ABSTRACT
Peter Rodino climbs the seniority to become chair of the Judiciary Committee. The product of a decaying urban political machine in Newark, New Jersey, he embodied the declining New Deal Democratic coalition. The New Jerseyan led the small Italian American congressional caucus and campaigned to erase the common identification of criminals with the Mafia. Until the Richard M. Nixon crisis, Rodino had had little impact on national politics, even after a quarter century in Congress. Under the new twenty-fifth amendment to the Constitution, Nixon nominated Gerald Ford, leader of the House Republicans, to assume the vacant office. The nomination was considered, and approved, by the House Judiciary Committee, with Rodino joining the overwhelming majority. Since Watergate took place some time ago, it might be useful to recount the constitutional crisis of 1972-74. The Clinton impeachment and trial were also peaceful, but that is almost the only similarity to the Nixon judgment.
