The first governor of a US state to be removed from office by impeachment went down for fighting the Ku Klux Klan. William Holden of North Carolina, a Republican, raised a militia to crack down on the Klan after members murdered a state senator, but he did not have the legal authority to declare martial law. The resulting controversy swept Democrats into power in the state Legislature of 1870, who then impeached him for his attempt to “subvert personal liberty.”
