On the day in 1998, the Republican-led House voted to proceed with impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton on charges of lying under oath and obstruction of justice.

In sending the case forward, the House Judiciary Committee had relied heavily on a four-year investigation into several alleged scandals—including improper Arkansas real estate deals, suspected fundraising violations, claims of sexual harassment and accusations of cronyism involving the firing of White House travel agents—involving Clinton and his wife, Hillary.

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The independent prosecutor, Kenneth Starr, also launched a probe into an extramarital affair between Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. As part of a sexual harassment lawsuit, the president had denied having the affair. When Clinton invoked executive privilege, Starr charged the president with obstruction of justice, which ultimately compelled him to testify before a grand jury. Starr subsequently referred the charges to the House.

The impeachment proceedings resumed during the post-election “lame duck” session of the 105th Congress. On Dec. 19, the House impeached Clinton of lying under oath and obstruction charges. Two other counts failed, including one accusing Clinton of abuse of power.

Five Democrats (Virgil Goode of Virginia, Ralph Hall of Texas, Paul McHale of Pennsylvania, Charles Stenholm of Texas and Gene Taylor of Mississippi) voted in favor of three of the four articles of impeachment, but only Taylor voted for the abuse of power charge.

Five Republicans (Amo Houghton of New York, Peter King of New York, Connie Morella of Maryland, Chris Shays of Connecticut and Mark Souder of Indiana) voted against the first perjury charge. Eight more Republicans (Sherwood Boehlert of New York, Michael Castle of Delaware, Phil English of Pennsylvania, Nancy Johnson of Connecticut, Jay Kim of California, Jim Leach of Iowa, John McHugh of New York and Ralph Regula of Ohio), but not Souder, voted against the obstruction charge.

In all, 28 Republicans voted against the second perjury charge, sending it to defeat, and 81 voted against the abuse of power charge.

As was the case in the House, Clinton’s five-week Senate trial in 1999 also led to a series of largely party-line votes. No Democratic senators voted for conviction. In all, 55 senators voted not guilty while 45 voted guilty on the charge of lying under oath. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) voted "not proven," which Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who presided over the trial, recorded as a not guilty vote. The Senate also acquitted Clinton on the obstruction charge, with 50 votes cast each way. A two-thirds majority, 67 votes, would have been necessary to convict the president.

Clinton was the first president to be impeached since Andrew Johnson in 1868, who was also acquitted (albeit quite narrowly) after a Senate trial. (Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency in 1974, while an impeachment process against him was underway.)

SOURCE: “ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AND JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ROLL CALL VOTES,” THE WASHINGTON POST (DECEMBER 19, 1998).