Presidential scandals / Jeffrey D. Schultz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schultz, Jeffrey D.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Presidents--United States--History.

Presidents.

United States.

History.

Political corruption--United States--History.

Political corruption.

United States--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

xix, 480 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 27 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Congressional Quarterly, 2000.

Summary:

Presidential scandals are no recent phenomenon in the history of the United States. Though the headlines that continue to swirl around President Clinton have touched off a storm of controversy around the world, U.S. presidents for the past two hundred years have wrestled with scandal.

Now there is available a concise single-volume survey of presidential scandals in the United States that will help put the current controversy in perspective. The book looks at the behavior and public image of every president from George Washington to Bill Clinton.

Presidential Scandals broadly defines scandal as anything that was regarded as scandalous at the time of the president's service or that was uncovered and regarded as scandalous later. The book includes everything from greed (Teapot Dome and many others) to abuse of power (Watergate and others) to sexual misconduct (Bill Clinton and others).

Presidential Scandals is an invaluable synthesis of important information that until now has been widely scattered in a host of reference works. Some of the early scandals in the history of the United States may indeed seem tame in light of President Clinton's transgressions, but Jeffrey Schultz helps us gain perspective on the situation -- to see that every age has encountered presidential scandal and to realize how surely the United States and the world have survived all these seeming crises in the past.

Presidential Scandals is written in an engaging and lively style, and the information it presents amounts to a useful reminder that despite all the pomp and people surrounding the office, U.S. presidents are no more immune to human frailty -- and laws -- than anyone else.

Contents:

