Who is the most crooked American politician of all time? - GoFuckYourself.com

Evil Chris · 10-15-2008, 11:45 AM

Trickie Dick? George W?

I'm curious to know what people think and why.

ADL Colin · 10-15-2008, 11:48 AM

Boss Tweed comes to mind.

From wiki:
"William M. Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878), sometimes informally called Boss Tweed, was an American politician who was convicted for stealing between 40 million and 200 million dollars[1] from New York City taxpayers through political corruption. Tweed was head of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York. He died in jail."

cherrylula · 10-15-2008, 11:58 AM

crooked? We will probably never know...

mikeyddddd · 10-15-2008, 12:23 PM

I guess you don't know Dick

linkhotten

Tempest · 10-15-2008, 01:43 PM

Don't know about crooked but Phil Gramm has caused the most damage to the US people IMO..

sperbonzo · 10-15-2008, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADL Colin

Boss Tweed comes to mind.

From wiki:
"William M. Tweed (April 3, 1823 ? April 12, 1878), sometimes informally called Boss Tweed, was an American politician who was convicted for stealing between 40 million and 200 million dollars[1] from New York City taxpayers through political corruption. Tweed was head of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York. He died in jail."

ah HA! Someone else with a memory and knowledge longer than 3 years.... I knew that there had to be at least ONE other person!

Very good call.... You beat me to the punch

smutnut · 10-15-2008, 02:20 PM

Well, I hate to do this cause I love my original city of Boston, but...

Billy Bulger was the right hand to Gov. Dukakis who almost became the President of the United States and he's the brother to Whitey Bulger who is now number 2 on FBI's most wanted for having connections to the feds and driving the Italians out of Boston by being a federal informant (yes, The Departed was VERY losely based on him).

Anyway, some politician forced Billy to retire from public service forever (not sure what he exactly had on him), but his brother whacked many people under FBI approval so I'd slip Billy up to the top of the list with no official proof.

MovieMaster · 10-15-2008, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherrylula

crooked? We will probably never know...

Bingo, probably the very people we think are doing good are at the heart the most corrupt...

The world is too cut throat to play by the rules if you want to make any headway...

Like they say, if you arn't cheating your not trying to win!

L-Pink · 10-15-2008, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADL Colin

Boss Tweed comes to mind.

From wiki:
"William M. Tweed (April 3, 1823 ? April 12, 1878), sometimes informally called Boss Tweed, was an American politician who was convicted for stealing between 40 million and 200 million dollars[1] from New York City taxpayers through political corruption. Tweed was head of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York. He died in jail."

Without a doubt ... and think what that amount of money would be worth today!

.

TripleXPrint · 10-15-2008, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L-Pink

Without a doubt ... and think what that amount of money would be worth today!

.

A week in Iraq.

baddog · 10-15-2008, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

Trickie Dick? George W?

They are not even contenders.

LAJ · 10-15-2008, 03:07 PM

Dubbaya by far. Plain and simple, he lied to have his war in Iraq. Saddam was not an imminent threat, there were no WMDs and there was no Iraq connection with 9-11. He and his admin knew all this but sold the lies to the American people and congress anyway and moved forward with HIS war. Over 100,000 people are now dead because of it and the US is a trillion dollars in the hole. No other politician even comes CLOSE to this piece of shit. And none probably ever will.

JFK · 10-15-2008, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAJ

Dubbaya by far. Plain and simple, he lied to have his war in Iraq. Saddam was not an imminent threat, there were no WMDs and there was no Iraq connection with 9-11. He and his admin knew all this but sold the lies to the American people and congress anyway and moved forward with HIS war. Over 100,000 people are now dead because of it and the US is a trillion dollars in the hole. No other politician even comes CLOSE to this piece of shit. And none probably ever will.

Well put Jay

Evil Chris · 10-15-2008, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAJ

Dubbaya by far. Plain and simple, he lied to have his war in Iraq. Saddam was not an imminent threat, there were no WMDs and there was no Iraq connection with 9-11. He and his admin knew all this but sold the lies to the American people and congress anyway and moved forward with HIS war. Over 100,000 people are now dead because of it and the US is a trillion dollars in the hole. No other politician even comes CLOSE to this piece of shit. And none probably ever will.

Quoted for the TRUTH!

wtfent · 10-15-2008, 07:44 PM

Clintons

gornyhuy · 10-15-2008, 08:11 PM

Call me boring, but wasn't it Ulysses S. Grant?

