Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice

Donald Trump was impeached in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress

The House charged President Trump with pressuring Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden while withholding military aid. The Senate acquitted him in February 2020, with only one Republican voting to convict.

Presidents can be impeached for 'treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors'

The Constitution empowers the House to impeach a president by a majority vote and the Senate to convict by a two-thirds vote. Three presidents—Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump (twice)—were impeached, though none were removed from office.

President Andrew Johnson was mainly impeached for obstructing Reconstruction

In 1868, the House impeached Andrew Johnson for violating the Tenure of Office Act and obstructing congressional Reconstruction policies. Johnson was the first president ever to be impeached, surviving conviction and removal in the Senate by a single vote.

See some of the most controversial pardons in presidential history

From Lincoln's selective commutations of Dakota men after an 1862 uprising, to Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon after Watergate, and Bill Clinton's final-day clemency decisions, pardons have long sparked fierce debate over justice, political favoritism, and presidential power.

Watch the breaking news report of the revelation that brought down the Nixon presidency

In August 1974, following a unanimous Supreme Court ruling, the White House released the "smoking gun" tape—revealing Nixon's role in the cover-up. Watch the CBS News report from Aug. 5, 1974, detailing the fallout from the release of the tapes.

Hamilton publicly admitted to an affair to rebut corruption charges

In 1797, Alexander Hamilton published the Reynolds Pamphlet, confessing to an extramarital affair and blackmail payments to disprove accusations of financial corruption—clearing his name legally but ruining his reputation.

Washington was elected unanimously twice to the presidency

George Washington was unanimously elected in 1789 and 1792, with every presidential elector casting one of their two votes for him (at the time, each elector cast two votes). He accepted the office reluctantly, seeing it as a duty rather than an ambition.

DeWitt Clinton’s “Big Ditch” gamble transformed New York

Mocked as “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Big Ditch,” New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton championed the Erie Canal against skeptics. His political drive secured funding for the project in 1817.

In 1992, sports betting was outlawed in places where it wasn't already legal

On Oct. 29, 1992, then-President George HW Bush signed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, outlawing sports gambling where it was not already legal.

In 2015, FIFA's decades-old bribery network was exposed

In 2015, the US Department of Justice exposed a 24-year bribery network influencing broadcast rights and votes on World Cup host cities. Over 40 officials were indicted for accepting bribes. FIFA implemented several reforms, including term limits for presidents and council members and salary disclosures in 2016.

Grand juries were once considered a formality, but that may no longer be the case

New York's former chief judge famously said a prosecutor could get a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich," showing how rarely a grand jury refused. However, recent cases in which prosecutors failed to secure an indictment during the second Trump administration are challenging that assumption.

Ulysses S. Grant unsuccessfully attempted to run for a third term in 1880

After serving two terms from 1869 to 1877, Grant sought the Republican nomination again in 1880. Though he led the early convention ballots, party opposition blocked him, and James A. Garfield ultimately emerged as the nominee.

The Supreme Court blocked states from setting term limits for Congress

In US Term Limits v. Thornton (1995), the Supreme Court struck down state laws that tried to impose term limits on their congressional delegations. The court ruled such restrictions unconstitutional unless added through a federal amendment.

John and Abigail Adams were the first to live in the White House, which was largely unfinished

President John Adams moved into the unfinished White House on Nov. 1, 1800, followed by first lady Abigail Adams, who used the East Room to dry laundry. The building lacked heat and plaster, with construction continuing for months.

Pizzagate alleged a neighborhood pizza joint was hosting a sex trafficking scheme

During the 2016 presidential elections, Comet Ping Pong Pizza became the subject of a conspiracy theory that the Clinton family used the space as a front for kidnapping and trafficking children. The hoax began on the message board 4chan after the public became aware that the shop's owner was a Democratic donor.

Issues of ICE conduct span multiple Republican and Democratic administrations

Complaints of abuse and harsh treatment increased as detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants reached record levels during former President Barack Obama's first term. Frontline investigated the causes of these claims in 2011 and found that these issues cross party lines.

How the government caught Billie Holiday

Louis McKay—who was Holiday's manager and abusive husband—worked with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to ensure Holiday was caught with drugs. She was eventually put on trial and sentenced to a year in prison, where she briefly got sober.

At 3 pm on Memorial Day, Americans are asked to pause for one minute of silence

President Bill Clinton first called for the National Moment of Remembrance in 1999, and Congress made it law in 2000. The time was chosen because most Americans are in the middle of holiday activities.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

President Barack Obama responded to Republican cheers about his final term during the State of the Union

In the 2015 address, after Republicans cheered when President Obama said he had "no more elections to run," his quick reply drew laughter from the crowd: "I know, because I won both."

The first test of America's war powers came just a decade after the Constitution was ratified

During the undeclared Quasi-War with France in 1800, the Supreme Court ruled in Bas v. Tingy that Congress had authorized a valid "imperfect war" through statutes alone, without a formal declaration, establishing that there is a legal spectrum between peace and declared war.

The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act abolished national-origin quotas and transformed the demographics of America

Following decades of citizens pressing for reform, President Johnson signed legislation abolishing national-origin quotas, enabling increased immigration from Asia and Africa. The LBJ Presidential Library features photos, videos, audio clips, and text from the 1965 signing ceremony.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Lenny Bruce was arrested for obscenity seven times

The first was in 1961, after performing at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco. Subsequent arrests were in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. He died of a morphine overdose in 1966, a year and a half after being found guilty of his New York charge.

The US handed control of the canal back to Panama in 1999

This was the result of two treaties signed during President Jimmy Carter's presidency, one shifting control to Panama and the other declaring the canal zone neutral. In recent years, US officials have suggested the US may retake control. Experts agree that the only viable way would be through military force.

Truth was the first Black woman honored with a bust in the US Capitol

Getting Truth's bust into the Capitol took a decade of campaigning by the National Congress of Black Women. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006.

Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress eight times between 2018 and 2024

Zuckerberg testified in Congress for the first time in 2018 over Facebook's privacy violations and its failure to detect Russian interference on the app during the 2016 election. Since then, Zuckerberg has appeared a total of eight times to defend Meta against privacy violations, child safety, and more. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

Elk Cloner, the first computer virus to spread in public, was written as a practical joke by Richard Skrenta, a Pittsburgh high school student.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.