Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. John Conyers
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. John Conyers
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. John Conyers
Peter Rodino (D New Jersey). I recognize the gentleman from Michigan for 6 minutes and 15 seconds. John Conyers (D Michigan). Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee. We ve said here again and again during the course of these deliberations that the one power of the Congress that might, in fact, be even more powerful than that which brings us here, is the power to declare war. And I think that we might make an observation about the nature and importance of this proposed Article from the outset because as one who has worked with all of the members who have labored toward an understanding and a support of any of the Articles, I want to extend first my commendations to the chairman and then to those who composed the "fragile coalition" because I have been as concerned as any about putting it together and keeping it together. So far during these proceedings, no one has been required to make any compromises of conscience that have to do with those measures that should be considered as impeachable offenses. And I think that to do anything less would demean these proceedings and leave us open for criticism for all time in the view of those who will study in great detail our conduct during this historic event.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. John Conyers
And so I bring this Article forward not with some trepidation, because it seems to me first of all to have been that matter which underlies all of the Articles that have been voted so far because we have stated time and time again that the reason for Watergate and its coverup, and the incursions into the various agencies and departments of Government was motivated by a necessity that was political. Well, I would like to suggest to you that the reason that that political motivation arose in the first place was the fact of the Vietnam War in which this Cambodian incursion is an incident because this President, unfortunately like the one before him, is to a greater extent a casualty of the Vietnam War. And I would point out to you that we need to state only the matter quite simply. Tapes are not required. It is not necessary that we go beyond the documentation that has been put together by the committee and analyzed. The President unilaterally undertook major military actions against another sovereign nation and then consistently denied that he had done so to both the, Congress and the American people.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. John Conyers
Now, my colleagues, I suggest that the consequences of that conduct are so enormous that for us assembled here not to seriously consider this as an additional Article, not to merely add Articles upon Articles, but as one of the most important that go to the perhaps most important duty that befalls us in the Congress. You know, many people don't know or have forgotten who has the authority to declare war in 1974 in the United States. Many people have forgotten that the Congress constitutionally has that sole authority. And so I would urge that we in an attempt to reassert those powers which we consider to be vital and precious, if the constitutional form of government is to prevail and continue and improve that we give the gravest consideration to this Article.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. John Conyers
Now, I know that there is something else that is troubling us and I am constrained to speak frankly to it because there are members who regardless of how much agreement that they may give to the arguments that will be presented by myself and the proponents, feel that perhaps they have some implication in the result of undeclared wars and I think a word should be said about it. I don't think that we can absolve the fact that, the Congress has failed to declare officially that war that has haunted us for nearly 10 years but that we can use this moment as a new beginning, as a point of departure, where the Congress says from this moment on, from this day forward, we will reinstitute that law constitutionally asserted from the beginning that somehow during the course of previous administrations, I am frank to admit, has eroded and we find that that power is no longer ours and ours alone. But on March 17, 1969, the President of the United States, and I might note less than 2 months after he had been given the oath of office, approved the beginning of bombing strikes in Cambodia which continued until August 15, 1973. But, it was not until July 16 that Secretary of Defense Schlesinger, before the Senate Armed Services Committee revealed formally that bombing had occurred in Cambodia prior to May 1970, the date of the American invasion or incursion into Cambodia. Peter Rodino (D New Jersey). The gentleman's time has expired.