Clinton’s magnetism, his ability to capture the middle ground, and the nation’s economic resurgence enabled him to survive scandals and impeachment. Early in his presidency, charges related to firings of White House staff, political use of FBI records, and “Whitewater” — the nickname for real estate investments that the Clintons had made in Arkansas — led to an official investigation by an independent prosecutor.

In January 1998, the independent prosecutor, Kenneth Starr, began to investigate a charge that Clinton had had sexual relations with a twenty-one-year-old White House intern and then lied about it to a federal grand jury. After vehemently denying the charge, Clinton subsequently bowed to the mounting evidence against him. Starr prepared a case for the House of Representatives, which in December 1998 voted to impeach the president for perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton became the second president (after Andrew Johnson, in 1868) to be impeached by the House and tried by the Senate.

The Senate trial took place in early 1999. Most Americans condemned the president’s behavior but approved of the job he was doing and opposed his removal from office. Some saw Starr as a fanatic invading individuals’ privacy. One man said, “Let him get a divorce from his wife. Don’t take him out of office and disrupt the country.” Those favoring removal insisted that the president must set a high moral standard and that lying to a grand jury, even over a private matter, was a serious offense. With a two-thirds majority needed for conviction, the Senate voted 45 to 55 on the perjury count and 50 to 50 on the obstruction of justice count. A majority, including some Republicans, seemed to agree with a Clinton supporter that the president’s behavior, though “indefensible, outrageous, unforgivable, shameless,” did not warrant his removal from office. The investigation that led up to impeachment ended in 2000 when the independent prosecutor reported insufficient evidence of illegalities related to the Whitewater land deals.