There have been two serious efforts in the past half-century to impeach and remove a U.S. president from office. The first, which ended in 1974, led to the resignation of its target—President Richard Nixon. The second, which began in 1998 against President Bill Clinton, led to the resignation of the man who had orchestrated the effort—House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
In the former case, opinion shifted steadily against President Nixon and in favor of removing him from office as the public reacted to swirling events at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and learned more about the details of the Watergate affair. In the latter, new information had almost no impact on the views of the people about removing President Clinton, which they opposed from the beginning of this episode to the very end.
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