Whitewater Trials and Impeachment of a President: 1994-99

On November 13, 1998, the Clinton legal team reached a settlement with Paula Corbin Jones: the president would pay her $850,000 but would not admit wrongdoing or apologize. Clinton made the payment on January 13, 1999, taking $375,000 out of his and Hillary Rodham Clinton's blind trust, and $475,000 from a personal liability insurance policy. Jones then had to deal with paying her attorneys. Her current law firm held an agreement for at least one-third of the case's proceeds, while a former firm had an $800,000 lien on the case. And the Rutherford Institute was entitled to $400,000 to repay expenses.

Meanwhile, in December 1998, the House Judiciary Committee, led by its chairman, Henry Hyde, went to work. Its task: to determine whether to recommend, to the full House of Representatives, the impeachment of the president of the United States. For seven days, the 37 members of the committee debated and wrangled, with television networks transmitting every histrionic word to every corner of the earth.

Newspaper headlines proclaiming President Bill Clinton impeached. (AP/Wide World Photos)