December 19, 2019

Yesterday, December 18, the United States House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump. Impeachment is the formal accusation of serious misconduct against a government official. In this case, the accusations of misconduct against President Trump include the abuse of presidential power and the obstruction of Congress—charges that are explained below. Impeachment is an extraordinary check on presidential power. The Constitution specifies that officials shall be removed from office after impeachment for, and conviction of, “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” No president, however, has ever been removed from office under the terms of impeachment.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks to the media following the vote to impeach President Donald Trump on Dec. 18, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Credit: © Sarah Silbiger, Getty Images

In the articles of impeachment, Trump is accused of abusing his power as president by asking a foreign government—that of Ukraine—to investigate a political rival. Asking a foreign government to interfere in the U.S. political system is forbidden by the U.S. Constitution. Trump is accused of pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic contender in the 2020 presidential election. Trump is also accused of obstructing the congressional investigation into the matter. Despite admitting that he asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, Trump insists he did nothing wrong, and he has called the impeachment process a “witch hunt.”

On Dec. 18, 2019, Donald Trump became the third U.S. president in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Credit: The White House

Wednesday’s impeachment vote in the House fell almost entirely along political party lines. The abuse of power charge was approved by a vote of 230-197 (229 Democrats and 1 Independent voted in favor; 2 Democrats opposed the charge, as did all 195 Republicans who continued to support Trump, a Republican; 4 other representatives did not take part). The second charge, of obstruction of Congress, was approved by a vote of 229-198 (228 Democrats and 1 Independent in favor; 3 Democrats and 195 Republicans opposed; 4 not taking part). In January, the impeachment process is due to pass to the Senate, where a trial will determine whether to convict the president and remove him from office. Republicans have a majority in the Senate, so reaching the two-thirds vote required for conviction is unlikely.

Trump is the third U.S. president to be impeached. In 1998, the House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice. The charges developed out of Clinton’s efforts to conceal an improper sexual relationship. The House sent its findings to the Senate, which conducted a trial and found Clinton not guilty. In 1868, the House impeached President Andrew Johnson, who had inherited a wartime dispute between his predecessor, President Abraham Lincoln, and Congress over how to treat the South after the Civil War. After impeachment, a Senate vote failed to remove Johnson from office. Another president, Richard Nixon, resigned from office while facing impeachment in 1974 for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

Last Friday, November 30, George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States, died in Houston at the age of 94. He served one term as president, from 1989 to 1993. He and his son George W. Bush, who became president in 2001, were the second father and son to serve as president. The only other father and son who both became president were John Adams and John Quincy Adams, who held office from 1797 to 1801 and from 1825 to 1829, respectively.

George H. W. Bush, 41st president of the United States, served from 1989 to 1993.
Credit: White House

As president, George H. W. Bush led the nation during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, in which the United States and its allies defeated Iraq, whose forces had invaded Kuwait. He also signed important arms-control agreements with the Soviet Union and, after it broke apart in 1991, with Russia and other former Soviet republics. Prior to his election as president, Bush had been a successful oil company executive and had served a long career in government service.

Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts. Bush served as a U.S. Navy pilot during World War II (1939-1945). On Sept. 2, 1944, Bush’s plane was shot down during an attack on a Japanese-held island. Before parachuting from his plane, Bush scored damaging hits on his target, a radio station. Bush was rescued from the ocean, but his two crew members did not survive. Bush received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism in the incident. He returned to flying after being shot down.

George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush.
Credit: Joyce N. Boghosian, White House Photo Office

On Jan. 6, 1945, Bush and Barbara Pierce were married. They were to become the longest-wedded couple in the history of the U.S. presidency, celebrating their 73rd wedding anniversary in January 2018. The couple had six children—George; Robin, who died of leukemia; John, called Jeb; Neil; Marvin; and Dorothy. Their son George was governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 before serving as U.S. president from 2001 to 2009. Jeb Bush was governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007.

In 1945, Bush graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He then worked in the oil industry, becoming president of the Zapata Off-Shore Oil Company in 1954. Bush’s career as an independent oilman made him wealthy.

Bush became interested in politics in the late 1950’s. A Republican, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1966 and was reelected in 1968. In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon  appointed Bush U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (UN). He served until 1973. He was the U.S. envoy to Communist China in 1974 and 1975 and head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)  in 1976 and 1977.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party candidate for president of the United States, chose Bush as his running mate. Reagan and Bush defeated their Democratic opponents, President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale. In the 1984 presidential election, Reagan and Bush won a landslide victory over their Democratic opponents, former Vice President Walter Mondale and Representative Geraldine Ferraro.

