Today in 1974: House Authorizes Judiciary Committee to Investigate Grounds for Impeachment

Forty-six years ago today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to authorize the Judiciary Committee to look into whether grounds existed for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. The investigation would lead to their recommendation of Articles of Impeachment, followed by Nixon’s resignation before the House got the chance to vote. But that’s the part everyone remembers. What most people might not know is that there was an attempt at holding Nixon accountable years prior. Enter Slow Burn, EPIX’s new adaptation of the award-winning podcast that looks at old news from new angles. 

Many people went down in history because of the famous 1972 burglary, but some never made it into the country’s collective memory—until now. In Slow Burn, Leon Neyfakh tackles lesser-known stories like that of Wright Patman: a 78-year-old congressman from Texas, and chair of the House Banking Committee at the time of the Watergate break-in. While Patman’s efforts to follow the money in 1972 were ultimately thwarted, he was one of the first people to try to get to the bottom of the cover up. For a deeper dive into the strange subplots and other forgotten characters of recent political history, tune in to Slow Burn, the six-part docuseries premiering February 16 at 10/9C, on EPIX.