A Treasury of Great American Scandals

Table of Contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PENGUIN BOOKS

A TREASURY OF GREAT AMERICAN SCANDALS

Michael Farquhar is the author of
A Treasury of Royal Scandals, A Treasury of Deception,
and
A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans.
A former writer and editor at the
Washington Post
specializing in history, he is coauthor of
The Century: History As It Happened on the Front Page of the Capital's Newspaper.
His work has been featured in a number of publications, and he has appeared as a commentator on such programs as the History Channel's
Russia: Land of the Tsars
and
The French Revolution
.

PENGUIN BOOKS

 

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First published in Penguin Books 2003

 

Copyright © Michael Farquhar, 2003

All rights reserved

 

Illustration credits:
Page ii: T. Patterson Clark. xii, 34, 132, 228, 270: The Granger Collection,
New York. 112: David Levine. Courtesy of Kathy Hayes Associates.
168: From
Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life
(Times Books, 1998). Courtesy of
The Herb Block Foundation.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

 

Farquhar, Michael.
A treasury of great American scandals : tantalizing true tales of historic misbehavior by
the founding fathers and others who let freedom swing / Michael Farquhar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.

eISBN : 978-1-440-68418-0

1. Scandals—United States—History—Anecdotes. 2. United States—History—
Anecdotes. 3. United States—Politics and government—Anecdotes.
4. Statesmen—United States—Bibliography—Anecdotes. 5. Politicians—
United States—Biography—Anecdotes. I. Title.

 

E179.F3 2003
973'.09'9—dc21 2003044457

 

 

 

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America the beautiful has scored incredibly well in the great pageant of history, but there have been a few stumbles along the way. That's okay. Sometimes the blunders are the best part of the show. Many less than stellar interludes in the American experience are included in this collection, but nothing after 1980—not a peep about DNA-STAINED dresses, for example, or astrologically influenced First Ladies. History needs a little time to percolate, after all. Besides, the first three centuries of American scandal should put a little perspective on the relatively minor sins of recent memory.

Certainly the worst episodes of our national past, from Indian degradation to slavery, deserve serious treatment—but in other books. Here the concentration is on individuals, rather than institutions, behaving badly. And though many movie stars, career criminals, and business tycoons have contributed their share to the stew pot of scandal, the people in and around government have consistently added the most spice. Consequently, the focus of this treasury is on them. Their foibles and failures, while sometimes tarnishing the ideals we hold dear, nevertheless provide the dirt in which we so often delight.