George Washington 1

Shenandoah Valley Land Theft 2

Extramarital Affairs and Illegitimate Children 3

Padded Expense Account 4

Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury 5

Jay Treaty 9

John Adams 13

The XYZ Affair 15

Alien and Sedition Acts 17

Cabinet Insubordination 18

Federalist Criticism of Adams 19

Thomas Jefferson 21

Sexual Liaisons and Illegitimate Children 22

Aaron Burr, Vice President 25

James Wilkinson, Governor of Louisiana Territory 28

The Two Million Act 29

Post Office Investigations 30

Miranda Expedition 31

Josiah Quincy's Attempt to Impeach Jefferson 32

New Orleans Batture Case 32

James Madison 36

James Wilkinson 38

James Monroe 40

Furniture Fund 41

Yellowstone Expedition 44

Elijah Mix Contract 46

The A. B. Plot 47

John Quincy Adams 51

Election of 1824 53

Election of 1828 54

Andrew Jackson 57

Rachel Jackson 58

Peggy Eaton 59

Spoils System 61

Senate Censure of Jackson 62

The Trail of Tears 64

William T. Barry, Postmaster General 66

Martin Van Buren 68

Illegitimate Son of Aaron Burr 69

Richard Johnson, Vice President 70

Samuel Swartwout and Jesse D. Hoyt 71

Extravagant Expenses 72

William Henry Harrison 73

John Tyler 75

The Poindexter Commission 77

Impeachable Offenses Report 77

Webster-Ashburton Treaty 80

James K. Polk 83

The Roorback Forgery 84

James Buchanan, Secretary of State 85

Washington Globe 85

Zachary Taylor 87

The Galphin Claim 88

Thomas Ewing, Secretary of Interior 90

Millard Fillmore 92

Thomas Corwin, Secretary of Treasury 93

Franklin Pierce 96

Drunkenness 97

Andrew Reeder, Governor of Kansas 98

James Buchanan 101

Anne Caroline Coleman 102

Homosexuality 103

Elections of 1856 and 1858 104

Public Printing Scandals 105

The Covode Committee 105

John B. Floyd, Secretary of War 108

Abraham Lincoln 110

Mary Todd Lincoln 112

John C. Fremont, Commander of the Western Department 114

Simon Cameron, Secretary of War 115

Salmon Chase, Secretary of the Treasury 117

Suspension of Habeas Corpus 118

Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy 120

Andrew Johnson 122

Drunkenness 124

Impeachment 125

Ulysses S. Grant 135

Black Friday: The Gold Panic of 1869 136

George M. Robeson, Secretary of the Navy 138

William W. Belknap, Secretary ofWar 139

Santo Domingo Annexation 140

The Administration of Washington, D.C. 142

Custom Houses Investigations 145

Credit Mobilier 146

Robert C. Schenck, Ambassador to Great Britain 148

Sanborn Contract 148

Whiskey Ring 149

Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior 152

Drunkenness 153

Rutherford B. Hayes 155

The Election of 1876 156

Custom House Investigations 159

Executive Order Banning Political Activity 160

Richard W. Thompson, Secretary of the Navy 162

Ponca Indian Removal 163

The Star Route Affair 164

James Garfield 167

Extramarital Affairs 169

Scandals as a Member of Congress 170

The Star Route Affair 172

Chester A. Arthur 174

Corruption at the New York Custom House 175

The Star Route Frauds 175

Political Assessments in the Elections of 1882 177

William W. Dudley, Commissioner of the Pensions Office 178

Grover Cleveland 179

Father of an Illegitimate Child 180

Augustus H. Garland, Attorney General 182

William F. Vilas, Secretary of the Interior 183

James Van Alen, Ambassador to Italy 184

John G. Carlisle, Secretary of the Treasury 185

Benjamin Harrison 188

William Dudley, Treasurer of the Republican National Committee 190

James R. Tanner and the Pension Bureau 192

Green B. Raum and the Pension Bureau 195

The Cape May Cottage Controversy 197

William Mckinley 200

Russell A. Alger, Secretary of War 201

The Cuban Post Office Investigation 204

Theodore Roosevelt 206

Indian, Post Office, and Oregon Land Scandals 208

The Panama Canal Purchase 211

Corporate Donations in the 1904 Election 214

U.S. Steel's Merger with Tennessee Coal and Iron 217

Abuse of the Secret Service 219

William Howard Taft 223

Richard Ballinger, Secretary of the Interior 224

Harvey Wiley, Chief Chemist of the FDA 227

Woodrow Wilson 231

Extramarital Affair 232

Diggs-Caminetti Affair 233

William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State 235

James M. Sullivan, Ambassador to the Dominican Republic 237

Henry M. Pindell, Ambassador to Russia 239

Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior 240

Dollar-a-Year Men 243

A. Mitchell Palmer, Alien Property Custodian 246

Warren G. Harding 250

Extramarital Affairs and an Illegitimate Child 251

Teapot Dome 254

Harry M. Daugherty, Attorney General 260

Enforcement of Prohibition 263

E. Mont Reily, Governor of Puerto Rico 265

Charles R. Forbes, Director of the Veterans Bureau 267

Harding's Death 268

Calvin Coolidge 270

Teapot Dome 271

Harry M. Daugherty, Attorney General 274

Ford-Coolidge Deal 276

Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury 279

Charles Beecher Warren, Attorney General Nominee 281

Herbert Hoover 283

Hoover and the Cuban Sugar Lobbyist 285

Summer Camp on the Rapidan River 286

Colorado Oil Shale Lands 287

Charles G. Dawes and the RFC Loan 290

Walter F. Brown and the Air Mail Contracts 293

Franklin D. Roosevelt 298

Extramarital Affairs 300

Louis McHenry Howe, FDR's Secretary 301

The Second Louisiana Purchase 304

Works Progress Administration 307

Tennessee Valley Authority 309

Roosevelt Family 313

Dollar-a-Year Men 315

Harry S. Truman 319

Kansas City Election Inquiry 320

Harry H. Vaughan, Staffer 322

Grain Commodity Speculation 323

Reconstruction Finance Corporation Investigation 324

Bureau of Internal Revenue 326

Special Corruption Inquiry 329

Department of Justice Investigation 330

Dwight D. Eisenhower 332

Extramarital Affair 333

Nixon Slush Fund 335

Sherman Adams, Assistant to the President 336

Dixon-Yates Contract 338

Presidential Gifts 340

John F. Kennedy 343

Sexual Escapades 345

Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior 348

TFX Fighter-Bombers 350

Billie Sol Estes 353

Lyndon B. Johnson 358

1948 Senate Election Fraud 359

Robert G. "Bobby" Baker 361

Walter Jenkins, Chief of Staff 363

Johnson Fortune 364

Abe Fortas, Supreme Court Justice 365

Extramarital Affairs and Illegitimate Children 366

Richard Nixon 369

Marianna Liu 371

Spiro Agnew, Vice President 372

Nixon Jewelry 373

Watergate 374

Gerald R. Ford 385

Nixon Pardon 387

Betty Ford's Addictions 389

James E. Carter 391

Playboy Interview 392

Billy Carter and the Libyan Connection 393

Hamilton Jordan, Presidential Aide 395

Bert Lance, Budget Director 398

Ronald Reagan 401

Debategate 403

October Surprise 404

Samuel Pierce, HUD Secretary 405

Wedtech 407

Anne Gorsuch Burford, EPA Director 410

James Watt, Secretary of the Interior 411

Raymond Donovan, Secretary of Labor 411

Lobbying Violations 413

Douglas Ginsburg, Supreme Court Nominee 415

Iran-Contra Affair 415

Insider Trading and Other Financial Irregularities 420

George H. Bush 422

John Tower, Secretary of Defense Nominee 424

John Sununu, Chief of Staff 425

Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice 427

Jennifer Fitzgerald, White House Aide 427

Elizabeth Tamposi and the Privacy Act 428

Iran-Contra Pardons 429

William J.

Clinton 430

Draft Status 431

Marijuana Use 432

Sexual Affairs 433

Sexual Misconduct and Harassment 438

Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, Attorney General Nominees 442

Whitewater Land Deal 443

Filegate 445

Travelgate 446

Vincent Foster Suicide 447

Mike Espy, Secretary of Agriculture 447

Henry Cisneros, HUD Secretary 449

Ron Brown, Secretary of Commerce 449

1996 Campaign Fundraising 450

Spying at Los Alamos Laboratory 452

Impeachment 453

Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior 455

Alexis M. Herman, Secretary of Labor 456.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

1568024142

OCLC:

42290914