Posted on Sep 17, 2023
Past impeachments, products of their times, often produced unintended consequences
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https://www.npr.org/2023/09/17/ [login to see] /impeachment-history
Impeachment of the president has reared its head five times in American history, and all five episodes should serve as cautionary tales for those House Republicans who now seem determined to make it six.
Each of these earlier forays had a profound impact on the direction of national politics, both in the short term and for years to come.
Four of the five reached the point of impeachment votes in the House and trials in the Senate that failed to muster the two-thirds vote required to convict.
The one process that did not go the distance ended just before the House took its vote. It stopped because the target president, Richard M. Nixon, had resigned and left town. That was the only impeachment process that actually drove a president from office, and arguably the only one that clearly succeeded in what it set out to do.
Impeachment of the president has reared its head five times in American history, and all five episodes should serve as cautionary tales for those House Republicans who now seem determined to make it six.
Each of these earlier forays had a profound impact on the direction of national politics, both in the short term and for years to come.
Four of the five reached the point of impeachment votes in the House and trials in the Senate that failed to muster the two-thirds vote required to convict.
The one process that did not go the distance ended just before the House took its vote. It stopped because the target president, Richard M. Nixon, had resigned and left town. That was the only impeachment process that actually drove a president from office, and arguably the only one that clearly succeeded in what it set out to do.
Past impeachments, products of their times, often produced unintended consequences
Posted from npr.orgPosted in these groups: 
American History
American History
Posted 8 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Trump cases illustrate potency of political contexts
Surely few would deny that both the 2019 and 2021 impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump were steeped in the toxic, partisan environment of his final years in office. The first was focused on Trump's delaying the delivery of Congressionally-appropriated military aid to Ukraine, which was arming itelf against Russian aggression.
But Democrats had been talking about impeaching Trump from the days immediately after winning the majority in November 2018. The initial impetus had been the expectation that the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election by former FBI Director Robert Mueller would implicate Trump or accuse him of obstructing Mueller's probe. In the end, while Mueller found evidence of Russian interference, he neither implicated nor exonerated Trump. He determined it was up to Congress to hold the president to account for any misdeeds.
Into this temporary void fell the news of a National Security Council official who raised concerns, within the administration, about the contents of a phone call Trump made in the summer of 2019 to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the newly elected president of Ukraine. Zelenskyy was eager to get the promised military aid that had been authorized and appropriated by Congress in legislation Trump himself had signed.
Yet here was Trump on the phone suggesting the aid would await "a favor" – the announcement of a corruption probe by Ukrainian officials into allegations against Hunter Biden and his father."...
..."Trump cases illustrate potency of political contexts
Surely few would deny that both the 2019 and 2021 impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump were steeped in the toxic, partisan environment of his final years in office. The first was focused on Trump's delaying the delivery of Congressionally-appropriated military aid to Ukraine, which was arming itelf against Russian aggression.
But Democrats had been talking about impeaching Trump from the days immediately after winning the majority in November 2018. The initial impetus had been the expectation that the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election by former FBI Director Robert Mueller would implicate Trump or accuse him of obstructing Mueller's probe. In the end, while Mueller found evidence of Russian interference, he neither implicated nor exonerated Trump. He determined it was up to Congress to hold the president to account for any misdeeds.
Into this temporary void fell the news of a National Security Council official who raised concerns, within the administration, about the contents of a phone call Trump made in the summer of 2019 to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the newly elected president of Ukraine. Zelenskyy was eager to get the promised military aid that had been authorized and appropriated by Congress in legislation Trump himself had signed.
Yet here was Trump on the phone suggesting the aid would await "a favor" – the announcement of a corruption probe by Ukrainian officials into allegations against Hunter Biden and his father."...
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