page_title: Peter W. Rodino
section_title: House Judiciary Committee chairman
hierarchical_section_title: Peter W. Rodino / House Judiciary Committee chairman
caption_attribution_description: English: The Committee on the Judiciary Committee, United States House of Representatives, opened its formal impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon on May 9, 1974.
context_page_description: Peter Wallace Rodino Jr. was a Democratic United States congressman from New Jersey from 1949 to 1989. Rodino rose to prominence as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, where he oversaw the impeachment process against Richard Nixon that eventually led to the president's resignation. He was the longest-serving member ever of the United States House of Representatives from the state of New Jersey.
context_section_description: Rodino became chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in January 1973, at the start of the 93rd Congress. He succeeded Emanuel Celler, a 50-year incumbent, who had been defeated for renomination in the 1972 Democratic primary election.
  Later in 1973, after President Richard Nixon fired Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox on October 20, in what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre", numerous presidential impeachment related resolutions were proposed in the House. Speaker of the House Carl Albert referred them to the Judiciary Committee. The resultant impeachment process against Richard Nixon put Rodino, who until then had kept a low profile in Congress, front and center in the political limelight. "If fate had been looking for one of the powerhouses of Congress, it wouldn't have picked me," he told a reporter at the time.
  The committee spent eight months gathering evidence and pressing the president to comply with subpoenas for White House tape recordings and documents. In 2005, John Doar, who was Special Counsel to the Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings, said of Rodino:
  He was able to impose discipline on the staff. He insisted that there be no leaks to the press. There were no leaks to the press. He insisted that it be bipartisan, it not be partisan. There was no partisanship on the staff. In fact, it was remarkably non-partisan. And that is the result of good leadership. And although Congressman Rodino was a quiet man, he had the knack of leading, of managing, and he did it very well, in my opinion.
  As the Judiciary Committee prepared to vote on the first article of impeachment in July 1974, Rodino said: "We have deliberated. We have been patient. We have been fair. Now the American people, the House of Representatives and the Constitution and the whole history of our republic demand that we make up our minds." The committee, with six Republicans joining the Democratic majority, passed three of the five articles of impeachment. In a 1989 interview with Susan Stamberg of National Public Radio, Rodino recalled that after the committee finished its work on the impeachment articles, he went to a room in back of the committee chambers, called his wife and cried. He also stated:
  Notwithstanding the fact that I was Democrat, notwithstanding the fact that there were many who thought that Rodino wanted to bring down a president as a Democrat, you know, he was our president. And this is our system that was being tested. And here was a man who had achieved the highest office that anyone could gift him with, you know. And you're bringing down the presidency of the United States, and it was a sad, sad commentary on our whole history and, of course, on Richard Nixon.
  Rodino presided over Gerald Ford's December 1973 vice presidential confirmation hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. He also was appointed twice by the House as one of the managers to conduct (prosecute) impeachment proceedings against a U.S. federal judge: Nevada judge Harry Claiborne in 1986 (for tax evasion) and Florida judge (and later congressman) Alcee Hastings in 1988 (for perjury).
caption: First day of The Judiciary Committee's formal impeachment hearings against President Nixon, May 9, 1974
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