Nixon, Rodino, and Jordan

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In the summer of 1974 the country was in the midst of the agony of realizing that Richard M. Nixon had committed acts that qualified as the "high crimes and misdeameanors" that were required for the impeachment and removal of a President of the United States.

The House Juciciary Committee hearings were televised and were opened by Chairman Peter Rodino who went all of the way back to Runnymede in the year 1215. If memory serves, he began with , "It is now more than seven centuries since the barons of England forced King John at the point of a sword " ... to agree to the Magna Carta and accept the fact that the King was not above the law.

The principal argument being made by Nixon's supporters was that the things that were done were not sufficiently grave to warrant impeachment. One thing that made the case difficult was that a lot of the documents that would have been evidence were destroyed in paper shredders.

Barbara Jordon was a first term MC (member of Congress) from Texas. She had been placed on the House Judiciary Committee which would determine whether the constitutional requirement would "reach these offenses". She made a spellbinding speech in support of impeachment which ended with:

"If the impeachment provision in the Constitution of the United States will not reach the offenses charged here, then perhaps that 18th-century Constitution should be abandoned to a 20th-century paper shredder."

You can read the speech here, but I would recommend that you listen to it here.

The judiciary committee eventually recommended to the House of Representatives three articles of impeachment against Nixon.

I was confident that Nixon was doomed. I even made a bet on it. Another example of how it pays to say exactly what you mean. I bet Franz $10 that "Nixon will be impeached." I lost because:

On August 8, 1974, Nixon announced his resignation effective the next day, before the House could vote to impeach him.
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