Although President Bill Clinton currently is enjoying high approval ratings, the question of how he will be remembered in history still remains.

George McJimsey, professor and chairman of the history department, said in 100 years, attention will be given to Clinton because he is only the second president in U.S. history to be impeached.

Joseph Taylor, assistant professor in the history department, agreed that impeachment is going to be the main aspect of Clinton’s political epithet.

“If I had to venture some guesses, I think that the impeachment will be attached to his name like an asterisk,” he said.

However, as in the case of the first impeached president Andrew Johnson, impeachment is a matter that fluctuates in historical scholarship, McJimsey said.

“The Andrew Johnson impeachment has kind of gone up and down,” McJimsey said, noting that Johnson opposed the Republican program of Reconstruction, and he also tried to unlawfully remove a Cabinet member from office.

“[Johnson’s] impeachment was seen as motivated by spite and petty partisan politics,” McJimsey said.

Taylor said people will remember more about Clinton’s stint in office than just his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.

“People are going to remember that much of his presidency benefited from a very strong economy, that in large measure he isn’t going to get credit for, but he’ll get some credit,” he said.

Taylor also said Clinton likely will be remembered as a “political pragmatist” who moved to the center on issues and “appropriated ideas from other people in order to stay in the game.”

Taylor also said Clinton may receive good marks for his foreign policy and fostering good relations with foreign nations such as Northern Ireland, the Middle East and Bosnia.

James Andrews, assistant professor in the history department, said he thinks most historians will focus on the booming economy during the Clinton years.

“I don’t see anything too significant in terms of major foreign policy changes as much as I think he’ll be remembered for domestic economic change,” he said.

“When people look back, I think they’ll see it as a time of economic prosperity, and they might not even focus so much on Clinton the person,” Andrews said.

McJimsey said it is pretty clear, judging from Clinton’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, that he has drawn up a large agenda. He said if Congress passes some of Clinton’s proposals, Clinton probably will be remembered in a favorable light.

“If he or his successors passes [the initiatives], the impeachment is going to be seen a narrow or mean-spirited event,” he said.

Taylor said even though charges against Johnson now sometimes appear “trumped up,” he still was seen largely as a president shamed by Congress.

“[Likewise, even if Clinton is] censured, he’s going look like he was humiliated and disgraced by Congress,” he said.

McJimsey also said even if Clinton is eventually convicted and removed from office, people won’t necessarily remember him negatively.

“He could also be seen as a martyr to a good cause,” he said.

“It’s like that old saying, ‘I don’t care what they say about me as long as they spell my name right.’ There’s no such thing as bad publicity,” McJimsey said.

If the Senate convicts Clinton, Taylor said he won’t “come out of this smelling like a rose.”

“You can’t be removed from office and be a shining star of American democracy,” he said. “This is an episode that is going to tarnish his legacy.”