Video: 'SYND 28 7 74 JUDICIARY COMMITEE VOTE TO IMPEACH NIXON'

(Saturday, July 27, 1974, 7:05:21 p.m. EDT; during the Watergate scandal) — The House Judiciary Committee voted tonight, 27 to 11, to recommend the impeachment of U.S. President Richard Nixon on a charge that he personally engaged in a “course of conduct” designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.

This historic charge, the first to be lodged against a president by a House investigating body since 1868, set in motion the constitutional process by which Nixon could ultimately be stripped of his office.

Video: 'PBS Nixon (1990)_3of3' (July 27, 1974, at 43:49)

The charge became official at 7:05:21 p.m. when Peter W. Rodino Jr., the committee’s Democratic chairman, said “Aye” and ended the committee’s decisive roll call. He then adjourned the deliberations until July 29.

The margin of the vote, with six of the committee’s Republicans joining all 21 Democrats in adopting the resolution, seemed certain to set a pattern for debate in the full House on the charge, which was expected in Aug. 1974.

The six Republicans who voted for impeachment were Toni Railsback of Illinois, Hamilton Fish Jr. of New York, Lawrence J. Hogan of Maryland, M. Caldwell Butler of Virginia, William S. Cohen of Maine, and Harold V. Froehlich of Wisconsin.

Video: '"Watergate: The Secret Story" - 1992' (July 27, 1974, at 1:19:57)

Nixon would be subjected to a trial by the Senate should a majority of the House vote to approve the article of impeachment or either of the two other articles the Judiciary Committee is expected to debate and likely adopt early next week.

If any of the charges are proved to the satisfaction of two-thirds of the Senate, the President would be removed from office.

Video: 'Watergate Episode 5: "Impeachment," Discovery Channel, August 21, 1994' (July 27, 1974, at 35:04)

Specifically, the committee charged that the President, in violation of his constitutional oath to uphold the law, “engaged personally and through his subordinates or agents in a course of conduct or plan designed to delay, impede, and obstruct the investigation” of the burglary of the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972.

The article of impeachment listed nine methods by which he was alleged to have carried out the plan to obstruct justice.

They included accusations that Nixon made “false or misleading statements” to investigators, concealed evidence of criminal wrongdoing, counseled associates to commit perjury, misused sensitive agencies of the government, and approved or allowed the payment of hush money to convicted criminals.