Interview: Views on Clinton’s Impeachment
The impeachment of Bill Clinton is one of the “weirdest episodes'; in our political history. He is the only elected President of the United States ever to be resulted in the passage of impeachment (Johnson was not elected, Nixon resigned to prevent impeachment). The reason for his impeachment is that he lied under the oath during the testimony in the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit, and to grand jury during Monica Lewinsky investigation. He even abused power and lied to the Congress in an attempt to cover up a series of indiscretions, which resulted in the passage of four articles of impeachment. These incidents later turned out to be a political soap opera and ended with Clinton’s presidency preserved, but it is a soap opera that many believed it could be prevent from happening.
Clinton’s impeachment made headlines news across the nation ever since it was revealed to the public. Unfortunately, many people still have a long way to know what went on behind the close door of the impeachment. The majority do not have an idea if the Congress is making the right move or not to impeach our President. Hence, many do not realize how the impeachment might affect our nation politically. To answer this, I conducted an interview with my high school physics instructor, Mr. Arnold Burkert. I interviewed him as a person who strongly dislikes the notion of Clinton’s impeachment. My goal of this interview was to write a paper about the impeachment by using public opinion and attitude toward one of the “weirdest episodes'; in our political history. As a supplement to this interview and to write this paper, news magazine articles related to this assignment were also used as in a supporting role.
The first remark my instructor made in this interview was that the Congress had made a bad judgement to pass the impeachment. He reasoned that Clinton managed a healthy economy and gained strong approval in the national polls. He believes Clinton’s offenses were personal and minor. Although his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky was reckless behavior, the Constitution doesn’t have anything that says one should be impeached for reckless conduct. The Constitution can only impeach President Clinton if he commits treason, bribery, high crimes, and misdemeanors. Therefore, he believed Clinton’s impropriety is not related to the Congress or even us, the people, which means his faulty action is not impeachable according to the rules of the Constitution.
On September 11, 1998, former president Bill Clinton delivered the infamously self-proclaimed speech entitled “I Have Sinned.” In an attempt to convert the public suspicion and hatred back to trust and loyalty, Clinton finally confessed to the inappropriate relations with Monica Lewinsky. By deeply expressing his sorrow through his foreboding and apologetic tone, Clinton constructs various examples of ethos, uses stiff body language and blank facial expressions, direct eye contact, and crafts the majority of his speech on short and choppy sentences. The overall purpose of this speech was for Clinton to ultimately express his remorse for the regretful acts he committed, and also to ensure the American people that he will remain trustworthy throughout
The recent scandal in the White House has brought my attention to the American Presidents as people and Presidents. Looking into the American history and her presidents I have found out that presidents are not just political figures but that they are also people. In my research I will compare and contrast two of the American presidents - Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.
Impeachment is the ultiomate punishment for a president. It is a long and complicated rout to removing a public official from office. The Constitutional process Article II, section 4 specifies the procedures to be used to remove a public official from office(CNN/All Politics). The constitution states that and president found guilty for bribery, treason, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. There has been a long debate on what should be considered a high crime. Different people in the House share different views. Ultimately it is up to the Hose to decide to drop the charges or further the investigation. If the public official is found guilty a two thirds majority vote from the Senate is necessary. The most recent president to face an impeachment hearing was Bill Clinton. A previous case involving Richard Nixon, Watergate, was held in 1974. Rather than facing an embarrassment with impeachment Nixon chose to resign in disgrace.
To begin evaluating Clinton’s indiscretion as an impeachable offense requires understanding the original purpose of impeachment when the American government was first defined and justified in 1787. The Philadelphia Convention, tasked with laying the groundwork for a new government, was the result of failing autonomous states and too weak a central government set by the Articles of Confederation. James Madison, the ‘Father of the Constitution,’ recognized that such interstate futility led to the “mischief of factions” (Madison, 1787). Th...
