The Senate today acquitted President Clinton on two articles of impeachment, falling short of even a majority vote on either of the charges against him: perjury and obstruction of justice.
After a harrowing year of scandal and investigation, the five-week-long Senate trial of the President -- only the second in the 210-year history of the Republic -- culminated shortly after noon when the roll calls began that would determine Mr. Clinton's fate.
''Is respondent William Jefferson Clinton guilty or not guilty?'' asked Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, in his gold-striped black robe. In a hushed chamber, with senators standing one by one to pronounce Mr. Clinton ''guilty'' or ''not guilty,'' the Senate rejected the charge of perjury, 55 to 45, with 10 Republicans voting against conviction.
It then split 50-50 on a second article accusing Mr. Clinton of obstruction of justice in concealing his affair with Monica S. Lewinsky. Five Republicans broke ranks on the obstruction-of-justice charge. No Democrats voted to convict on either charge, and it would have taken a dozen of them, and all 55 Republicans, to reach the two-thirds majority of 67 senators required for conviction.
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