Politician who called for Nixon’s impeachment

Lawrence J. Hogan Sr., a combative Prince George’s Countypoliticianwhorose to national prominence in 1974 by being the first GOP member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to call for President Richard M. Nixon’s impeachment, diedApril 20. Hewas 88.

His son, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Jr. announced the death on Facebook. A spokesman for the governor said the elder Hogan died at Anne ArundelMedical Center of complications from a stroke.

In more than 25 years in county andMaryland politics, Hogan cultivated an image as a scrappy politician with an instinct for the jugular and as a rightwing Republican who cemented his political career bywooing Democrats.

First as a three-term congressman and later as Prince George’s County executive, Hogan was dogged by controversy and disdained by some Republicans andDemocrats as an opportunist who mounted one bandwagon after another in search prominence.

Hogan was a Kennedy Democrat during the 1960 presidential race, then switched partiesmid-campaign to become a Nixon supporter.

In his first bid for Congress, in1966, Hogan, a former FBI agent, used private investigators to unearth information that played a role in the indictment of Democratic County Commissioner Jesse S. Baggett in a zoning corruption scandal. Although Hogan lost that congressional race, the publicity from the Baggett indictment helped pave the way for his success in 1968.

His most controversial move, one that brought him national attention but severely strained his credibility within the Republican Party, was when Hogan deserted the Nixon camp the day before the House Judiciary Committee was to begin debate on impeachment in July 1974 and announced at a news conference that he favored removing the president fromoffice. of political