Here is a good write up of Grant vs. Harding Vs. Nixon vs. W in corruption http://mostcorrupt.com/Most-Corrupt-...strations.html

gornyhuy · 10-15-2008, 08:14 PM

George W. Bush (2001-current) came to office through a Supreme Court decision following a contested plurality of 537 votes in Florida, and his defeat by over half a million votes in the popular election. Most Americans know how narrow the vote was in Florida, but not why.

Five months before the election, George Bush’s brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, had 57,700 people purged from the voter rolls—ostensibly for being convicted felons, who are not allowed by Florida law to vote. As it turns out, over 90% of the voters on the hit list were not felons at all. Some of their supposed felonies were actually dated in the future. It was an overwhelmingly Democratic list of voters—over half blacks and Hispanics. Had these citizens been allowed to vote, Al Gore would have been elected President of the United States.²

With six years in public office as Governor of Texas, Bush was new to foreign affairs, as evidenced by an interview during the campaign in which he could not identify a number of leaders of major countries. But savvy political handlers such as Karl Rove knew that his surplus of style could make up for his deficit of substance with many American voters, and he groomed Bush’s image as a Washington outsider (though a President's son), born again Christian and down home cowboy.

The cowboy image being used in the run for the White House required a "ranch," a la Reagan. In 1999, Bush purchased a property in Crawford, Texas. Although no actual ranching goes on there, the President has busied himself clearing brush and riding his mountain bike around the property. He apparently likes his "ranch" so much that he has spent a greater percentage of his time on vacation than any President in American history.³

But then, George W. Bush has many cares of the office to escape. While at the ranch on a six week vacation in August, 2001, he received a memo from Condoleeza Rice entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”

That's just what happened a few weeks later—apparently after no special effort by the White House to step up protection against the hijackings that were being predicted by intelligence reports.

Four years later, also while on an extended vacation at the "ranch," Bush was briefed on the hellish destruction about to be unleashed on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. The meeting was videotaped; Bush asked no questions. He then flew to California to raise money for Republicans candidates.

Meanwhile, Bush's politically appointed director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown, knew nothing about disaster response—having managed horse shows before he got the FEMA job. But he got on the job training, and the rest is history. Hurricane Katrina showed America White House incompetence apart from the fog of war.

In between 9-11 and Katrina, Bush lost track of Ossama Bin Laden somewhere in Afghanistan and convinced the nation to invade Iraq. Removing Saddam Hussein from power was imperative, Bush said, because (a) he had weapons of mass destruction, (b) backed Al Qaeda terrorists, and (c) needed to go to make that country safe for democracy. All of the reasons given for the war have since been discredited by real events, but America won’t be leaving Iraq any time soon. Permanent bases are now under construction. Bush says “future Presidents” will decide when we’ll leave Iraq. And the firm formerly run by his Vice President, Halliburton, continues to gain multi-billion dollar contracts in Iraq (not to mention in Katrina-ravaged Louisiana) by sealed (noncompetitive) bid. Bush's own Uncle "Bucky" earned millions in a war firm sale in 2006.

Historians will record many other Bush scandals: the secret meetings of Cheney’s “Energy Council” followed by systematic overturning of America's environmental laws, the attempt to dismantle Social Security, drug company influence on the Medicare bill, the cruel realities of the No Child Left Behind act, the bankrupting of the U.S. Treasury through waging two wars while cutting taxes--with the vast majority of benefits going to the super-rich, the bullying of whistle blowers like Joseph Wilson (whose wife was outed as a CIA agent), yet another disputed election in 2004, the arrest of White House appointees for various crimes...just to name a few.

White House insiders refer to favorable news events that help the public forget bad news as "page turners," according to the Los Angeles Times. With the public's short attention span (and no military draft) such unreality can flourish. But it's important to turn the page, and keep it turned, to all the people and events they'd like us to forget.

The Bush scandals we're living through today will likely be seen as far more extensive than any that disgraced Grant, Harding or Nixon. The scale of skullduggery is unprecedented in American history.

And the November, 2006 elections showed that, after six years, the American people finally had enough. But so much damage was already done, and over two years still remained in the administration

gornyhuy · 10-15-2008, 08:15 PM

Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974) was the first American President to resign, as his role was discovered in covering up a burglary, by agents of his re-election committee, of the Democratic National Committee’s offices at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.

