Comparative Analysis of Impeachment of American Presidents - Research Paper Example

It is befitting to introduce this paper with the excerpt from the book, Checking Executive Power: Presidential Impeachment in Comparative Perspective (Baumgartner& Kada, 2003):
Presidential impeachment is the equivalent of a political earthquake. It convulses, disrupts, and in many cases, polarizes the body politic as few political events can…Presidential impeachment is, in short, an extraordinary political event (1).
Further, it is important to mention that only two elected presidents of the United States of America __Andrew Johnson, and Bill Clinton have and faced and won the Senatorial trial of an impeachment, while Richard Nixon resigned before the proceedings began, in the United States of America’s over two hundred years political history. In addition, this paper implicitly deals with the ethical as opposed to political dilemmas each president faced while in office.
Before we get into the discussion it is necessary to make clear to the reader the meaning of the word/term__ impeachment.
…, before Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, many U.S. citizens understood “impeachment” to mean removal from office. But there are other questions about the process as well (Baumgartner& Kada, 2003,p1-2).
In fact “impeachment” is the worst-case scenario a president can find himself in while in the Oval Office. It can spell the end of the political career of the man who has spent the majority of his life to achieve the presidency of the greatest country in the world. Impeachment can not only hurt him constitutionally but economically, socially and morally/ethically as well. For example, the impeachment of Andrew Jackson, “…was an extraordinary drama that held potentially important constitutional implications…” (Stewart,2009,p252).
The hypothetical questions that are posed in this paper are:
1. If you were a member of the Senate, which ethical charge would you bring against each president?
Personally, I would charge Andrew Jackson of being a racist; Richard Nixon of perjury and invasion of privacy, and Bill Clinton with perjury and grave sexual misdemeanor.
2. Should each president be impeached? Removed from office? Tried and convicted?
Yes according to me each should have been impeached, that is certainly each should have been tried and convicted.
3. In each case were the actions of the Senate ethical? Were they politically motivated?
Yes, the actions of the Senate were ethical, viewed from a high moral ground but there is no doubt about the fact that they were politically motivated.
4. What arguments do these ethical dilemmas bring up? For example, where should the line be drawn between personal issues and the issues which affect a President’s ability to govern?
The main ethical argument that these impeachment movements bring does the constitution allows the Senate or its Judicial Committee to act as a moral policeman.
5. Are criminal proceedings in any of the cases? Why or why not?
In the case of Richard Nixon and Jackson criminal proceedings were the appropriate case while in the case of Bill Clinton, the line between a crime and a misdemeanor is blurred, still, the situation warranted the initiation of criminal litigation in a competent court of law.
It is an endless contest…in which ambitious spend their lives struggling to come out on top (Davis & Peltason, 2007, p vii).