Back in the summer of 1974, Rep. Wayne Owens, a haggard-looking freshman, was among the Democrats pressing the case for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
“In Utah, at that time, the No. 1 most popular person according to public opinion polls was the president of the LDS Church” said Tim Chambless, a retired political science professor at the University of Utah who spent the summer of 1973 working in Owens’ Washington office and later his campaign. “Second was the president of the United States.”
Nixon won Utah in 1972 with 68% of the vote. But over the course of the Watergate investigation, opinion turned against Nixon and, ultimately, the Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment, prompting the president to resign from office.