george -- george h.w. bush nominated a texas,u.s. senator from john tower, to be secretary of defense. >> please understand that the old-boy network is not working in this case and we will do what we think is right. began toy, opposition develop. >> over the course of many years have encountered the nominee ofa condition, lack with womens well as who -- to whom he was not married. you would also own viewn public your towards alcohol and whether you, any alcoholve problem. >> i have none, senator. i am a man of some discipline. >> a lot of it had to do not with tower's professional capabilities but his personal his habits and weaknesses. >> i will answer again with the term zero-tolerance for discrimination against women, for sexual harassment of women. into --enate will go >> the issue was divisive. >> united states senate, as many of my colleagues have said has served and none have seen him conducted or in unbecoming the office. >> senator tower has taken a significant or earned a of moneynt amount within a very small space of time, from too many military contractors whom he now seeks to come back to be the chief of.lator >> mr. president, vote we are about to cast brings to an end a and unpleasant chapter in the history of the senate's advice and consent process. tally is announced, there will be no winners other than our system of government u.s. constitution. >> the aye's are 47, the nays are 53. tour tonation of john be secretary of defense is not confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. be the president is to notified of the senate's action. >> that in itself wound up a rippling effect because president bush needed a secretary of defense so he dipped into the house of representatives and picked the house republican whip, dick cheney, to be his secretary of defense. republicans needed a new whip. elected newt gingrich to be the new whip so many moved up a step in the process and had a long influence over the government because john tower didn't get to be secretary of defense. >> anyone who thinks of himself as a gentlemen ought to be above contombally. >> the senator has gone beyond rules -- >> senator would shut his own mouth. >> i would suggest -- >> during the 1990's, acrimony in the senate grows as change comes in the form of party control of the senate and complexion as well as 28 members of the house are elected to the body. in the 1994 election, the number of former house members sitting senate hits 40 for the first time ever. >> the question today is where is bill? so you have something you don't like about what he is doing, but where's bill?s, >> the idea of a republican congress was a pretty until 1994.idea you had 40 years were nobody work every day thinking, gee, if the democrats make one intake today, we could be control or vice versa. swear -- solemnly >> that was the beginning of a more unruly floor, a more contentious and partisan environment. >> here is your state's rights business of last year. you're for states rights. look at this. there is a health care package. tell me there's states rights in that. would the senator at least be honest enough, honest enough in terms of talking about this measure. >> with the senate reaching new of acrimony, senator robert byrd takes to the floor, civilityous speech on in the senate, in december 1995. >> the american people have every right to think that we are just a miserable lot of juveniles. and i have come to be sorry that makeision is here when we ourselves.tacle of there have been giants here in this senate and i have seen some of them. little did i know when i came mee that i would live to see to meses -- >> following the speech six months later, senator majority resigned to run for president. >> i always thought differences that'shealthy thing and why we're all so healthy because we have a lot of differences in chamber. i've never seen a healthier life.in my >> as he departs, the senate is already working on welfare facing conflict and reaching compromise. >> to call this bill welfare nonsense. it's welfare retreat. reform means improvement, solving a problem. this bill will bring damage to countless families across america. >> i'm happy the senate is about take this final action on this monumental accomplishment, bipartisan accomplishment. >> the clerk will call the roll. mr. abraham, mr. akaka. [chanting] >> asthe bill i'm about to sign i have said many times is far from perfect. i signed this bill because this is a historic chance were democrats gotd together and said we're going to take this historic chance to try to recreate the nation's social bargain with the poor. [applause] >> political battles have been part of the nature of the congress in the federal government ever since the very beginning. >> when the government moved to washington, d.c. in 1800, we were in the early days of political parties, but they were already there. and there's no ignoring we had two political parties. factions within them. in the early years of that 19th the senate is a very partisan atmosphere. polarization,f was such that in 1894, the sitting vice president of the and killedes shot the leader of the opposition party, alexander hamilton shot by aaron burr. >> when jefferson became president, he's a strong anti-federalist so you soon see comingment proceedings through. first judicial impeachment of john pickering was that situation. a problematic judge but it was largely political reasons, an opportunity for the jeffersian parliament to remove a federal judge from the bench. >> article one says the senate sole power to try all impeachments. thepresident, i announce on part of the house to conduct impeachment proceedings. officials from office for treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors is senate's ultimate tool in the checks and balances system. 