Bush won the Republican presidential nomination in 1988. He chose as his running mate Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana. In his acceptance speech at the Republican convention in August, Bush called on the United States to become a “kinder, gentler nation.” In November, Bush and Quayle defeated their Democratic opponents, Governor Mike Dukakis and Senator Lloyd Bentsen.

Bush and Quayle ran for reelection in 1992 but lost to their Democratic opponents, Governor Bill Clinton and Senator Al Gore.

After leaving the White House, Bush became active with charitable organizations and helped raise several million dollars for various causes. In 2005, President George W. Bush appointed his father and former President Bill Clinton to lead relief efforts for victims of natural disasters in the United States and other parts of the world.

In his later years, George H. W. Bush often used a wheelchair. Even so, in 2014 he celebrated his 90th birthday by skydiving!

February 1, 2013

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton completes her term as America’s top diplomat today, amid widespread speculation about a possible future as a presidential candidate in 2016. Since her appointment in 2009,  Clinton has traveled to more countries than any other U.S. secretary of state, logging nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers). As secretary of state, she emphasized women’s rights, gay rights, global food security, and climate change. She also worked to confront international terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to limit Iran’s nuclear programs.

Although Clinton has frequently come under severe criticism by conservative politicians and media, she is leaving office with a 70-percent approval rating, the second highest of any U.S. secretary of state since 1948, after Colin Powell. Clinton has also been named the most admired woman in the world 17 years in a row in a poll of Americans by the Gallup public opinion research organization. She will be succeeded by former United States Senator John Kerry, who was confirmed by the Senate earlier this week.

Hillary Rodham Clinton served as secretary of state of the United States from 2009 to 2013. (U.S. Department of State)

President Barack Obama surprised nearly everyone–including Clinton herself–by asking her to take the post at the State Department. Clinton and then-Senator Obama had fought a bitter battle for the 2008 Democratic presidental nomination. After Obama won the nomination, however, Clinton campaigned enthusiastically for her former rival. Incoming President Obama then chose Clinton to help repair the image of the United States abroad, after nearly a decade of war in the Middle East. As first lady from 1993 to 2001, she had traveled extensively to represent the administration of her husband, President Bill Clinton, and had developed close ties with many world leaders.

Clinton was one of the most active and politically engaged first ladies in U.S. history. In 1993, she was the chief author of a plan to guarantee low-cost health care to all Americans. Congress chose not to act on the plan. Many people thought it would give the government too large a role in the health care system.  But in 1996, Congress passed a bill that included key elements of the plan.

In 2000, Clinton became the only first lady ever elected to public office. A Democrat, she won election to the U.S. Senate from New York and was reelected in 2006.

Sept. 6, 2012

Last night, former U.S. President Bill Clinton nominated President Barack Obama as the Democratic Party’s candidate for president of the United States at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. The nomination came after a rousing speech in which the former president made an impassioned plea on behalf of Obama and his unique vision for the restoration of the American middle class.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton (courtesy of the Democratic National Committee)

Clinton delivered a point-by-point rebuttal of the arguments made against the president’s record by Republicans who convened last week in Tampa–from the Great Recession and auto bailout to health care and immigration reform. “President Obama started with a much weaker economy than I did,” stated Mr. Clinton. “No president, not me, not any of my predecessors, could have repaired all of the damage he found in just four years. . . . Is the president satisfied? Of course not, but are we better off than we were when he took office?” asked the former president. “The answer is yes.”

U.S. President Barack Obama (courtesy of The White House)

Clinton then saluted Obama’s efforts to facilitate bipartisan political cooperation, noting that he had appointed Republicans to Cabinet positions and former political rivals Joseph R. Biden, Jr., as vice president and Clinton’s own wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as secretary of state.

The first night of the convention on September 4 was dominated by First Lady Michelle Obama, who honored her husband as well as flag and country, reiterating her unstinting support for America’s military families. Mrs. Obama then told the story of her working-class parents’ struggle to provide her and her brother with educations and discussed President Obama’s childhood struggles as the son of a single white mother.

Additional World Book articles:

• The Big Three Roll Again (a special report)
• Economic Crisis: The Banking Meltdown (a special report)
• Economic Crisis: The Government Jumps In (a special report)
• Economic Crisis – Then and Now (a special report)
• Health Care Reform – What’s in It for You? (a special report)