Early in his career, Nixon had dodged an allegation of corruption and turned it to his political advantage. In 1952, while running for Vice President, he was accused of having a secret trust fund set up by supporters. Nixon decided to go on national TV with a live speech, inviting investigation of his finances and stating that no donor had asked for or received any favors. The emotional clincher was his statement that one admirer had sent the family a cocker spaniel puppy named Checkers. “The kids love that dog,” he declared, “and I want to say right now that regardless of what they say, we’re going to keep it.”

The "Checkers Speech" saved Nixon's career. Dwight Eisenhower kept him on the ticket and he went on to serve eight years as Vice President.

In 1960 Nixon ran for President, losing a close race to John F. Kennedy. Two years later he lost a bitter race for Governor of California to Pat Brown and retired from politics, telling the press, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore."

But Nixon apparently had a change of heart as he worked over the next six years on behalf of fellow Republicans. In 1968 he was able to win the party's nomination for President. He went on to beat Democrat Hubert Humphrey in the general election on a promise of "law and order" and a "secret plan to end the war in Vietnam," which he said he "couldn't reveal without damaging national security."

Upon Nixon's election, the secret plan to end the war in Vietnam never unfolded. Yet four years later, with the war still raging, he won a landslide re-election against Democratic Party "peacenik" George McGovern. The Republicans' rout did damage to the Democrats' anti-war mettle that lasted until the Iraq fatigue of the 2006 elections.

But as it turned out, Nixon's landslide re-election was the highlight of his abbreviated second term. Vietnam got worse and worse. His Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned from office and was convicted in federal court on a felony charge of income tax evasion. Nixon appointed Rep. Gerald Ford of Michigan to replace him.

Nixon's second term derailed over the Watergate break-in. What finished his presidency was his decision in April, 1974, to release edited transcripts of taped White House conversations that he thought would assure the public of his innocence over Watergate. They did exactly the opposite, precipitating his resignation.

Soon the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release additional tapes sought by the special Watergate prosecutor as evidence in criminal proceedings. Three of these recordings documented Nixon’s personal role in the Watergate cover-up.

With Congressional support gone, Nixon resigned the Presidency on August 9, 1974. Gerald Ford was sworn in as president and declared, "Our long national nightmare is over."

Ford's hopeful words earned him a brief honeymoon with an American public sick and tired of Watergate. But the honeymoon ended several weeks later, when Ford pardoned Nixon for any and all crimes he may have committed while President. The public’s harsh reaction to the pardon—including the suspicion that it had been pre-arranged when Nixon picked Ford for VP—played a role in Ford's 1976 defeat by Jimmy Carter.

Nixon, freed from the cares of the White House and the prospect of criminal prosecution, worked to win back respect on the world stage as an elder statesman, and succeeded. His funeral in 1994 was attended by all five living Presidents--Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton.¹

Regardless of one's views of Nixon, it is easy to wax nostalgic for a Supreme Court and Congress that were strong enough to make the White House hand over evidence of criminal wrong-doing, and a press that helped expose a scandal instead of cover it up.

But that was then, and this is now....

gornyhuy · 10-15-2008, 08:15 PM

Warren Harding (1921-1923) was a popular President for an America tired of fighting the First World War. The highest tariffs in history were passed during his administration, and an immigration restriction law.

The Teapot Dome Scandal involved Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, who convinced the Secretary of the Navy to transfer naval oil reserves to the control of the Interior Department. Harding signed the executive order for the transfer. Fall then leased oil drilling rights in the Elk Hills, CA, and Teapot Dome, WY, reserves to oil men, and received Liberty Bonds and large “loans” in exchange. Fall resigned from the cabinet and was later convicted for his role in the affair, serving nine months in prison.

Harding’s long-time friend and political benefactor, Attorney General Harry Daugherty, also resigned due to a scandal involving graft by the Alien Property custodian and director of the Veteran’s Bureau.

The Harding administration saw much scandal for its 2 ½ years. The President died mysteriously in San Francisco after contracting influenza. His wife returned immediately to Washington, D.C., and burned all of his papers.¹

gornyhuy · 10-15-2008, 08:19 PM

Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) was elected as a war hero—the Northern General who’d defeated the South in the Civil War. After the shooting stopped, the United States were anything but united. The Southern states were crippled as the Northern ones prospered…and corruption ruled the land.

