Impeachment: The View From 1974

WAMU 88.5

Published October 30, 2019 at 11:06 AM EDT

The Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, meeting in 1974, to discuss impeachment proceedings as a part of the Watergate scandal.

In James Reston’s diary, there’s an entry dated July 23, 1974. It was the day before the first televised hearings on three impeachment articles against President Richard Nixon.

One progressive Republican congressman from Wisconsin, William Steiger, complained the press “is always looking for a political or self-serving motive for our votes.”

Two days later, Congress heard Republican Rep. Lawrence Hogan of Maryland (the father of the current governor of Maryland) steps forward to be the first member of his party on the House Judiciary Committee to confirm he would be voting for impeachment.

Later this week, the House will vote to formalize the procedures of its impeachment probe into Trump. Author James Reston kept a daily diary of the hearings he attend in 1974 and expects history if not to repeat — then certainly to rhyme.

GUESTS

James Reston, Jr., Historian and author of 15 previous books, including “The Impeachment Diary: Eyewitness To The Removal Of A President,” “The Last Apocalypse,” and “Galileo: A Life;” @JimReston

For more, visit https://the1a.org.