<P> While the actual impeachment of a federal public official is a rare event, demands for impeachment, especially of presidents, are common, going back to the administration of George Washington in the mid-1790s . In fact, most of the 63 resolutions mentioned above were in response to presidential actions . </P> <P> While almost all of them were for the most part frivolous and were buried as soon as they were introduced, several did have their intended effect . Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas both resigned in response to the threat of impeachment hearings, and, most famously, President Richard Nixon resigned from office after the House Judiciary Committee had already reported articles of impeachment to the floor . </P> <P> State legislatures can impeach state officials, including governors . The court for the trial of impeachments may differ somewhat from the federal model--in New York, for instance, the Assembly (lower house) impeaches, and the State Senate tries the case, but the members of the seven - judge New York State Court of Appeals (the state's highest, constitutional court) sit with the senators as jurors as well . Impeachment and removal of governors has happened occasionally throughout the history of the United States, usually for corruption charges . A total of at least eleven U.S. state governors have faced an impeachment trial; a twelfth, Governor Lee Cruce of Oklahoma, escaped impeachment conviction by a single vote in 1912 . Several others, most recently Connecticut's John G. Rowland, have resigned rather than face impeachment, when events seemed to make it inevitable . The most recent impeachment of a state governor occurred on January 14, 2009, when the Illinois House of Representatives voted 117 - 1 to impeach Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges; he was subsequently removed from office and barred from holding future office by the Illinois Senate on January 29 . He was the eighth U.S. state governor to be removed from office . </P> <P> The procedure for impeachment, or removal, of local officials varies widely . For instance, in New York a mayor is removed directly by the governor "upon being heard" on charges--the law makes no further specification of what charges are necessary or what the governor must find in order to remove a mayor . </P>

Who was the last governor in the united states to be impeached