Grant’s popularity declined as evidence of serious political chicanery came to light. As money and land grants were given to railroad companies in the West, it was discovered that members of Congress were bribed to vote in the interests of the Union Pacific Railroad. In the Whiskey Ring Scandal, a group of distillers and tax officers defrauded the U.S. Treasury out of revenue tax on whiskey. Grant was not found personally responsible in either scandal, but lost support by appointing people who turned out to be dishonest, and continuing to back them after their dishonesty was revealed.¹

The visionary leadership that an angry America needed after the Civil War, assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and divisive Presidency of Andrew Johnson, was not to be. In a time of money-grubbing self-interest, no constituency went less served than the former slaves over whom the Civil War had been fought. It is ironic that Grant’s narrow election victory was decided by African Americans in Southern states…considering that African Americans would have to wait another hundred years before their civil rights were finally legislated.

notoldschool · 10-15-2008, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeyddddd

I guess you don't know Dick

linkhotten

tony286 · 10-15-2008, 09:11 PM

boss tweed takes the cake

Jman · 10-15-2008, 09:12 PM

G.W. Bush Senior...

10-15-2008, 11:45 AM	#1
Evil Chris OG Industry Role: Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: 3rd from the Sun Posts: 13,235	Who is the most crooked American politician of all time? Trickie Dick? George W? I'm curious to know what people think and why. __________________ It PAYZE to post on GFY chris at payze.com \| Skype chriswrp

10-15-2008, 11:48 AM	#2
ADL Colin Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Tube Titans, USA Posts: 11,929	Boss Tweed comes to mind. From wiki: "William M. Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878), sometimes informally called Boss Tweed, was an American politician who was convicted for stealing between 40 million and 200 million dollars[1] from New York City taxpayers through political corruption. Tweed was head of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York. He died in jail." __________________ Adult Date Link - $50 PPS starting NOW! -- good and JUICY! skype = "adultdatelink"

10-15-2008, 12:23 PM	#4
mikeyddddd Viva la vulva! Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself Posts: 16,557	I guess you don't know Dick linkhotten __________________ AdultStarProfits AmbyaCash AnilosCash AzianiGold ColdHardCash FlashTheMoney IdolBucks MediumPimpin NSCash Nubiles PussyCash ScoreCash Sextronix SpunkyCash TubeTitans Twistys

10-15-2008, 03:07 PM	#12
LAJ Gingerific Industry Role: Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Austin Posts: 5,567	Dubbaya by far. Plain and simple, he lied to have his war in Iraq. Saddam was not an imminent threat, there were no WMDs and there was no Iraq connection with 9-11. He and his admin knew all this but sold the lies to the American people and congress anyway and moved forward with HIS war. Over 100,000 people are now dead because of it and the US is a trillion dollars in the hole. No other politician even comes CLOSE to this piece of shit. And none probably ever will. __________________ YNOT.com - The original industry resource email jay at ynot dot com or skype LAJConsulting

10-15-2008, 07:44 PM	#15
wtfent Confirmed User Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: San Diego, Cali. baby!!! Posts: 3,790	Clintons __________________ ThisWillShockYou.com DVD Store - TWSY UNCENSORED ICQ# 194020367 E-mail: shockingbucks(AT)gmail.com Promote something different!! Shocking Bucks

10-15-2008, 11:58 AM	#3
cherrylula lol Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 15,969	crooked? We will probably never know...

10-15-2008, 01:43 PM	#5
Tempest Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: May 2004 Location: West Coast, Canada. Posts: 10,217	Don't know about crooked but Phil Gramm has caused the most damage to the US people IMO..

10-15-2008, 02:20 PM	#7
smutnut So Fucking Banned Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Babylon Posts: 5,889	Well, I hate to do this cause I love my original city of Boston, but... Billy Bulger was the right hand to Gov. Dukakis who almost became the President of the United States and he's the brother to Whitey Bulger who is now number 2 on FBI's most wanted for having connections to the feds and driving the Italians out of Boston by being a federal informant (yes, The Departed was VERY losely based on him). Anyway, some politician forced Billy to retire from public service forever (not sure what he exactly had on him), but his brother whacked many people under FBI approval so I'd slip Billy up to the top of the list with no official proof.