19 trials areeir of federal judges with eight convictions, it is when they sit a court of impeachment of two presidents which gripped the nation. >> the impeachment trial of an absoluteon was sensation. it was for the johnson impeachment trial that they first issued gallery tickets for chamber.e this was the first really public trial that took place. if you look at publications of the day, like "harper's weekly," they're full of wonderful illustrations of the sergeant-at-arms delivering the articles of impeachment to the hand.house into johnson's he had all of his lawyers lining up in the chambers to make their con ofro and impeachment. it's really the society event of 1868. he had gone against congress in reconstruction policy. they had considered impeachment over and over and finally in 1868, he did something that gave them an excuse for impeachment. without gaining the permission to do so from congress. >> the trial itself went on for weeks. lengthy arguments from both the withse and the prosecutors house members, of course, being the prosecutors. did not appear at the trial but others appeared on his behalf and in the end it came an extremely dramatic vote, extremely dramatic roll call vote in the senate, when seven republicans, they were recusants,republican that sided with the democrats, and saved andrew johnson by a single vote from convictions. set the tone for a very long time in terms of congress impeachmentonly use in the most dire situation and only when it was clearly a a partisanfense, not offense. then, of course, in december of 1998, the outgoing house of representatives, as final gift nation, impeached the president of the united states. toyou sit as a injury of 100 render impartial justice. the chief justice of the supreme presided as the chief judge. >> at this time i will administer the oath to all members of the chamber in conformance with the constitution and the senate impeachment rule. >> to be sure that no vote the times take a vote three to render impartial justice. one as a group, then as individual. ms. mccullski. >> third, you go into the well and sign a book for all of where i, hereby, barbara mikulski, u.s. senator from maryland, pledge to render impartial justice on the matter .f impeachment your hand shakes with that immediatestorical and commitment. the constitution sets a two-thirds majority required for convicting someone who's been impeached in the house. that means one party can impeach somebody they don't like and over to the senate but in the senate you have to have a bipartisan majority to convict them.erson and eject when they came to the senate floor, only members of the house may present the evidence. everybody went back to the records. found a single instance where anybody other than a house member argued a case on the floor. >> wherefore, william jefferson clinton by such conduct offers -- warrants impeachment by trial passedhe united states, the house of representatives december 19, 1998. newt gingrich, speaker of the house of representatives -- >> perhaps the most impressive speech was by dale butler. he gave the best speech he ever made in the senate after he was a sawrnted. >> a decision to convict holds the potential for destabilizing the office of the presidency. >> so many adjectives to gathering and historic,eedings -- unprecedented, awesome. all of those words, all of those descriptions are apt. i would add, the word dangerous. eloquently defended president clinton. president clinton was not convicted. a 50/50 vote in both cases where you needed a vote.irds >> our work as a court of done.hment is now i leave you with the hope that our several paths may cross again under happier circumstances. constitutionally mandated relationship between the executive and legislative branches of this nation has time.the test of >> from impeachments to investigation, the senate's defineht powers helped crucial chapters in our nation's history and in the senate as they practice this key role in system.ks and balances >> these hearings this morning follow the days that will examine what happens when the trust, the lubricant of our by highis breached officials of our government. >> we have legislative and alsos investigative committees and those play a really important role in our national history, as well. >> article one, section one of the constitution, really congress with the investigate. it all goes back to the legislative powers vested in by the constitution. the very first investigation we found is the 1859 investigation ferry.attack at harper's this is known as the john brown raid. a group men, 21 men under the command, if you will, of brown, an abolitionist, who take over a couple of federal buildings in harper's ferry west virginia. and importantly, the national armory there. their