Clinton and Lewinsky in 1997.

On February 12, 1999, the five-week impeachment trial of Bill
Clinton come to an end, with the Senate voting to acquit the
president on both articles of impeachment: perjury and
obstruction of justice.

In November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica
Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern.

Floor proceedings of the U.S. Senate, in session during the
1999 impeachment Senate trial of Bill Clinton.

Depiction of the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson
in 1868, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding.

SANDY KOZEL

President Bill Clinton is sworn in for his taped grand jury testimony
on Aug. 17, 1998, at the White House.

After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two
articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with
lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the
second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his
term.

On February 12, the Senate voted on whether to remove Clinton from office
and the president was acquitted on both articles of impeachment. The
prosecution needed a two-thirds majority to convict but failed to achieve
even a bare majority. Rejecting the first charge of perjury, 45 Democrats
and 10 Republicans voted “not guilty,” and on the charge of obstruction
of justice the Senate was split 50-50. After the trial concluded, President
Clinton said he was “profoundly sorry” for the burden his behavior
imposed on Congress and the American people.     
    
    
    
    
    

President Bill Clinton pauses as he apologizes to the U.S. on Dec. 11, 1998 for his conduct in the Monica Lewinsky affair.

On December 15, 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on
the Judiciary releases a 265-page report recommending the impeachment
of President Bill Clinton for high crimes and misdemeanors.     

The subsequent impeachment proceedings were the culmination of a slew
of scandals involving the president and first lady Hillary Clinton. 

Added to the mix were stories of Clinton’s extra-marital affairs and a sexual harassment claim filed against him. An independent counsel, Kenneth Starr,
was appointed to investigate the Paula Jones sexual harassment case and
the ensuing investigation led Starr to Monica Lewinsky, a former White
House intern who had been accused of having an affair with Clinton.

    
    
    
   

President Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky.     

The 1868 impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson.

Only two U.S. presidents have been formally impeached by Congress—
Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton—and no U.S. president has ever been
removed from office through impeachment.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1996, a single homemade pipe bomb left in a knapsack exploded amid a crowd of spectators in Centennial Olympic Park,
near the main sites of the Olympic Games in Atlanta. The blast
caused by the crude device killed one person and injured 112
others.  

Eric Robert Rudolph, the Olympic Park Bomber.