THE CONGRESS: The Fateful Vote to Impeach

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district by Vice President Gerald Ford, who assured the voters that he would support Butler for re-election this fall no matter how he voted on impeachment.

Suddenly, a fifth Republican, who had remained aloof from the others and kept his intention quiet, broke away from Nixon.

Lawrence Hogan did so publicly in a harsh statement against the President that dismayed party loyalists on the committee and undoubtedly had a psychological impact on the undecideds. "The evidence convinces me that my President has lied repeatedly," Hogan said at a press conference, "deceiving public officials and the American people. Instead of cooperating with prosecutors and investigators, as he said publicly, he concealed and covered up evidence, and coached witnesses so that their testimony would show things that really were not true... he praised and rewarded those who he knew had committed perjury. He actively participated in an extended and extensive conspiracy to obstruct justice." A conservative seeking the governorship of Maryland, Hogan frankly conceded that he spoke out early so that his views would not be lost in the committee's 38-member debate. His later, strong arguments in that debate left little doubt of his sincerity in urging impeachment, even though his act probably was a political plus in Maryland.

Describing how he reached his decision, Hogan recalled that he began listening to the evidence with a "firm presumption" that the President was innocent. "But after reading the transcripts," he said, "it was sobering: the number of untruths, the deception and the immoral attitudes. At that point, I began tilting against the President, and my conviction grew steadily."

While driving home one evening a week ago, he suddenly realized that he had made up his mind to vote for impeachment. "There was just too much evidence," he remarked later. "By any standard of proof demanded, we had to bind him over for trial and removal by the Senate." When he got home, he told his wife of his decision. "She said, 'Good,'" Hogan reported, "the first direct political advice she's ever offered."

The Anguish of Responsibility

On Wednesday, in their private drafting sessions, the two groups of pro-impeachment forces began coalescing. The Democratic group was reaching agreement on the same two general articles as the coalition negotiators had decided on: obstruction of justice and abuse of power. As the formal opening of the televised Judiciary Committee meetings approached, however, the Democratic group had not completed its drafting work. Its members still wondered whether there should be a third article charging Nixon with contempt of Congress for ignoring the committee's subpoenas. Two articles were hastily sketched out, mainly by South Carolina's Mann. "A lot of the real nuts and bolts were put together by Mann," said one participant. The coalition group, also heavily influenced by Mann, had its similar proposals ready. Actually, the unperfected Democratic proposals were the ones later introduced by Harold Donohue of Massachusetts as the takeoff points for the extended debate.

The public moment of truth arrived as Chairman Rodino banged his gavel in the Judiciary Committee's draped and paneled room at 7:44 p.m. on Wednesday. Quickly