional rights of citizens. The third declared the Nixon had resisted just and fair subpoenas from the House, which was not within his power as President. As evidence mounted against Nixon, impeachment and removal seemed inevitable, so he resigned before the vote took place.
President Richard Nixon. Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public domain.
Bill Clinton
President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was impeached in 1998 after a four-year investigation, largely due to perjury and obstruction of justice related to his affair with Monica Lewinsky. The House approved two of four impeachment articles, but the Senate, controlled by Republicans, acquitted him on both charges in 1999. Clinton remained in office, completing his second term, as the Senate failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed for conviction.
President Bill Clinton. Photo courtesy of the United States Armed Forces. Public domain.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump is the first federal official to have been impeached twice. On Sept. 24, 2019, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry into Trump over allegations that he pressured Ukraine's president to investigate his political foe Joe Biden in exchange for military aid. The inquiry followed a whistleblower complaint and a phone call transcript release. On Dec. 18, 2019, Trump was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. However, the Senate acquitted him on Feb. 5, 2020.
Then, in January 2021, the House impeached Trump again, this time for "Incitement of Insurrection" after the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, when Trump wanted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. On Feb. 13, 2021, after Trump had left office, 57 Senators voted to convict Trump, 10 short of the necessary 67.
President Donald Trump. Photo by Shealah Craighead. Public domain.
Although no presidents have been removed by the Senate, several federal judges have. Also, plenty of presidents from George Washington to Joe Biden have faced threats of impeachment from opponents leveraging the process as a political weapon. Only time will tell if a sitting U.S. president will ever be removed from office.
References: The History of Impeachment | How Many US Presidents Have Faced Impeachment? | Culture Re-View: How many US presidents have been impeached? | What have presidents been impeached for? The articles of impeachment for Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump
