Impeaching Clinton: Partisan Strife on Capitol Hill(Studies in Government and Public Policy)

Impeaching Clinton offers a case study of how the American political system operated during the 1990s and of the criminal factors underpinning the political process. In particular, it examines the congressional aspect of the drama to show that the Lewinksy affair was simply a trigger - that the context for impeachment had been set over the course of two decades of partisan warfare. Drawing on interviews with six of the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee in 1998, Rae and Campbell re-examine why the House Republicans acted in defiance of electoral rationality on the impeachment issue. The authors unravel the web of partisan politics to reveal how the pattern of events was determined, from the decision to open an impeachment inquiry to the eventual acquittal of the president. The book also considers the Judiciary Committee from the perspective of the Democratic minority, who helped shape media coverage and public opinion and the eventual Senate outcome. They show how the Senate was able to bring closure to this highly polarizing proceeding. The Clinton impeachment was the most extreme manifestation of partisan warfare in our time. This book aims to expand our understanding, not only of a particular constitutional crisis, but also of a dynamic that still prevails in congressional politics.

Review :
"In this interesting and useful book, the authors provide a brief but insightful assessment of the impeachment and trial of President Bill Clinton. . . . Rae and Campbell are particularly effective in charting the dynamics by which the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary committees have become ideologically polarized in recent years even by the standards of the contemporary, partisan Congress. . . . "--Choice"Considers the politics behind one of the most important events in the domestic political history of the United States in the past century. . . . Highly recommended to any scholar interested in American political institutions. . . . Highly readable for students."--Perspectives on Political Science "Rae and Campbell demonstrate convincingly that the impeachment of Bill Clinton was largely a consequence of political forces that gathered in Congress during the 1980s and 1990s. Their book is both a trenchant analysis of the impeachment and a strikingly accurate portrayal of the partisan and ideologically polarized state of American politics at the turn of the century."--Thomas E. Mann, coeditor of Congress, the Press, and the Public"Rae and Campbell cut to the heart of this remarkable episode in American history. Their treatment is thorough and authoritative. And even though we all know the outcome, it was fun to read."--Nelson W. Polsby, author of Congress and the Presidency "An important and compelling book."--Walter J. Oleszek, author of Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process