William S. Cohen Papers | House Judiciary Committee Records

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MS 106.2.3.3 Judiciary Committee Records 1969-1980 43 boxes

Cohen was a member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee from 1973-1979. The papers in this section are concerned with issues, which were under the jurisdiction of this committee, and they include Cohen's papers from the Nixon impeachment inquiry of 1974. This inquiry was conducted due largely to what has become known as the Watergate scandal. On June 17, 1972, five men broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. They were arrested and charged with burglary and wiretapping. Former White House aide E. Howard Hunt, Jr., and G. Gordon Liddy, who was the general counsel for the Committee for the Re-election of the President, were also arrested. Nixon denied any involvement in this break-in, but he was later implicated in the cover-up.

During the course of the impeachment inquiry articles of impeachment were drafted by William Cohen and other members of the House Judiciary Committee. These articles were passed, and, rather than face almost certain impeachment, Nixon announced his resignation on August 8, 1974. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee records are arranged into seven groupings: a) general files, b) the Gerald R. Ford vice presidential confirmation records, c) the Richard M. Nixon impeachment inquiry records, d) the Nelson A. Rockefeller vice presidential confirmation records, e) newsman's privilege, f) speedy trial, and g) women's rights.


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Revised: 03/19/2019