Presidential Misconduct: From George Washington to Today

by James M. Banner (Editor)

Overview

Named a best book of the year by The Economist and Foreign Affairs

"A whole book devoted exclusively to the misconduct of American presidents and their responses to charges of misconduct is without precedent." —from the introduction to the 1974 edition by C. Vann Woodward, Pulitzer Prize–winning Yale historian

The historic 1974 report for the House Committee on the Judiciary, updated for today by leading presidential historians

In May 1974, as President Richard Nixon faced impeachment following the Watergate scandal, the House Judiciary Committee commissioned a historical account of the misdeeds of past presidents. The account, compiled by leading presidential historians of the day, reached back to George Washington's administration and was designed to provide a benchmark against which Nixon's misdeeds could be measured.

What the report found was that, with the exception of William Henry Harrison (who served less than a month), every American president has been accused of misconduct: James Buchanan was charged with rigging the election of 1856; Ulysses S. Grant was reprimanded for not firing his corrupt staffer, Orville Babcock, in the "Whiskey Ring" bribery scandal; and Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration faced repeated charges of malfeasance in the Works Progress Administration.

Now, as another president and his subordinates face an array of charges on a wide range of legal and constitutional offenses, a group of presidential historians has come together under the leadership of James M. Banner, Jr.—one of the historians who contributed to the original report—to bring the 1974 account up to date through Barack Obama's presidency. Based on current scholarship, this new material covers such well-known episodes as Nixon's Watergate crisis, Reagan's Iran-Contra scandal, Clinton's impeachment, and George W. Bush's connection to the exposure of intelligence secrets. But oft-forgotten events also take the stage: Carter's troubles with advisor Bert Lance, Reagan's savings and loan crisis, George H.W. Bush's nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, and Obama's Solyndra loan controversy.

The only comprehensive study of American presidents' misconduct and the ways in which chief executives and members of their official families have responded to the charges brought against them, this new edition is designed to serve the same purpose as the original 1974 report: to provide the historical context and metric against which the actions of the current administration may be assessed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620975497
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	07/02/2019
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	530,462
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

A Guggenheim Award–winning historian, James M. Banner, Jr., was on the Princeton faculty in 1974 when he contributed to the presidential misconduct report and is now an independent historian in Washington, DC. He was a co-founder of the History News Service, a moving spirit behind the National History Center, the author of many books, including Being a Historian, and the editor of Presidential Misconduct: From George Washington to Today (The New Press).

Table of Contents

A Measure of Executive Misdeeds James M. Banner, Jr. ix

Acknowledgments xxi

The Conscience of the White House C. Vann Woodward xxiii

A Note on the Text xxxix

George Washington (1789-1797) Lance Banning 1

John Adams (1797-1801) Lance Banning 21

Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) James M. Banner, Jr. 29

James Madison (1809-1817) James M. Banner, Jr. 43

James Monroe (1817-1825) James M. Banner, Jr. 45

John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) Richard E. Ellis 53

Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) Richard E. Ellis 59

Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) Richard E. Ellis 67

William Henry Harrison (March-April, 1841) and John Tyler (1841-1845) Michael F. Holt 69

James K. Polk (1845-1849) Michael F. Holt 81

Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) Michael F. Holt 83

Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) Michael F. Holt 87

Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) Michael F. Holt 89

James Buchanan (1857-1861) Michael F. Holt 93

Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) Stephen B. Oates 105

Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) William S. McFeely 117

Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) William S. McFeely 125

Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) John G. Sproat 153

James A. Garfield (1881) John G. Sproat 165

Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) John G. Sproat 169

Grover Cleveland (first term: 1885-1889) R. Hal Williams 175

Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) R. Hal Williams 179

Grover Cleveland (second term: 1893-1897) R. Hal Williams 185

William McKinley (1897-1901) John G. Sproat 189

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) John W. Chambers 195

William Howard Taft (1909-1913) John W. Chambers 223

Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) John W. Chambers 233

Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) Robert P. Ingalls 247

Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) Robert P. Ingalls 261

Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) Robert P. Ingalls 275

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) James Boylan 283

Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) James Boylan 301

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) Mark I. Gelfand 323

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) Mark I. Gelfand 347

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) Mark I. Gelfand 359

Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974) Kathryn S. Olmsted Eric Rauchway 371

Gerald R. Ford, Jr. (1974-1977) Joan Hoff 389

James E. Carter, Jr. (1977-1981) Kevin M. Kruse 395

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) Jeremi Suri 405

George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) Kathryn S. Olmsted Eric Rauchway 421

