Observations: scandal and corruption

We have recently been witness to a presidency that has taken far more financial advantage of the office than any other in our past. Indeed, the scandalous behavior would have caused the demise of any previous administration.

Scandals, particularly financial ones, are nothing new. Our history is sprinkled with such wrong-doings, sometimes in extraordinary ways.

In the late 19th century, during the tenure of Ulysses S. Grant, scandals proliferated. There was a gold speculation ring, which tried to manipulate the gold market, and eventually led to a crash known as Black Friday. There was also the Crédit Mobilier scandal, in which key political figures were involved siphoning off government funds meant for railroad construction. Grant himself was likely not involved, but his reputation was tarnished nonetheless.

Things were even worse in the 1920s. The Teapot Dome scandal was the worst of all. This occurred during the presidency of Warren G. Harding, and involved Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall. He leased petroleum reserves meant for the Navy at Teapot Dome, a site in Wyoming, as well as two sites in California, to private companies without competitive bidding, all for payoffs, of course. Albert Fall had the distinction of becoming the first Cabinet official to go to jail, though he would not be the last.

Another less extensive scandal occurred during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Sherman Adams, his chief of staff, accepted an expensive vicuna coat and oriental rug from Bernard Goldfine, a Boston textile manufacturer who was under investigation for Federal Trade Commission violations. The most powerful man in Washington, Adams was forced to resign in disgrace for conflict of interest.

During the Watergate affair in the 1970s, a number of top officials not only resigned but went to jail, not so much for financial transgressions, but for having broken the law. President Richard M. Nixon, who took a substantial tax break for giving the government his personal papers, was reduced to proclaiming publicly, “I am not a crook.”

And then, of course, there was Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky affair. Not financial at all, it rather involved the President’s sexual proclivities, and led to impeachment, though not conviction.

And now we are faced with the actions of the Trump presidency. During his first term, people were disturbed when visitors to the White House were directed to the Trump hotel in the Old Post Office building. People were troubled by this money-making venture, in apparent violation of the emoluments clause in our Constitution. That clause, in Article 1, Section 9, states explicitly that individuals holding federal positions cannot accept gifts from foreign governments unless they acquire congressional approval. The Domestic Emoluments Clause, outlined in Article II, specifically targets the presidency. It states clearly that the President cannot accept any compensation beyond his fixed salary. Other presidents have honored that provision.

But Donald Trump, particularly in his 2nd term, has made a fortune from his role as president. He has accepted a hugely expensive airplane from Qatar, for official use, but which he plans to keep after leaving office. He has, according to a number of articles in the New York Times, made a great deal of money through bitcoin machinations. And while his staff members have been negotiating with Middle Eastern states in the interest of peace, they have at the same time been arranging private deals that benefit them alone. Just this past week, the New York Times reported that the Trump company was about to sign a major deal for a hotel in Saudi Arabia, a project pitched to the President when he was on a recent official visit.

We have long prided ourselves on living under a government of laws. Now, we can only ask what has gone wrong.

Allan Winkler is a University Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at Miami University, where he taught for three decades. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Oxford Free Press.