It has an ominous sound to it. The end of the millenium. The end of the second millenium.
Well before Prince announced that the party might be over in 1999, there were those who
were more or less convinced that the end was near. In reality, the party was just beginning.
The 1998 elections had not been good to the Democrats. Saddled with an administration
which had given new meaning to word corrupt, it was difficult to raise adequate campaign
funds or draw the good candidates necessary to mount a challenge to the Republicans.
Neither were the unions as successful in pouring their millions into the Democrat chests,
or, although they still tried, the results were not as they had been the previous time
around. The GOP won big. Republican candidates for U.S. Senate won previously held
Democrat seats in Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada,
North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The Senate Minority Leader,
Mr. Daschle, was among the victims. And although two of the Democrat leaders in the
House, Gephardt and Bonior, survived razor-thin outcomes, their position was even
further weakened by the Republican gain of 59 seats in the election.
Alabama +1 Hawaii +1 Michigan +1 Oregon +2
Arkansas +2 Illinois +1 Mississippi +2 South Car +1
California +8 Indiana +2 Missouri +1 Tennessee +1
Colorado +1 Iowa +1 New Jersey +1 Texas +9
Connecticut +2 Kent +1 North Car +4 Virginia +1
Florida +2 Maryld +1 North Dak +1 Washington +1
Georgia +1 Mass +4 Ohio +2 Wisconsin +4
The 105th Congress had consisted effectively of 229 Republicans and 206 Democrats;
with the division in the Senate 55 to 45 in their favor. With the new 106th Congress, there
would now be 285 Republicans to only 147 Democrats, and in the Senate there would be
67 Republicans. What is more, over half of the seats the Republicans picked up were not
in the South -- they had even gained seven new seats in the northeast, the area in which
they had shown the biggest losses in recent contests.
There would be a much different agenda now, with such a degree of control having passed
over to the GOP. The lame duck President would face more than a challenge to his
'leadership.' He had survived the possibility of impeachment primarily because of the thin
edge the Republicans held in the House, and due to the fact that they had not have enough
votes in the Senate to convict him. But now they did. The practice of stalling, of relying
on cronies in the Justice Department not to bring charges, and of obstruction of justice
would not suffice any longer.
Democrats had tried to make the Radical Republicans in the Congress the issue in the
campaign. It hadn't worked very well for them.Whether they would impeach Clinton was
no longer an issue -- the only question was how soon it would be done. Gingrich was
elected to a third term as Speaker, and Trent Lott retained his leadership in the Senate.
The stage was set.
With late Spring, the dye was cast and ready, but the GOP proceeded deliberately. They
called in resolution for Attorney General Reno to take legal action against the DNC, the
Clinton campaign, and against the leaders of the campaign, including the President and
Vice President. When she continued to disregard the overwhelming evidence, they voted
in June to impeach her, but before the matter could go to trial in the Senate, she resigned,
apparently on the rationale that she might be a sacrificial lamb of the administration.
The 106th Congress had been busy in the legislative arena by then, too. They had enacted
a tax cut of 15 %, and then passed a tax reform package drastically reducing the power of
the IRS and replacing the income tax with a flat tax. They voted up the partial birth
abortion ban again, as well. But the President, recalcitrant to these radical right wingers,
vetoed almost everything they sent to him. The Congress managed to override the veto of
the ban on late term abortions, but the House was unable, by one vote, to override the
veto of the tax legislation. They had an array of other measures which were moving
through the committee system in addition to those.
But by the end of June, the only issue on the nightly news was the clearly impending
impeachment matter. They were excoriated in the media for attempting to destroy the
Constitutional balance of powers and pull off a coup, but viewership was waning faster
than the Democrat numbers in the legislature. And, before the Independence Day recess,
the Judiciary Committee of the House voted up twelve articles of impeachment against
Clinton and six articles against Al Gore! The trials were scheduled to begin the week of
July 14th.
Clinton and Gore would be tried together before the Senate, because, if they had voted to
impeach either of them separately, the other would have been left in office to appoint,
under the 25th Amendment, a replacement for which ever of them fell first. The media
hounds went berserk. Now, this was a genuine effort to subvert the electoral process. The
Congress was seeking to install Gingrich as President, they cried -- over the will of the
electorate which had twice sent the two to Washington. The improprieties and illegalities
of the duo seemed to matter not at all to them. But the American people were not
dissuaded. Polls showed overwhelming support for the joint exercise -- if only to get it
over with once and for all, and with dispatch. They didn't want it dragged out. The result
was little more in doubt. It also seemed that there would probably be 70 votes to convict
Clinton (at least three Democrat Senators announced as in support of the inevitable
outcome), although the margin for conviction of Gore was narrower (not really in doubt,
however).