stated goal is to rid the end thef slavery, institution of slavery in the united states. the senate responds that james murray mason of virginia submits a resolution in the senate to raid.igate this the senator produces this resolution and says we need to this, we need to see how far this goes. because it is the senate's first and major investigation, it actually introduces more .uestions than anything the investigation never really turns up what senator mason will, evidence of some massive nationwide conspiracy to institution of slavery. sometimes investigations will >> harry truman was a second term senator from missouri. he saw washington transform into this place where the lobbyists were seeking defense contracts, scurrying after the contracts. it really worried truman. truman takes off on a road trip and drives south to florida and through the midwest and up to michigan, and back to washington, dc, thousands of miles in his car. he came back to washington, stood up behind the floor of the senate chamber and said, i have some deep concerns. he devised a strategy. even the hint that the truman committee may be coming to orestigate a particular plan corporation led to internal changes so there's no need for an investigation. it is a really effective committee that exists all through wartime. arguably, he would not have been vice presidential candidate without his chairmanship of this committee. it raised his national profile. and so, battles over executive privilege and the information congress has the right to look at, that has led to some of the most notable senate investigations. >> [indiscernible] at long last, having left --[indiscernible] >> we think of the army-mccarthy hearings, a tremendous clash. -- a terrific clash between the legislative branches. senator joe mccarthy, republican of wisconsin, makes a very flashy claim that he has evidence that communists are working in the federal government. he makes a really bold claim that the united states army is perhaps protecting some communists who work for it. there are enough people in the federal government at that point willing to defend the army, that even though joe mccarthy had quite a following and had accumulated a great deal of power as chairman of this committee, they were willing to push back some of the charges. ultimately, the way mccarthy has treated members of the senate and witnesses over the course of his investigations leads to his declining influence in the senate and is censured in 1954. i think the idea of congressional investigations as sort of political theater has really -- that has been something that develops in the 1950's and continues today. >> our hearings are neither pro-contra nor anti-contra, neither pro-administration nor anti-administration. we are not prosecutors, and this is not an adversarial proceeding. >> we are used to seeing the senate or house investigating, and they don't always agree or work together, but in the case of the iran-contra investigation, it was so important and had national significance that they brought committees together to form a joint investigating committee. you had members of the house and the senate side-by-side looking into the issue. >> it reminded people, and hopefully, reminded the executive branch, that congress has a role for policy. >> did you not think, how do i start exercising all this responsibility to make foreign policy for the united states of america, in lieu of the congress? >> the president takes the lead but congress will always look over the president's shoulder, so these investigations were a major part of what the senate does. we recognize almost every generation of senators have done some major investigation, from the gilded age to the wall street investigations of the 1930's, to mccarthy in the 1950's, watergate, iran-contra. these are defining moments in the history of the u.s. senate. announcer: from investigations to giving their consent on treaties, the senate plays a crucial role in providing a check on the presidency. >> the approval or ratification of treaties by the united states senate is a facet of the separation of powers in the great scheme of things. >> the senate is set up to be a mirror to the president. -- an irritant to the president. they has irritated a number of presidents. georgehington actually went to the senate chamber. >> he thought when he had a treaty before the senate, he would seek their advice as well as consent. >> in 1789, he brought a treaty treaty, and hen asked to approve it. >> he thought i will take this first treaty up there, we will work through it. then we will all reach a conclusion this is a treaty the united states should commit itself to. >> he went up with a series of questions and stood up in front of the senate. it was in new york, it was noisy, and the summer, they were on wall street, they had windows open, it was hot. george washington was an imposing figure. >> the senators were not as nearly amiable about this as the president thought they would be. he said we have questions. >> we think we need to adjourn until over the weekend. think about it. >> washington was expecting he would stand there as they signed the treaty. it didn't work that way. >> washington said, that defeats my purpose of being here and stormed out of the chamb