10-15-2008, 08:11 PM	#16
gornyhuy Chafed. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Face Down in Pussy Posts: 18,041	Call me boring, but wasn't it Ulysses S. Grant? Here is a good write up of Grant vs. Harding Vs. Nixon vs. W in corruption http://mostcorrupt.com/Most-Corrupt-...strations.html __________________ icq:159548293

10-15-2008, 08:14 PM	#17
gornyhuy Chafed. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Face Down in Pussy Posts: 18,041	George W. Bush (2001-current) came to office through a Supreme Court decision following a contested plurality of 537 votes in Florida, and his defeat by over half a million votes in the popular election. Most Americans know how narrow the vote was in Florida, but not why. Five months before the election, George Bush’s brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, had 57,700 people purged from the voter rolls—ostensibly for being convicted felons, who are not allowed by Florida law to vote. As it turns out, over 90% of the voters on the hit list were not felons at all. Some of their supposed felonies were actually dated in the future. It was an overwhelmingly Democratic list of voters—over half blacks and Hispanics. Had these citizens been allowed to vote, Al Gore would have been elected President of the United States.² With six years in public office as Governor of Texas, Bush was new to foreign affairs, as evidenced by an interview during the campaign in which he could not identify a number of leaders of major countries. But savvy political handlers such as Karl Rove knew that his surplus of style could make up for his deficit of substance with many American voters, and he groomed Bush’s image as a Washington outsider (though a President's son), born again Christian and down home cowboy. The cowboy image being used in the run for the White House required a "ranch," a la Reagan. In 1999, Bush purchased a property in Crawford, Texas. Although no actual ranching goes on there, the President has busied himself clearing brush and riding his mountain bike around the property. He apparently likes his "ranch" so much that he has spent a greater percentage of his time on vacation than any President in American history.³ But then, George W. Bush has many cares of the office to escape. While at the ranch on a six week vacation in August, 2001, he received a memo from Condoleeza Rice entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” That's just what happened a few weeks later—apparently after no special effort by the White House to step up protection against the hijackings that were being predicted by intelligence reports. Four years later, also while on an extended vacation at the "ranch," Bush was briefed on the hellish destruction about to be unleashed on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. The meeting was videotaped; Bush asked no questions. He then flew to California to raise money for Republicans candidates. Meanwhile, Bush's politically appointed director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown, knew nothing about disaster response—having managed horse shows before he got the FEMA job. But he got on the job training, and the rest is history. Hurricane Katrina showed America White House incompetence apart from the fog of war. In between 9-11 and Katrina, Bush lost track of Ossama Bin Laden somewhere in Afghanistan and convinced the nation to invade Iraq. Removing Saddam Hussein from power was imperative, Bush said, because (a) he had weapons of mass destruction, (b) backed Al Qaeda terrorists, and (c) needed to go to make that country safe for democracy. All of the reasons given for the war have since been discredited by real events, but America won’t be leaving Iraq any time soon. Permanent bases are now under construction. Bush says “future Presidents” will decide when we’ll leave Iraq. And the firm formerly run by his Vice President, Halliburton, continues to gain multi-billion dollar contracts in Iraq (not to mention in Katrina-ravaged Louisiana) by sealed (noncompetitive) bid. Bush's own Uncle "Bucky" earned millions in a war firm sale in 2006. Historians will record many other Bush scandals: the secret meetings of Cheney’s “Energy Council” followed by systematic overturning of America's environmental laws, the attempt to dismantle Social Security, drug company influence on the Medicare bill, the cruel realities of the No Child Left Behind act, the bankrupting of the U.S. Treasury through waging two wars while cutting taxes--with the vast majority of benefits going to the super-rich, the bullying of whistle blowers like Joseph Wilson (whose wife was outed as a CIA agent), yet another disputed election in 2004, the arrest of White House appointees for various crimes...just to name a few. White House insiders refer to favorable news events that help the public forget bad news as "page turners," according to the Los Angeles Times. With the public's short attention span (and no military draft) such unreality can flourish. But it's important to turn the page, and keep it turned, to all the people and events they'd like us to forget. The Bush scandals we're living through today will likely be seen as far more extensive than any that disgraced Grant, Harding or Nixon. The scale of skullduggery is unprecedented in American history. And the November, 2006 elections showed that, after six years, the American people finally had enough. But so much damage was already done, and over two years still remained in the administration __________________ icq:159548293

