Dale Bumpers dies at 90; senator defended Bill Clinton in impeachment trial

Dale Bumpers, the former U.S. senator from Arkansas who capped a long political career by delivering the closing statement in President Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense in 1999, has died.

Bumpers, 90, died Friday at his home in Little Rock, Arkansas, according to a statement from his son cited by the Associated Press.

At Clinton’s Senate trial, Bumpers condemned the proceedings and insisted that the president’s actions, while reprehensible, did not qualify as “high crimes and misdemeanors” as specified in the U.S. Constitution.

The impeachment stemmed from revelations that Clinton had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his testimony to a federal grand jury.

“We are none of us perfect,” Bumpers said in the hourlong speech. “Sure, you say, he should have thought of all that beforehand. And indeed he should. Just as Adam and Eve should have.”

A veteran Arkansas politician who served two terms as governor before becoming a senator in 1974, Bumpers was a liberal Democrat critical of defense spending and welfare cuts.

While he opposed Clinton’s trademark welfare proposals, Bumpers was a friend and political ally of Clinton, who also had served as Arkansas governor.

Bumpers retired from the Senate after four terms, in January 1999. Days later, he was enlisted to join Clinton’s defense team.

With U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding in the Senate on Jan. 21, 1999, Bumpers stood in the well of the chamber and warned colleagues that impeachment was a dangerous weapon.

“A decision to convict holds the potential for destabilizing the office of the presidency,” he said. He called Clinton’s conduct “indefensible, outrageous, unforgivable, shameless.” Yet, he insisted, the proceedings missed “a human element,” that Clinton lied about sex to protect his family. “The charges brought and the punishment sought are totally out of sync,” he said.

Clinton was acquitted of both charges on Feb. 12.