[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July - September, 1974] Page: 91 of 236
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THE NEW YORK TIMES
July 29, 1974
Idealism and LegalismMillions of Americans now have the opportunity of
watching the operations of the political process in an
extraordinary undertaking, the likes of which have been
seen only once before in the history of the Republic-
and then not over television. If the issue under consider-
ation-removal from office of the President of the United
States-is momentous, the precise path to the resolution
of that issue is tortuous and, as became clear yesterday,
subjective at every point along the way. Human sensi-
tivities, if not frailties, are the substance of politics.
However, it is worth noting in this season of cynicism
abth olitcal process, particularly among young
Americans, that severTi of the more junior members of
the House Judiciary Committee have given a moving
demonstration of the sincerity and idealism welling up
in a new political generation.
No one watching the pained intensity of Wayne Owens
of Utah, the deep passion of rbara Jordan of Texas,
the articulate enthusiasm of Edward Mezvinsky of Iowa,
could harbor any, doubt of the potential for statesman-_.
shi ng r the Congress the Unite States,
WaitingQmrge tn ascee
These are among the half-dozen members of the com-
mittee who are under forty, all elected to Congress just
two years ago. Instead of the obscurity with which first-
term Representatives must usually be content, they
have suddenly found themselves in the position of pass-
ing initial judgment on high crimes and misdemeanors
charged against the President of the United States. While
most expert attention is paid to the more senior mem-
bers of the committee, who have generally maintained
a high standard as well, it is these new facr that are
giving the wider public particulr nc ,ent that
politics need not b the t business that it has seemed
t6b in recent .As predicted, the television coverage of the Judiciary
Committee hearings lacks the drama of startling dis-
closure that marked last summer's Senate Watergate hear-
ings. But these deliberations probably give to the public
a hotter civic ...dation in the political process, in how
legislative bodies actually~ work, in the interplay of
principle and pragmatism that makes politics move.
From the statements of purpose in the opening debate,
yesterday's proceedings quickly plunged into contentious
disputation on which lawyers thrive-and the Judiciary
Committee brings together 38 contentious lawyers. The
issue, though remote from the substance of the case
against Mr. Nixon, could become extremely important
in the procedures of a subsequent Senate trial, for it-
involves the amount of detail that should properly be
incorporated into a bill of impeachment.
Prosecutors across the land struggle over this legal
technique every day, in dealing with ordinary criminal
indictments. There should be neither surprise nor dismay
that such arguments occur in the extraordinary process
of impeachment.
There may be some weariness at the inevitable pro-
cedural complications, at rehashing of now-familiar evi-
dence, especially as the immediate outcome of the
committee hearings can no longer be considered in doubt.
An impeachment resolution will soon reach the floor
of the House of Representatives with broad bipartisan
support. But an almost addictive fascination still hangs
on the sight and sound of the people in the act of deci-
sions of historical moment.\
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[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July - September, 1974], book, 1974; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616583/m1/91/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Southern University.