Thread by @julianzelizer

If the polls are accurate, support for impeachment is about the same today as it was for Nixon in March 1974 (42-43 percent). This suggests that majority support for impeachment might not the best guide for House Democrats in 2019./1
cnn.com/2019/06/02/pol…

Just to fill in some of the context for March 1974—a case that culminated with the House Judiciary Committee voting for articles of impeachment, President Nixon resigning, and a moment in American history widely considered to be an example of when the system worked./2

By March 1974, the nation had lived through the traumatic and explosive events of the Saturday Night Massacre (October 1973)./3

By March 1974, the Senator Ervin's Watergate Committee had conducted its widely-viewed televised hearings into the administration that revealed immense amounts of presidential wrongdoing to the public./4

By March 1974, Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein had published many of their most powerful pieces about the scandal which today are considered to be models of watchdog journalism./5

By March 1974, the Nixon administration had already been rocked by a major scandal, the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew, which shook confidence in the president./6

By March 1974, the House had already voted to start the impeachment process, though the formal proceedings didn’t start until early May./7

By March 1974, there was still no “smoking gun” evidence that Nixon had obstructed justice. Nor was there a lengthy twitter feed where the public could see him doing it in real time./8

In March 1974, there was no conservative Fox News network constantly pumping out stories challenging the investigations into the president and the investigators themselves./9

In March 1974, the electorate was not nearly as polarized as today so the strong opposition to impeachment is even more notable./10

All of this to say, House Democrats can start impeachment proceedings with less than majority support and in doing so still take the right course of action. This is what Democrats did in 1974 and they were on the right side of history./end

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