Out of all of the current presidents in our time the most interesting president to explore was President Richard Nixon and out of all of them he was the only one in term to resign. That Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment to be executed to the fullest extent of their nature. His poor choices and decisions led to his resignation. Although he did have some good qualities in helping the U.S. the bad however override the good. In the CRS (Congressional Research Service) It states: “ Obstruction of justice is the impediment of governmental activities. There are a host of federal criminal laws that prohibit obstructions of justice. The six most general outlaw obstruction of judicial proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1503), witness tampering (18 U.S.C. 1512), witness retaliation (18 U.S.C. 1513), obstruction of Congressional or administrative proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1505), conspiracy to defraud The United States (18 U.S.C. 371), and contempt (a creature of statute, rule and common law). Simple perjury in a federal investigation or judicial proceedings carries an extensive fine and up to 5 years in prison.” This was the first article president Richard M. Nixon was charged with by the House of Judiciary Committee. The vote was 27 to 1 for Nixon to be charged with the first article of impeachment, which was Obstruction of Justice. In denial of his liability in part taking in the Watergate scandal by saying he wasn't involved in the scandal He pointed finger at others that were involved in the break-in. However, tapes were found of conversations that proved his involvement and he was going to be impeached. Before he was charged, he made a resignat...
Like the impeachment of President Clinton, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 also ended in an acquittal.And like President Clinton, Johnson was a Democratic president who faced a Republican-controlled Congress. And while many were hostile to him for his political agenda, it would be an event separate from his policies that would nearly bring him down.Before it would end, a drama would play out in the Senate filled with partisanship, legal hairsplitting, and the swing votes of a handful of Republicans.
Before Clinton was elected President he had an encounter with Paula Jones in a hotel room. After Clinton took office Paula Jones then sued Clinton for sexual harassment. A short time later Monica Lewinsky began her intern at the White House. Clinton and Lewinsky began a sexual relationship. Judge Kenneth Starr was the investigator of Whitewater. President Clinton denied any sexual relations with Lewinsky. On October 8, 1998, the House would vote to have an impeachment and won. Clinton was charged with perjury and obstruction to justice. Bill Clinton would end up not getting kicked out of office by senate.
Hillary Clinton is an important character in the impeachment process and the sex scandal in general. As Bill Clinton’s wife, she is the most personally involved with the President, as well as the most personally involved in the subject matter involved with the impeachment. Since Bill Clinton’s wrong-doings stem from sexual misconduct, as his wife, Hillary Clinton has an extremely great involvement. Due to her great involvement in this personal matter, the public audience seems to associate their thoughts with her own (34% of the public thought that the scandal was a personal matter as long as Hillary Clinton was fine with it [U.S. News]). Meaning, the public feels that if Bill Clinton’s sexual affairs are accepted by Hillary, then they should be accepted by the country as well. It is important to look at how Clinton gets her points, what her motives are in doing so, and where her motives stem from because she is so influential regarding the President’s image. It is also important to look at the sexual misconduct between the President and Ms Lewinsky, as well as Hillary’s decision to support her husband, from the First Lady’s situation since women and their concerns are often forgotten when analyzing political discourse.
Impeachment is “ a criminal proceeding instituted against a public official by a legislative body.” (Impeachment). This does not mean automatic removal from office, which is a common misconception. the article goes on to explain how in the United States, the reason impeachment is so rare at the presidential level is because it is quite a long process and keep the Congress occupied for months; due to this impeachment in only employed in the gravest of circumstances. Furthermore, it is not just presidents or federal officials who can be impeached, as 49 states (all but Oregon) have an impeachment procedure in place. Impeachment is considered to be an important part of the checks and balances that make the US government unique, however due to the complicated and time consuming process it is.