William J. Clinton (1993-2001) Kathryn Cramer Brownell 431

George W. Bush (2001-2009) Kathryn S. Olmsted Eric Rauchway 451

Barack Obaina (2009-2017) Allan J. Lichtman 465

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Presidential Misconduct:

"A definitive account of America's longstanding love/hate affair with the office of the Presidency."
—Joseph J. Ellis, CNN.COM

"A fascinating glimpse into a largely unstudied aspect of U.S. political history."
—Foreign Affairs

"[Presidential Misconduct] insists we must look back to look forward. The book provides a comprehensive study of American presidents' misconduct and their response to charges against them."
—Susan P. Liebell, New Books in Political Science

"This useful study supplies the scales on which more recent wrongdoing can be weighed."
—The Economist

"A highly relevant, well-documented study . . . [that] offers a comparative gauge on executive misdeeds."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Presidents have misbehaved since they wore powdered wigs. The battles to hold them accountable—in which investigators, Congress, and the courts struggled with a sometimes lawless chief executive—are among the most riveting chapters of American history. This book is a treasure, an eye-opening look at presidential recidivism. It is both a compelling historic document and an urgently current warning about what we will lose if we tolerate a president who is above the law."
—Michael Waldman, president, Brennan Center for Justice

"A very useful compendium, which allows important conclusions to be drawn about the present occupant of the White House."
—Elizabeth Holtzman, former congresswoman and member of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate era

"The Trump presidency has raised to the forefront deeply troubling questions of corruption and unchecked executive power. These questions have been with us for decades, and this book offers invaluable historical evidence and context for this debate."
—K. Sabeel Rahman, president, Demos

"A highly informed and reliable account of attempts to corrupt our laws and constitutional principles that provides essential context for today's events. Facts do matter—and they are brilliantly presented here."
—Richard Ben-Veniste, author of The Emperor's New Clothes: Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11

"Written by a powerhouse roster of America's leading historians, this is an indispensable resource for the study of presidential power and democratic resilience that will be relevant and resonant for years to come."
—Margaret O'Mara, Howard and Frances Keller Professor of History, University of Washington

"A careful and nuanced look at presidential misconduct that helps readers understand the different kinds of misdeeds, and the precedents set, in presidential history."
—Julian E. Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs, Princeton University

"By resurrecting and substantially expanding this classic study, James Banner has performed an especially timely public service. The distinguished contributors to this invaluable volume reassure us that American democracy has time and again had the resilience to survive any number of presidential misdeeds, trivial as well as grave."
—David M. Kennedy, professor of history emeritus, Stanford University

"This careful consideration of evidence is just what Americans desperately need to move beyond the distorting hoopla of cable news and social media."
—Lizabeth Cohen, author of the forthcoming Saving America's Cities

From the Publisher

2019-04-28
An update to the 1974 report Responses of the Presidents to Charges of Misconduct, examining the ethical conduct of the presidencies since then—including Richard Nixon's but not Donald Trump's.

Compiled with the same urgency as the previous study in response to "a grave threat" of constitutional crisis (unnamed but understood), this work offers a comparative gauge on executive misdeeds, rigorously defined as "responses of the president, on his part or on the part of his subordinates, to charges of misconduct that was alleged to be illegal and for which offenders would be culpable." Editor Banner (Being a Historian: An Introduction to the Professional World of History, 2012, etc.) contributed to the original report. Restrained, "self-contained," and offering the facts without interpretation, the essays—up to Nixon's, they are the versions originally published in 1974—make for rather dry but informative reading. While the administration of George Washington set the gold standard for ethical behavior, at that time, regard for the law was rigidly codified, and partisan politics were just beginning to take shape. Starting with John Quincy Adams' tenure, historian Richard Ellis introduces the worrisome aspects of "the power of special-interest groups, the corruptness of politicians, the need to make government more responsive to the popular will, and the country's general moral decay." Andrew Jackson's administration is generally blamed for the introduction of the "spoils systems," and Ulysses S. Grant's reputation of "unsurpassed corruption" by subordinates has been challenged by historians. Warren Harding's reputation is considered to be one of the most tainted (outside of Nixon's), in terms of cronyism and greed. The George W. Bush administration's erosion of laws protecting civil liberties gets a rather light treatment, while Barack Obama's chapter, written by Allan J. Lichtman, is dominated by "pseudo-scandals" invented by his opponents.

For students of political science, this is a highly relevant, well-documented study that unfortunately doesn't encompass the countless scandals of the current administration.

Kirkus Reviews