December 2019

The Kennedy administration took office under a small political cloud. Allegations of fraud and vote-stealing filled the air in the days following John F. Kennedy's narrow victory in November, 1960, but as president-elect and as president, Kennedy avoided any extended comment on this sensitive subject. 

On November 24, 1962, the Department of Defense announced that it was awarding the $6,500,000,000 contract for 1,700 TFX fighter bombers, “the most coveted prize the Pentagon ever dangled before bidders," to the General Dynamics Corporation. The TFX (Tactical Fighter Experimental) became the F-111, a supersonic all-weather attack aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons and for low-level, high-speed flight. It was the first production aircraft with variable-sweep wings.

Harry S. Truman became president of a country much changed from the pre-war America of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Relative prosperity born of war had replaced depression, and government had turned its attention from combatting hardship to underwriting an immense military enterprise. In the aftermath of war, leftover property, ready money, and improvised policies offered opportunity for personal gain at public expense. 

Because of the heavy barrage of criticism the Republicans had directed at the scandals in the Truman administration during the 1952 campaign, both the executive and legislative branches were particularly sensitive to the issue of corruption in government for the duration of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s tenure. At an early meeting in February, 1953, the president instructed cabinet members to be alert to conditions that might breed charges of favoritism or conflict of interest, and to be quick about calling on the Department of Justice to investigate dubious situations.

The president’s emphatic action was prompted, in part, by clear signals from Congress that it intended to maintain the vigorous oversight role that had helped uncover the “mess” of the preceding regime. After the Democrats regained control of the legislature in 1955, the president and his aides would be under steady pressure about corruption, and before the end of Eisenhower’s term allegations about the improper use of public office had reached deep into the White House itself.

Nixon's Slush Fund

Elected mayor of Buffalo in 1881, governor of New York in 1882, and president of the United States in 1884, Grover Cleveland owed his rapid rise in politics to his reputation for honesty, retrenchment, and administrative reform. In 1884 he ran as the clean candidate against James G. Blaine, the Republican nominee, who had an unsavory reputation.

Already known for the slogan “A Public Office Is a Public Trust,” Cleveland set his stamp on the campaign when, threatened by a scandal involving his illegitimate child, he instructed friends, “Whatever you do, tell the truth.”

Rutherford B. Hayes entered the White House under the cloud of the disputed election of 1876 and the ensuing electoral crisis, and the cloud did not dissipate during his four years in office. To many voters—some Republicans, as well as most Democrats—Hayes' title to the presidency was a fraudulent one, resting upon an unjust claim to electoral votes that rightfully should have been cast for his opponent in the election, Samuel J. Tilden.

Election of 1876

Ulysses S. Grant had to respond to more charges of misconduct that took the form of financial corruption than any other president. No department escaped congressional investigation. The only cabinet post ignored in the following account is that of the postmaster general, and the omission is deliberate; charges of continuing misappropriations of funds in the postal service will be treated in the analysis of the Star Routes under Presidents Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur. In addition to cabinet members, Grant's secretaries, members of his family, and the president himself were accused of abusing power that derived from his office. 

Many historians point to the presidency of James Buchanan as the nadir of antebellum public ethics. All of the trends of corruption at the lower ranks of the government seemed to culminate in three years, and the rate of exposure increased dramatically.

Republicans — the new Republican Party had become the nation’s second party by 1856 — and anti-administration Democrats alike fostered a multitude of congressional investigations of custom houses, navy yards, post offices, and the public printing. These revealed not only executive turpitude but also congressional corruption, not only activities during Buchanan’s term but sleazy practices during the entire 1850s and even earlier.

The White House and its furnishings had been destroyed by British troops in 1814. To accompany the building’s restoration, Congress appropriated $20,000 for furnishings shortly before James Monroe’s inauguration in 1817. 

Because the furnishings would take time to secure, the new president suggested that he sell to the government on the basis of two expert appraisals his own collection of furniture, purchased earlier in France and intended for private sale. He did not request immediate compensation, agreeing instead to await further congressional appropriations; should they not be voted, Monroe would reclaim the furniture and bear the costs of wear and tear. 

The administration of Andrew Johnson, which began upon Lincoln's assassination in April, 1865, was predominantly concerned with redefining the status and rights of people, both black and white, living in the defeated Confederate states. The strong differences over racial policies between Johnson and his opponents in Congress lie outside the scope of this study. Johnson asserted an ideological and constitutional position of great importance on May 29, 1865, when he issued his Amnesty Proclamation. Under its terms, the president used his pardoning power to restore effectively the political and economic rights of virtually all white southerners. 

Historians have long regarded Warren G. Harding’s administration as the most corrupt in the twentieth century. Ultimately, three of the president’s appointees, including a cabinet officer, went to jail. His attorney general was tried twice by juries that failed to reach a verdict after the defendant refused to testify. The Attorney General’s closest friend and confidant committed suicide, as did the chief counsel of the Veterans’ Bureau.