10-15-2008, 08:15 PM	#18
gornyhuy Chafed. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Face Down in Pussy Posts: 18,041	Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974) was the first American President to resign, as his role was discovered in covering up a burglary, by agents of his re-election committee, of the Democratic National Committee’s offices at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Early in his career, Nixon had dodged an allegation of corruption and turned it to his political advantage. In 1952, while running for Vice President, he was accused of having a secret trust fund set up by supporters. Nixon decided to go on national TV with a live speech, inviting investigation of his finances and stating that no donor had asked for or received any favors. The emotional clincher was his statement that one admirer had sent the family a cocker spaniel puppy named Checkers. “The kids love that dog,” he declared, “and I want to say right now that regardless of what they say, we’re going to keep it.” The "Checkers Speech" saved Nixon's career. Dwight Eisenhower kept him on the ticket and he went on to serve eight years as Vice President. In 1960 Nixon ran for President, losing a close race to John F. Kennedy. Two years later he lost a bitter race for Governor of California to Pat Brown and retired from politics, telling the press, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore." But Nixon apparently had a change of heart as he worked over the next six years on behalf of fellow Republicans. In 1968 he was able to win the party's nomination for President. He went on to beat Democrat Hubert Humphrey in the general election on a promise of "law and order" and a "secret plan to end the war in Vietnam," which he said he "couldn't reveal without damaging national security." Upon Nixon's election, the secret plan to end the war in Vietnam never unfolded. Yet four years later, with the war still raging, he won a landslide re-election against Democratic Party "peacenik" George McGovern. The Republicans' rout did damage to the Democrats' anti-war mettle that lasted until the Iraq fatigue of the 2006 elections. But as it turned out, Nixon's landslide re-election was the highlight of his abbreviated second term. Vietnam got worse and worse. His Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned from office and was convicted in federal court on a felony charge of income tax evasion. Nixon appointed Rep. Gerald Ford of Michigan to replace him. Nixon's second term derailed over the Watergate break-in. What finished his presidency was his decision in April, 1974, to release edited transcripts of taped White House conversations that he thought would assure the public of his innocence over Watergate. They did exactly the opposite, precipitating his resignation. Soon the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release additional tapes sought by the special Watergate prosecutor as evidence in criminal proceedings. Three of these recordings documented Nixon’s personal role in the Watergate cover-up. With Congressional support gone, Nixon resigned the Presidency on August 9, 1974. Gerald Ford was sworn in as president and declared, "Our long national nightmare is over." Ford's hopeful words earned him a brief honeymoon with an American public sick and tired of Watergate. But the honeymoon ended several weeks later, when Ford pardoned Nixon for any and all crimes he may have committed while President. The public’s harsh reaction to the pardon—including the suspicion that it had been pre-arranged when Nixon picked Ford for VP—played a role in Ford's 1976 defeat by Jimmy Carter. Nixon, freed from the cares of the White House and the prospect of criminal prosecution, worked to win back respect on the world stage as an elder statesman, and succeeded. His funeral in 1994 was attended by all five living Presidents--Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton.¹ Regardless of one's views of Nixon, it is easy to wax nostalgic for a Supreme Court and Congress that were strong enough to make the White House hand over evidence of criminal wrong-doing, and a press that helped expose a scandal instead of cover it up. But that was then, and this is now.... __________________ icq:159548293

10-15-2008, 08:19 PM	#20
gornyhuy Chafed. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Face Down in Pussy Posts: 18,041	Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) was elected as a war hero—the Northern General who’d defeated the South in the Civil War. After the shooting stopped, the United States were anything but united. The Southern states were crippled as the Northern ones prospered…and corruption ruled the land. Grant’s popularity declined as evidence of serious political chicanery came to light. As money and land grants were given to railroad companies in the West, it was discovered that members of Congress were bribed to vote in the interests of the Union Pacific Railroad. In the Whiskey Ring Scandal, a group of distillers and tax officers defrauded the U.S. Treasury out of revenue tax on whiskey. Grant was not found personally responsible in either scandal, but lost support by appointing people who turned out to be dishonest, and continuing to back them after their dishonesty was revealed.¹ The visionary leadership that an angry America needed after the Civil War, assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and divisive Presidency of Andrew Johnson, was not to be. In a time of money-grubbing self-interest, no constituency went less served than the former slaves over whom the Civil War had been fought. It is ironic that Grant’s narrow election victory was decided by African Americans in Southern states…considering that African Americans would have to wait another hundred years before their civil rights were finally legislated. __________________ icq:159548293

10-15-2008, 09:11 PM	#22
tony286 lurker Industry Role: Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: atlanta Posts: 57,021	boss tweed takes the cake

10-15-2008, 09:12 PM	#23
Jman Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Canuckstikan Posts: 22,790	G.W. Bush Senior... __________________ email: [email protected] Best AI Affiliate Program Niche Dating Program PPS! FantasyXXX.AI Teams: jean.francois.laverdiere TG: @jman1216