The vote was set for mid-August, and the usual cast of characters were spouting off their
venom. Maxine Waters and Charles Rangle and John Conyers were not alone in their
warning that if the radical right wing went ahead with its plan, the rest of the summer
would be 'hot' indeed. They warned of insurrection in the streets if this outrage was carried
out. The unions were no less adamant. Top labor bureaucrats were vociferous about their
plans for a general strike if the pair were impeached. NOW threatened to lead a 'strike' by
women across the country, and homosexual groups vowed to join in the action. The
'rainbow coalition' was together!
Speaker Gingrich appeared on Face the Nation and announced that if the convictions were
handed down and he had to assume the office of President, he would not run for a full
term in the elections of the following year. He would simply finish the term until after the
election. That hardly provided any solace to the liberal crowd, but it met with a show of
support in public opinion polls. The various polls, depending on how the questions were
posed, ran from 40 % to 45 % in favor of conviction, but with close to that opposed,
about 10 % somehow 'undecided.' And that was all that Bill Clinton needed to hear.
The President announced that he would address the nation from the oval office on August
1st. Speculation ran that he would resign and turn over the reigns of power to Vice
President Gore. Others were sure that Gore would be offered as a sacrifice to try to buy
time, with only a year left in his second term. But this President would not take that route.
He had something quite different in mind.
Flanked by Hillary and Chelsea behind him and a corps of members of Congress arrayed
about him (Ted Kennedy, Leahy, Harkin, Feinstein, Milkuski, Kerry, Levin, and Robb
from the Senate, and Bonior, Dingell, Waters, Rangel, Gephardt, John Lewis, Barney
Frank, Henry Gonzalez, and Lynn Rivers from the House), Clinton began with what he
called a plea to reason. This was an audacious attempt to circumvent -- even subvert -- the
Constitution by radical right wing extremists. It was intolerable and could not be
permitted. He would not sit still for this miscarriage of justice. He read telegrams of
support from the British and Canadian Prime Ministers. Clinton listed others he had
received -- from the leaders of France, from Boris Yeltsin, the Secretary General, and
more. The whole world was watching, he declared. He also had telegrams from the
Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, from three Supreme Court Justices, from twelve
Governors, and from organizations across the country. He read off some of the names of
the groups and their leaders.
But someone was missing. The Vice President was not there. And, in short order, Clinton
turned the conversation to Al Gore. He announced with deepest sorrow and regret that Al
Gore had decided to resign from the Vice Presidency. He moaned about the awful people
who had brought this about -- for shallow partisanship. Al Gore, he said, had taken the
high road and was going to step down. Clinton heaped lavish praise on this man of
courage and vision who had done so much for the nation. Then he continued without so
much as a pause, and announced that, under the authority of the 25th Amendment, he was
going to appoint West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller to replace him as Vice President.
He acknowledged that such an appointment should require approval of the Senate, but
reasoned that even the extremists in the Republican Party who were conducting this witch
hunt would not have the audacity to reject that nomination. Cooler heads among them
would prevail -- must prevail. He called on the Senate to lay down the sword of
divisiveness and take up this appointment as a priority matter. They could continue their
hate-fest against him after they had done that, if they must, he said. But they will not do
that, he declared.
For a moment, he paused, reaching behind him. The First Lady and his daughter took his
hand and squeezed it. Clinton bit his lip and then went on. He enunciated the great record
of his Presidency, but also went through a laundry list of the high proposals he had put
forward which had been defeated at the hands of those extremist elements in Congress.
The world was a terribly dangerous place, he went on, and elaborated the initiatives his
administration had put forward to bring peace around the globe.
This treachery was having a harmful impact on the nation. The country was in turmoil.
There was danger that this attempted seizure of power would lead to chaos in the streets.
He was concerned that the economy would be racked by the strikes threatened by the
loyal Americans who stood beside him in this crisis. The stock market had dropped two
hundred points since all this nonsense had begun. And then he excoriated the Republican
attempt to blow a hole in the balanced budget he had brought about with their wreckless
tax schemes. His face and demeanor, regularly stern and severe throughout, now took on
an obvious resolve. He was not going to let these 'tyrants of terror' get away with this, he
declared. They may have the votes to do what they could not do in the elections,
reminding the American people that they had elected him -- not once, but twice. But he
would not permit them to drive him from office.
The Constitution was not clear about the authority of the Congress in such matters. He
quoted from Article I, Section 3. The power of trying impeachment cases was quite
limited, and the matter of the sentence to be handed down was no less clear, he said.
Whether they could, by finding on their shallow partisan bias, order him to vacate the
office the American voters had twice elected him to, was not settled. Their judgement
could not extend, could not be allowed to extend, to a removal of a President on strictly
partisan differences. They were playing politics with the country. And he could not let the
children of this great nation be burdened with such excesses.
