Description
Book Synopsis“Scandal,” defined as an action or event causing public outrage and regarded as morally or legally reprehensible by the standards and mores of the time, has been a part of the US political landscape since the founding of the republic. Americans prefer to think that their public officials’ misbehavior as the exception rather than the rule, but the record of political corruption and coverups, spanning the entire history of the United States, is too lengthy to suggest that these actions are uncommon occurrences, merely freakish outliers to be discounted as “black swan” events.
Strongly associated with the concept of scandal is a “scoundrel,” defined as a dishonest or disreputable person. According to this definition, a scoundrel is someone who engages in dishonest behavior, eventually leading to the loss of a good reputation.
Scoundrels: Political Scandals in American History is about scoundrels who were caught in scandals, specifically political scandals. Often the original behavior was outrageous, but the subsequent cover-up is worse. The 1972 Watergate break-in, for example, may have been a “third-rate burglary”—although that point is debatable—but the Nixon administration’s attempted coverup led to impeachment proceedings and the president’s resignation.
Political corruption almost always stems from calculations of self-interest before, during, and after the fact. The calculations may be legally and ethically misguided, factually inaccurate, and/or blind to political realities, but nonetheless they are almost always deliberate and premeditated. Political corruption can involve lone individuals acting on their own accord or they can implicate systemic corruption with a large group, sometimes within a presidential administration.
Scoundrels: Political Scandals in American History examines 13 of the most famous (or infamous) and not-so-famous scandals in American history, including the Teapot Dome case from the 1920s, the Watergate break-in and cover-up in the 1970s, the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s, and Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
Trade ReviewAmbitious, impulsive, aggressive, and reckless. Joe McCarthy sowed disorder and distrust. The opening of many archives has allowed Richard Fried to authoritatively assess McCarthy’s sensational accusations—along with those made against him. Fried's findings are chillingly relevant.
-- Donald A. Ritchie, US Senate historian emeritus
Table of ContentsIntroduction and Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: “The Day Will Come When Another and More Pure & Virtuous
Legislature, Will Make Null & Void This Sale of Birthright”:The Yazoo
Land Fraud
Chapter 2: “If I Were to Name This, I Would Call It the Will o’ Wisp Treason”:
The Aaron Burr Conspiracy
Chapter 3: “Mr. Sumner, I Have Read Your Speech Twice Over Carefully. It Is a
Libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler, Who is a Relative of Mine”: The
Caning of Charles Sumner
Chapter 4: “Have Those Men Dismissed by 3 O’clock This Afternoon or Shut
Down the Bureau”: Grant Administration Scandals of the 1870s
Chapter 5: “Do You Believe This Man is Crook? If He is a Crook, Convict
Him”: The Teapot Dome Scandal
Chapter 6: “I Am the Only Candidate Inspected by the United States Government
and Found to be 100 Percent Pure.”: William “Wild Bill” Langer
Chapter 7: “Nobody Sat Down in Front of Me with a Suitcase of Money”:
Spiro Agnew
Chapter 8: “I Am Not a Crook”: The Watergate Scandal
Chapter 9: “Money Talks in This Business, and Bullshit Walks”: The
Abscam Scandal
Chapter 10: “I Have Been in Government Long Enough to Know That You
Don’t Have to Ask the Question Explicitly to Know What the Message
Is”: The Savings & Loan Scandal
Chapter 11: “I Told the American People I Did Not Trade Arms for Hostages.
My Heart and My Best Intentions Still Tell Me That’s True, but the Facts and
the Evidence Tell Me It Is Not”: The Iran-Contra Affair
Chapter 12: “All He Was Worried About was Jack. Jack Has to Get His Next BigCheck”: Jack Abramoff and Influence Peddling
Chapter 13: “Everybody’s Trying to Get Me. It’s Unfair. Now Everybody’s Saying I’mGoing to be Impeached”: 2016 Russian Election Interference
Afterword
References
About the Author
