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Who is the first Impeached President? Johnson or Clinton?
Whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ ^

Posted on 03/08/2004 1:00:28 PM PST by AgThorn

reading a bit on the whitehouse.gov site concerning 'history' of past presidents. First I started reading what they had to say about Clinton. ...

William Jefferson Clinton

Interesting how 'cleaned up' it is, but I also noted that there were not a lot of accomplishments listed. What really caught my eye though was the statement that he was the 'second' president impeached by the house, and found not guilty by the senate.

Well, this ain't exactly how I remember it .. so I then tried to find the 'first' impeached president, according to this website. Checking Nixon, no, they correctly said he resigned first. So then on to Andrew Johnson:

Andrew Johnson

This one says that "the House voted eleven articles of impeachment against him. He was tried by the Senate in the spring of 1868 and acquitted by one vote." So, I guess according to the whitehouse.gov history, Andrew was the FIRST impeached President.

But I was under the impression that this is not so ... i.e. that the Congress actually DID impeach Clinton, and that HE was the first President really IMPEACHED by both houses. So, I guess I may be totally wrong on this or else the whitehouse.gov is, which is it ... (maybe the shortest thread on record! ;-)

Lastly, what is all this garbage about the "Radical Republicans" of the south leading to Andrew Johnson's downfall? When you read this history page, you get the impression that the Republicans wanted slavery. Sounds like some creative writing to me.


TOPICS: Government; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: andrewjohnson; clinton; impeachedx42; impeachment; whitehousegov
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To: jamaksin
Clinton was the first pardoned felon to become President. Carter pardoned him.

The Braden Files - President and ex-felon.

41 posted on 03/08/2004 2:14:16 PM PST by ThePythonicCow (Mooo !!!!)
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To: AgThorn
Johnson lived in Greene Co. TN. He was tried and missed conviction by one vote, that vote (IIRC) being casted by a man named Ross from Ohio(IIRC). Ross is a name common to Greene Co. and I have always wondered if there was a family connection...
42 posted on 03/08/2004 2:16:30 PM PST by CathyRyan
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To: ThePythonicCow
Though Carters pardon was not specific to Clinton. From The MacNeil/Lehrer Report -- January 21, 1977 CARTER'S PARDON:
43 posted on 03/08/2004 2:17:13 PM PST by ThePythonicCow (Mooo !!!!)
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To: cvq3842
Johnson was a Democrat but he was not from the North. He was born in North Carolina and moved to Tennessee.
44 posted on 03/08/2004 2:18:37 PM PST by MacArthur
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To: Cloud_Chaser
Sorry guys but Johnson was an elected Vice-President and when he succeeded to the Presidency upon Lincoln's death, his "elected" status stayed with him so you cannot call Clinton the only elected president to be impeached.

Simple correction .... Johnson was NOT elected President. So Clinton remains the only elected president to be impeached.

45 posted on 03/08/2004 2:38:29 PM PST by AgThorn (Go go Bush!! But don't turn your back on America with "immigrant amnesty")
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To: Cloud_Chaser
...his "elected" status stayed with him...

He was not running for President. He was ELECTED VICE-PRESIDENT. Not President.

Clinton still has the distinct priveledge of being the first ELECTED PRESIDENT to be impeached.

46 posted on 03/08/2004 2:44:25 PM PST by Only1choice____Freedom (The word system implies they have done something the same way at least twice)
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To: MacArthur
Lincoln's ticket in 1864 was actually a "Union Party" ticket, made up of Republicans and War Democrats. Johnson, a Democrat, had been the Military Governor of occupied Tennessee, and was rewarded with the Veepship. He was impeached because the Congress wanted to grab more and more power away from the president and had passed the Tenure in Office act; this act claimed that Congress had to approve of any firing that the president did of his appointed people. Johnson had been facing many laws that Congress had passed, and which he felt were unconstitutional.

When the Tenure in Office act was passed, he decided they had gone too far, and tested the act by firing Lincoln's old Sec of War, Edwin M. Stanton, for insubordination. THAT is the act that got him impeached. There is no question that the differing views between the Lincoln/Johnson approach to Reconstruction, which was much more lenient than the Radical Republicans (led by Thaddeus Stevens) and their Wade-Davis plan for Southern punishment. This dispute had a lot to do with the mutual enmity as well.

It was the unconstitutionality of the Tenure in Office act that led the barely sufficent minority to reject conviction of the impeachment. It was really kind of ridiculous since the trial was going on during the campaign of 1868, which ended in Grant's election. It was purely vindictive.

47 posted on 03/08/2004 3:04:48 PM PST by Keith (IT'S ABOUT THE JUDGES)
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To: MacArthur
Right. Thanks.
48 posted on 03/08/2004 5:42:13 PM PST by cvq3842
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To: KC Burke; All
"Who ..." sticky fingers ... Thank you.
49 posted on 03/09/2004 2:10:58 AM PST by jamaksin
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To: AgThorn
Sorry, left out the word "vice".
Anyway, he had been elected to that office, but not to the office of the presidency.

TS

50 posted on 03/09/2004 8:57:52 AM PST by Tanniker Smith
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To: TRY ONE
In hindsight, had that happened, algore would most likely be Presidente still today because GW would not have unseated him due to the mass sympathy for his ascension to the throne

I like the way you put it all in balance.

Your post comment about Mr. Gore was my first thought.

Where is he today, and where is his relevance that would have carried the day had he made it to office. What is the word? GRAVITAS

Even today, we hear shots about Florida 2000. Was it close? Was it even fair?

Do you suppose we will ever get an insider report about what really happened. I know there have been some quality statistical analysis, but this is too heavy for the average person to grasp.

51 posted on 03/09/2004 9:26:25 AM PST by Dustoff45 (Prepare for His Passion, for it is being poured out in the season for whosoever will)
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To: AgThorn
More information about Andrew Johnson.

Interesting character. He stood up for what he believed in (more lenient treatment of the defeated South; tried to fire a member of his cabinet, violating an unconstitutional law prohibiting him from doing that). That's what got him impeached.

His memory deserves better than to be linked with Bill Clinton.

52 posted on 06/19/2004 10:51:48 AM PDT by pttttt
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To: pttttt

I tend to agree with you ...


53 posted on 06/21/2004 9:19:22 AM PDT by AgThorn (Go go Bush!! But don't turn your back on America with "immigrant amnesty")
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