There had been no conviction of this President -- nor even any formal charges -- except
those handed down by these extremists in the Congress. And, according to the
Constitution, without such evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors, there was no basis
for any removal of his administration from office. He would not allow them to do that.
They would not drive him from the White House.
Clinton then told the cameras that another provision of the Constitution gave the President
extraordinary powers to deal with situations such as this. In Section 3 of Article II was a
clear statement that where there exists a clear case of disagreement among the members of
Congress, the President had the authority to "adjourn them to such time as he shall think
proper." To preserve the Constitution he had taken an oath of office to uphold -- to
preserve the republic -- he was exercising that power now. He was ordering them to
adjourn. And since, in their recess, the President had the power to appoint officials to
vacancies which occur, since the Vice Presidency was now declared to be vacant, he was
appointing Jay Rockefeller to be the new Vice President. Any action to the contrary by the
adjourned Congress was null and void. And then Clinton concluded:
"These are difficult times. We must be strong in the face of such rebellion. We must have
the courage the Framers displayed. And I will use every resource at my disposal as
President to quarantee that the Constitution and government of the United States is
safeguarded. I ask the American people for their prayers and their support so that I can
fulfill my oath to 'preserve, protect, and defend' the republic and the Constitution."
He picked up a copy of John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage and read several passages
from it, relating to impeachment and to the necessity of courage:
"A man does what he must. And that after all is the basis of all human morality," he read
finally.
"Thank you and good night."
Peter Jennings was excited. His voice showed the almost loss of breath that had struck
him. But he was not alone in this display of emotion among the commentators who took
to the airwaves in the wake of the President's speech. Many of them were quite enthused
about his boldness, but others were not so impressed. George Will waxed on about the
paradoxical views of impeachment theory espoused by Hillary Rodham during the
Watergate and its stark contrast to what her husband was saying now. He described the
constitutional crisis that Clinton was creating, and the distorted reading of the Constitution
that Clinton had rendered in his speech. At the same time, Tom Brokaw was suggesting
that the GOP leadership in the Congress was undoubtedly going to bring this to a
constitutional crisis by challenging Clinton's authority to do what he said he was going to
do. Newt Gingrich was interviewed and said that Congress had no intention of abiding by
the order to adjourn. He said the reading was as far from the constitutional meaing as
anything liberals had dreamed up yet. But the Speaker was angry, and talked of adding
new articles of impeachment based on this episode. He also said that he was not displeased
at Gore's resignation. That would mean there would be no need to try his case in the
Senate. It did not mean, however, that Rockefeller was Vice President, at least not until
and unless the Senate considered the nomination, something they were not prepared to do,
he said Trent Lott had told him, for some time. Sam Donaldson wanted to know if Clinton
intended to send the army to disperse the Congress when it met, and with a smirk
suggested that his trying to do that would not be a good idea, adding that they might form
at the wrong end of Pennsylvania Avenue! CNN was urging the Republicans in Congress
to go slowly in bucking the President, and virtually praised Clinton for fighting back
against the partisan coup the GOP had hatched up to get him out of office.
As for Senator Lott, the Senate decided to move up the impeachment trial. With Clinton's
bag of tricks, they did not put anything past him. Some thought he might go so far as to
instigate an international crisis to rally support behind him. Asked about the situation, Bob
Dole worried that he might invade Cuba. And Robert Bork intoned concern over Clinton
seeking to unilaterally amend the Constitution, so as, for instance, to permit him to have
more than two terms as President. Or, he might seek to enlarge the size of the Supreme
Court -- in a crisis such as this -- and thus be able to appoint his own majority. George
Bush warned Sadaam Hussein not to mistake the circumstances and try to take advantage
of them, by perhaps moving to reoccupy Kuwait. Colin Powell reacted to a queston about
the situation by quipping that he thought it looked to him as if 'the coup was on the other
foot.' Rush Limbaugh opined that the guy had just gotten away with so much, that he was
so used to getting away with, and getting his way on, everything, that you really could not
predict what Clinton might do.
The Senate voted on August 10th. The outcome was never seriously in doubt. Now many
Democrats might join in voting to convict the President, especially now given all this, was
a topic of some debate, mediated by the presence of the Democrat leadership behind
Clinton on the night of his speech. In the end, one Republican and one Democrat
abstained, but four Democrats joined the other 66 Republicans in voting to convict, an
easy two thirds majority. The Chief Justice announced that the vote so cast had removed
William Jefferson Clinton from the Presidency. He declared that the office was therefore
vacant, and called for the Speaker of the House to come forward in the Senate chamber.
"Mr. President," said Mr. Justice Rehnquist to Mr. Gingrich, "are you prepared to take the
oath of office?" And then Rehnquist swore the Speaker in.
As for Clinton, he had been saying that this kangaroo court held no sway over him and
that he wasn't going anywhere. The uninformed might have wondered if the United States
had two presidents simultaneously. It happened with the Papacy, and at least Florida and
Louisiana had two governors at the same time as Reconstruction gave way to
Redemption.
