Encyclopedia of world history (facts on file library of world history) 7 volume set ( PDFDrive ) 3168

348 Putin, Vladimir Democratic candidates and to seek information from the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office complex When men who were employed by CREEP staffers G Gordon Liddy and E Howard Hunt were apprehended in the Watergate on June 17, 1972, Nixon and his top aides responded by attempting to cover up the president’s involvement in the affair A bipartisan majority of the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Nixon, centering on the abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and defiance of a congressional subpoena to turn over the tapes of recorded conversations To avoid certain removal Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974 At least in part, the attempt to impeach Bill Clinton appeared to grow out of a desire for revenge over the Nixon impeachment attempt The Clinton administration was subject to several investigations by independent counsels and, after 1994, by the Republican-controlled Congress, both about the behavior of administration officials during his presidency and questions about the financial dealings of the president and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton Although Congress and independent counsel Kenneth Starr failed to uncover criminal activity by the president or his wife, they did determine that President Clinton had lied about conducting an extramarital affair with a White House intern The House Judiciary brought two articles of impeachment against the president on December 19, 1998, centering on lying to Congress and obstruction of justice The full House voted to impeach the president on both articles on a near–party line vote After trial by the Senate President Clinton was acquitted of both articles of impeachment on February 12, 1999 President Clinton served out his term in office Since in both cases of impeachment the president’s party did not control Congress, the process of impeachment has been tarred by the charge that partisanship, rather than presidential malfeasance, has been the primary motive for action This charge had more resonance in the impeachment of President Clinton than in that of President Nixon because of the criminal acts committed by Nixon and his associates Nevertheless, the process of impeachment remains a potential check on presidential power Further reading: Emery, Fred Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994; Olson, Keith Watergate: The Scandal that Shook America Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2003; Rae, Nicol, and Colton Campbell Impeaching Clinton: Partisan Strife on Capitol Hill Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2004 Richard M Filipink, Jr Putin, Vladimir (1952– ) Russian president Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad on October 7, 1952, and was very much a product of the Soviet system His family background was ordinary and reflected the hardships of postwar Soviet life Putin applied himself to improving his position in the Soviet order and looked, once he graduated in law from Leningrad State University, to a career in the security services (KGB) as the best method of doing so Following initial duties dealing with Leningrad dissidents, Putin took up from 1985 to 1989 a KGB posting in East Germany After the collapse of the East German regime, Putin moved to the international affairs section of his old university and within a short time joined the Leningrad politician Anatoly Sobchak as an aide; following Sobchak’s election in 1991 as mayor, Putin became deputy mayor His abilities were noticed in Moscow, and he joined the Kremlin staff in 1996 as an assistant to Pavel Borodin overseeing Russian economic assets This post soon brought him to the attention of President Boris Yeltsin, who, in 1998, appointed Putin head of the Federal Security Service (the replacement for the KGB), from which post Putin quickly rose to be head of the Security Council in 1999 These times were unstable ones for Yeltsin and the Russian Federation Within a period of 18 months several prime ministers came and went When Yeltsin fired Sergei Stepashin in August 1999, he appointed Putin prime minister He was now in position for succession to the presidency, which unexpectedly came his way when Yeltsin resigned on December 31, 1999, and Putin became acting president A presidential election followed in March 2000, and Putin won convincingly The backing of the security services and many economic reformers gave him a political base to overcome any threats from the nationalist Fatherland Front In his first years in office, Putin faced a number of crises stemming from the unrest and malaise of the Yeltsin years Chechnya, controlled by Islamic militants, was clearly the most significant He attempted to resolve the war, but terrorist bombings in Moscow brought a swift and punishing military retaliation