Many Democrats are arguing harshly that the House is wasting an opportunity to open an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Their point of support: Watergate-era House Democrats. In their telling, House Democrats were always united in support of impeaching President Richard Nixon.

But that isn’t true. I was there, and in fact initially they were as divided in their approach to addressing President Nixon’s conduct as House Democrats are today about starting an impeachment inquiry.

Liberal Democratic House members in 1973-74 pressed for an impeachment inquiry of President Nixon, but they met resistance from Democratic leadership. In April 1974, a New York Times article identified “perhaps seven impeachment zealots” on the House Judiciary Committee — all Democrats — who would “like very much to indict the president for high crimes and misdemeanors.” But, as the report added, the “surprising thing” about that committee was that it did not “contain more pro-impeachment zealots” — 18 of the 21 committee Democrats had liberal voting records.

There were actually two impeachment resolutions before the committee’s investigation that ultimately led to President Nixon’s resignation. First, Representative John Conyers of Michigan, one of the seven “zealots,” had co-sponsored a quixotic resolution to impeach President Nixon even before the Watergate break-in of June 1972. Mr. Conyers’s resolution was referred to the Judiciary Committee and died there.