Later that afternoon, President Newt Gingrich held a press conference. His first
announcement was that he was going to seek re-election to the seat in the House of
Representatives from Georgia in 2000 that he had held for some time. He also introduced
Bob Dole and said that he was going to name him to be Vice President under the
provision of the 25 th Amendment. He then asked for questions from the reporters.
There was only one question that they had -- all of them. What was he going to do about
the White House and Clinton?
"He has to come out sometime. . ." President Gingrich answered.
How patient would he be? How long would he be willing to wait? Would he go to court
to have Clinton removed? Would he try to send in troops to clear out the White House?
Gingrich explained that he felt obliged to be patient. He would have no problem with
waiting a reasonable length of time before Clinton would be expected to vacate the
premises. President Newt responded with a "How about Labor Day?"
There was no rioting in the streets of Los Angeles, or anywhere else, for that matter. But
there were to be nationwide days of labor action in preparation for seeding a national
general strike beginning on Labor Day, three weeks from now. He was asked about that,
and responded that he sincerely hoped that calmer heads would prevail. The nation did not
need disruption and further division, now.
Who would he support for the Republican nomination for President, they asked? He really
had not decided. He liked Steve Forbes, but thought that Elizabeth Dole might also run.
And then there were Jack Kemp and Colin Powell, and many other less noteworthy
possibles. Polls showed Forbes leading the pack, and beating any Democrat challenger
handily. It had been a long day. Newt had a busy few months ahead of him. He left and
headed for home. The chaffeur drove past the White House, and as Gingrich looked out at
the marble palace, he wondered if perhaps he would have to have Clinton 'exorcised.'
Inside, Bill and Hillary and a number of their advisors, friends, political allies, and the like
were meeting Mrs. Clinton was making a remark about the reaction from the country if
the Republicans had Clinton dragged out of the White House. In Vegas, they were taking
bets. Dick Armey had been chosen Speaker to replace Gingrich on August 12th. On
August 15th, the Senate confirmed Dole as Vice President, and he was sworn in by the
Chief Justice on August 20th. Bill Clinton had not left the White House at all for a week
now.
The following Sunday, George Will said that maybe a crack commando unit should be
sent in to arrest and remove the pretender, but he was only kidding. Sam Donaldson
thought that perhaps that might not be such a bad idea, recalling the search for Noriega
when US forces went into Panama. Dan Rather began a countdown report every night to
Labor Day. It seemed as much in anticipation as it did uneasiness. He began with 14 days
to Labor Day. But then the troubles for Mr. and Mrs. Clinton began to mount. Stymied by
the heavy hand of Janet Reno and others who knew too well the fire that might well
descend upon them if they crossed Bill Clinton, a log-jam had developed of pent-up legal
matters. With the events of late August, it seemed that the block might begin to break. A
week before the Labor Day 'festivities,' both of them were named in a number of
indictments and other charges handed down in state court in Arkansas and in federal
courts in several jurisdictions, on sundry matters ranging from Whitewater, illegal loans,
Mena, racketeering, illegal campaign contributions, Rose Law Firm records and dealings,
the Travelgate, and FBI files to illegal use of government funds for political activities,
influence peddling, obstruction of justice, and more -- much more. President Gingrich
began to see a light at the end of the tunnel. At a news conference, he predicted that 'this
is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.' Clinton would, he said, very
soon, be forced to go quietly.
Some of those who had been most animated in support of the failed administration began
to wonder, and sometimes their questions were not all so private. Even big labor had to
begin to reaccess its posture in this whole matter. On September 1st, the President
received a phone call from Bill Clinton. He had requested that the Presidential helicopter
fly in to pick him up at the White House and take him out to Air Force 1 to fly back to
Arkansas. However, he had been refused access to either. He was calling to ask Mr.
Gingrich to 'arrange' the departure vehicles. The conversation was short and curt. Newt
would have his staff make the arrangements for September 2nd at 2 pm. Later that day, as
Newt was walking through the halls of the Capitol, an approaching Senator Kennedy
caught him off guard by hailing him as 'Mr. President.' With him were a group of
Democrat legislators who passed word to him that the rallies set for the holiday would be
filled with rhetoric, but peaceful. President Gingrich invited them to join him at the White
House for a barbecue on Labor Day. They would come by, they told him. Newt told them
that the following day, he had to fly to Georgia for several campaign appearances back in
his congressional district.
The following afternoon, a bright and warm day in Washington, a solitary figure made his
way out of the White House and boarded the helicopter with the Presidential seal.
President Gingrich watched from inside, looking out the window leading to the balcony.
He pulled out a big, rich, fat Jamaican cigar and lit it as the chopper lifted off. It was still
1999 and the crisis was beginning to pass.
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