Clinton impeachment makes textbooks

? Seven years after he was impeached in a scandal of sex, perjury and bitter politics, former President Clinton has become a fixture in major high school texts.

The impeachment is portrayed in the context of his two-term tenure. The most commonly used texts give straightforward recaps of Clinton’s toughest days, with some flavor of how it affected the nation. Absent are any the lurid details of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

In McDougal Littell’s “The Americans,” a high school text, the topic merits two paragraphs. The same book gave more space to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868.

“The American Vision,” a McGraw Hill high school book written by Brinkley and others, spends five paragraphs on Clinton’s impeachment and one more on his uncertain legacy.

“A History of the United States,” a Pearson Prentice Hall high school text, refers to the impeachment scandal as “a sorry mess” that diminished Clinton and his rivals.