He served as President from 1993-2001. During the time of his presidency America saw many changes. Some changes were good and some changes were bad. In 1994 NAFTA was passed which allowed free trade between Mexico, the United States and Canada. One change that shocked the American people was a change of morals. On the days of November 1995 Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern (History Staff 2). In January 1998 the Monica Lewinsky scandal begins. The scandal begins when President Clinton says he did not have an affair with her. That statement turns out to be a lie. Clinton is put on trial for the charge of prudery. On December 11, 1999 the House impeaches President Clinton (History 2). Five weeks later the senate votes on removing Clinton from office, but the vote falls in favor of Clinton and he remains in office until the end of his presidency. Clinton gets to stay president after lying to the American people and having an affair in the white house and the consequences are the loss of morals for the American people which had been held to a high standard up until that
White collar crime is a term created by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 that refers to crimes committed by people of higher social status, companies, and the government according to the book “White-Collar Crime in a Nutshell” by Ellen Podgor and Jerold Israel. White collar crimes are usually non-violent crimes committed in order to have a financial-gain (Podgor and Israel 3). A very well known white collar crime that has even been taught in many history classes is the Watergate scandal. This is a white collar crime that was committed by government authorities. Watergate was a crime that shocked the nation.
On August 17, 1998, exactly one year after making the statement above, President Bill Clinton prepared to deliver a speech concerning a scandal that had gripped the nation for months. It is needless to say that this was an important moment during the Clinton administration. After accusations of sexual harassment, Clinton addressed the nation and admitted to having a relationship with Monica Lewinsky. In this critical speech Clinton set out to admit to wrong-doings, provide a few reasons for his action, and ultimately persuade the audience into moving on and forgetting the scandal. This essay will break down his speech into sections and examine the most and least effective strategies that Clinton employed and how well he executed those strategies. This is an interesting speech given under rare circumstances. Not since Watergate had an American president been under such harsh moral criticism from the public. By looking critically at this speech we are able to gain valuable insight into Clinton's motives.
Lately, the top story in the news day after day, months after months have been about William Jefferson Clinton, also known as Bill. Who could blame them, there is nothing better than a story out of the ordinary, especially one with presidential status. For the past months he has been the most talked about figure, being the essential topic for news, talk shows, late night comedy and even going as far as the big screen. Talk about 'Primary Colors' and 'Wag the Dog.' What has gotten to me the most however, were the constant flow of Republicans, along with a few Democrats, who just want to say how shocked and embarrassed they are along with the people of the United States.The president had not just become the most talked about figure, but also one history had ever seen, so far that is, breaking the record and becoming a topic of conversation and debate 'twenty-four seven.' The people, who I think were most affected by this crisis and feel very sad for, are the Republicans, since they had lost severe amount of sleep over the president's bedroom crisis. They had to perform their republican duties by shocking our brains with the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky. We had to ignore the rest of the world news and its issues while they plough through the valley of lies, abuse of power and something they called high crimes and misdemeanors.
On November 1995, Bill Clinton made a huge mistake that would cost him his position as the president of the United States. Having sexual relations with then intern, Monica Lewinsky has affected many people all over the world in different ways. Since 2005,Clinton has been rated as one of the top presidents according to an ABC News poll. Although he is considered a prime president since scandal has affected his family, supporters, the national government and relations with other countries. I believe the speech; “I Have Sinned” was intended mainly for the U.S citizens, his family and friends, the national government, allied countries, his religion and anyone else affected by this scandal.
Before stepping into the critical analysis of the speech, it is important to understand the historical setting from which the speech arose. The context can be briefly summarized as the following. In 1995 Clinton had a sexual relationship with one of his White House interns by the name of Monica Lewinsky. On January 17, 1998, a sexual misconduct lawsuit against him was filed. Clinton then quickly delivered a forceful public statement that he did not have a sexual relationship with the woman. However, unknown to President Clinton, Linda Tripp, one of Lewinsky’s associates, had recorded several conversations of Lewinsky describing her affair with the President. In the seven months afterwards, Kenneth W. Starr, the StarWhitewater independent counsel, had began collecting evidence of the affair and carrying out investigation about Clinton’s obstruction of justice. Evidence of Clinton lying under oath would be grounds for impeachment. On August 17, 1998, Clinton decided to a...