When the U.S. House formally presented the Senate with the four articles of impeachment against Claiborne on August 6, 1986, it set the stage for the first U.S. Senate impeachment trial in fifty years. House Judiciary Chairman, Rep. Rodino, was joined by eight other House managers and read each of the articles "to an unusually somber Senate. About 40 senators were in their seats listening." Vice President George Bush presided over a ceremony where members of the Senate took a special oath for the impeachment trial. The only one absent was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, who was ill.