Timothy Naftili

The book doesn't discuss the present (05-2019) situation with Donald Trump, but the authors are aware that this is overhanging their analysis. I can remember both of the cases of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, but I have promised myself to limit personal observations and snarky comments.

Jeffrey A. Engel opens with a discussion of the process by which impeachment was included in the Constitution and the haggling over the words that were to describe grounds for impeachment. They saw that it was possible that Congress could use the process to eject a president they disagreed with as well as the need to be able to remove a president who was trying to become a tyrant or run a criminal enterprise. I think he is a touch too kind to Andrew Johnson.

Jon Meachem, Timothy Naftili, and Peter BakerJon Meachem, Timothy Naftili, and Peter Baker cover the cases of Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton, respectively. For the most part, I thought that they did an excellent job.

In the case of Johnson, I always thought the inclusion of Edmund G. Ross in Profiles in Courage was a trifle unfair since his vote wouldn't have mattered if six other Republicans hadn't also broken with their party, and none of them was ever re-elected to office. Johnson is a case in point that the vice-president isn't just a balancing factor on a ticket -- there are serious consequences if the president dies, as Lincoln shortly did. I had to keep reminding myself that the Supreme Court had not yet applied the Fourteenth Amendments to the states to accept that Johnson wasn't convicted. He is one of the few cases of a President who was never elected on his own; Gerald Ford, somewhat coincidentally, is another when he replaced Nixon. Both men, of course, were rejected at the next Presidential election, although Johnson was re-elected to the Senate in 1875, winning, as he did in the case of his impeachment, by one vote.… (plus d'informations)