One of the gavels used to hammer in the 1974 impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon is up for auction just in time for the beginning of similar hearings against President Joe Biden.
A wooden gavel wielded by then-House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino (D-NJ) is already drawing bids over $7,000, twice what RR Auction expected it to go for.
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The final hammer on the auction drops Saturday on the RR Auction website.
The gavel is signed by Rodino, who died in 2005 at 96. What’s more, it is signed to one of the key Republicans on that Watergate committee, former Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead of California. A letter to Moorhead accompanies the gavel.
In the sale, RR Auction is also including a copy of the hearings dated July 19, 1974, and signed by the 26 committee members who voted to impeach Nixon. On that day, the first article of impeachment against Nixon was passed.
According to the RR Auction description, “The roster of signatories reads like a who’s who of political heavyweights from that era, including prominent Democrats like Chairman Peter Rodino, Jack Brooks, Elizabeth Holtzman, and Barbara Jordan, as well as notable Republicans such as Carlos J. Moorhead, Trent Lott, and Joseph J. Maraziti. These signatures serve as a testament to the gravity and historical significance of the proceedings that transpired during that fateful summer.”
Nixon resigned three weeks later, on Aug. 8, 1974, and before the House voted on impeachment.
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House Republicans have indicated that they will begin impeachment proceedings against Biden later this month. Up to three committees are investigating allegations of bribery and financial scams while Biden was vice president.
At the time of the Nixon hearings, Rodino was a little-known lawmaker from Newark, New Jersey, who had risen to the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee. He has been dubbed a “reluctant hero of history” for his efforts which won bipartisan support.
