Governors Who Faced Impeachment

Blagojevich May Join Ranks with Govs from Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona

Jan 27, 2009 Heidi Toth

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich isn't the first governor to be impeached and face removal from office.

Impeachment, which is brought by the House of Representatives, formally accuses the executive officer of wrongdoing. The Senate then tries the executive and has the power to remove him or her from office. Blagojevich’s trial in the Illinois Senate began on Jan. 26; he was not in attendance because he claimed the trial was unfair. But his story isn’t the weirdest, and his claims of innocence and victimization by political opponents aren’t new.

Other Governors

1871 – North Carolina Gov. William Holden holds the dubious honor of being the first executive to be impeached, according to a 2004 Associated Press story. He declared martial law in the state and unconstitutionally suspended habeas corpus in fights with the Ku Klux Klan.

1871– David Butler, Nebraska’s first governor, clashed with the two Omaha newspapers, which then dug up a number of financial offenses related to the campaign to move the state capitol from Omaha to Lincoln, and connected those offenses to Butler, according to the AP. He was removed from office.

1913 – New York Gov. William Sulzer called his impeachment trial a “political lynching,” according to the New York Times. The Democratic governor refused to name Tammany Hall boss Charles F. Murphy’s contracting partner as a state highways superintendent, which set off months of political mayhem, including public accusations of wrongdoing by the governor against his opponents, threats and so forth, while the Legislature refused to confirm his appointments or listen to him. After an all-night special session, the Legislature, instead of voting on Sulzer’s antigraft bill, voted to impeach for misappropriation of campaign funds. The Senate voted to convict.

1917 – Texas Gov. James E. Ferguson had a scandal-free first term, but about a year into his second term he had a disagreement with the University of Texas administration, according to Texas state records. Ten charges, including misappropriation of public funds and failing to respect and enforce the state’s banking laws, were leveled against him in an impeachment, and the Senate voted 25-3 to convict. Ferguson resigned on Aug. 25, 1917, the day before the conviction, but it was sustained. He helped his wife successfully run for governor in 1924 and 1932.

1923 – Unpopular Oklahoma Gov. John Walton heard that about the ongoing investigation by the House of Representatives and sent the National Guard to break the investigation up, according to the AP. Lawmakers moved to impeach the governor anyway; Walton responded by ordering the guardsmen to form a barrier around the Capitol. He was impeached 10 months into his first term.

1929 – Walton’s successor, Gov. Henry S. Johnston, also ordered the National Guard to surround the Capitol building, so the legislators went to a hotel and voted to impeach Johnston. The impeachment was overturned on a technicality, but during the next session the legislature voted to impeach again.

1929 – Louisiana Gov. Huey Long, who later became a U.S. Senator, was impeached on eight charges of bribery after supporters and opponents of the governor clashed on the House floor, according to research from professor Thayer Watkins at San Jose State University. Long had introduced a bill that added a 5-cent tax to each barrel of oil, and his opponents were eager to vote it down. Long tried to adjourn the session; Rep. Cecil Morgan called for an inquiry into the charges of bribery. The charges did not go to the Senate for trial because Long produced a petition with one-third of the senators refusing to convict him.

1988 – Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham was impeached and removed from office on charges of obstructing justice and misusing $80,000 in state money, according to the Associated Press. He served just 15 months of his term. Two months after leaving office, a jury in his criminal trial found him not guilty of six felony charges of violating the campaign finance laws by not revealing a $350,000 loan his campaign received.

For a list of governors who have run into either the impeachment process or the criminal system, go here.

Presidents Who Faced Impeachment

Presidential impeachments are much rarer and much more famous. Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached; the U.S. House of Representatives voted in 1868 to impeach Lincoln’s successor after numerous disagreements. He was tried but not convicted by the U.S. Senate, according to the World Almanac.

In 1974, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee brought impeachment articles against President Richard M. Nixon in response to the Watergate scandal, but the president resigned on Aug. 9, before the House could vote on it. The most recent was President Bill Clinton in 1998, who was accused of lying to federal officials regarding an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He was tried by the Senate in 1999 but not convicted.

  1. “Rowland may join impeached governors club.” The Associated Press, June 20, 2004.
  2. “Evan Mecham, Ousted Governor, Dies at 83.” Associated Press, Feb. 23, 2008
  3. “Huey Long: His Life and Times.” Thayer Watkins, Department of Economics, San Jose State University.
  4. “Podcast: A historical lesson for Spitzer.” Sam Roberts, The New York Times. Oct. 19, 2007.
  5. Abstract, Records, Texas Governor James Edward Ferguson. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, 1915-1917.
  6. “The World Almanac and Book of Facts.” History Channel Web site, 2006.

The copyright of the article Governors Who Faced Impeachment in Law, Crime & Justice is owned by Heidi Toth. Permission to republish Governors Who Faced Impeachment in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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