Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [0]
ARCHIBALD COX
Conscience of a Nation
To my wife, Laura,
still my best friend, who supported this project for nine years
as I trekked into the salt mines.
And to our children—Carolyn, Luke, Rebecca, and Maddy—who
brought joy to the author’s study.
This book was destined to have many pages because each word
represents a small expression of my love for them.
CONTENTS
PRELUDE: COLLISION IN THE CAPITOL
CHAPTER 1: The Impeachment Vote
2: Bill Clinton and Ken Starr
PART ONE: ARKANSAS MISCHIEF
3: Breathtaking “Whitewater”
4: McDougal Paints the Town
5: Seeds of Scandal
6: Death Song in the West Wing
7: Conspiracy Theories
8: The Special Prosecutor
9: David Hale Visits Justice Jim
PART TWO: PURSUING THE PRESIDENT
10: Paula Corbin Jones
11: Danny Traylor: “Can We Settle for Five Thousand
Dollars?”
12: Three Judges in Black
13: Ken Starr: Special Prosecutor
14: Paula Jones on Film
15: Arkansas Felons
16: The “Cooperating Witness”
17: Paula Jones Goes to Washington
PART THREE: THE MONICA THREAD
18: Monica S. Lewinsky
19: Inside a Texas Prison
20: The Settlement That Never Happened
21: Trapped Outside the White House
22: The Hundred-Page Referral
23: An Unexpected Caller
24: A Cubicle in the Pentagon
25: Pinning the Tail on Clinton
26: Panic in the Justice Department
27: Vanity to Prayer
28: “The Brace”
29: The Avuncular Mr. Ginsburg
30: Clinton Takes an Oath
31: Scandal in Washington
PART FOUR: THE GRAND CONFESSIONAL
32: A Presidency in Peril
33: “Of Trust and Confidence”
34: One Nation Divided
35: The Vilification of Ken Starr
36: A Mother’s Collapse
37: Last Night in Solitary Confinement
38: The Indictment of Hillary Clinton
39: Out-Gunning the Secret Service
40: Ginsburg’s Final Photo Shoot
41: Monica’s Truth
42: The Drudge Revolution
43: A Walk in the Woods
44: Maximum Peril
PART FIVE: HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
45: Bombshell Report
46: Starr Witness
47: “Men of the Year”
48: Thirteen Angry Managers
49: A Scottish Vote
50: Clinton’s Contempt
EPILOGUE: WHITE HOUSE EXODUS
51: “Who Will Blink?”
52: Aftermath
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PRELUDE
COLLISION IN THE CAPITOL
CHAPTER
1
THE IMPEACHMENT VOTE
It was an unusual day for a vote that might extinguish a presidency. Congress rarely did official business on Saturdays, let alone just before the Christmas holiday. But on this morning—December 19, 1998—with a chilly rain pelting the dome of the Capitol, lights were blazing in every office on the House of Representatives side. Fax machines spewed out confidential messages. President Bill Clinton had just launched a surprise attack in the Persian Gulf against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, prompting cries of “Wag the Dog!” by angry Republicans. Now, after a day’s postponement out of deference to military troops, the appointed hour had arrived.
Henry Hyde, distinguished Republican from Illinois, strode to the wooden lectern. He was wearing a dark blue suit and red tie befitting the seriousness of the occasion. As chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, the white-maned Congressman Hyde had been responsible for drafting all four articles of impeachment against the forty-second president: Article I accused William Jefferson Clinton of lying to a federal grand jury in connection with the Monica Lewinsky affair; Article II charged him with lying under oath in the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones, an Arkansas employee when Clinton was governor; Article III alleged obstruction of justice and subornation of perjury; Article IV alleged a general “misuse and abuse” of Clinton’s high office.
Chairman Hyde would remember this as a “somber, somber” day. The Republicans, herded into line by Majority Whip Tom DeLay, were optimistic that they could push through at least one article.