This collection of scandalous activities and pursuits provides a historic reference to the dark side of American history. Covering people and events from the 1630s to the present day, the work has 455 A-Z entries on dirty politics, white-collar scams, tawdry love affairs and acts of corruption. Entries include figures and events from politics, sports, business, religion, the arts, high society, and the military, including the Mayflower Madam, Patty Hearst, Warren G. Harding, the Kennedy men, the Kent State shootings, and Watergate. This edition features scandalous names and events of the past ten years including: the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and the O.J. Simpson trial; Heidi Fleiss; Salt Lake City's Olympic bribery scandal; BCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International); John and Lorena Bobbitt; the Fisher-Buttafuoco affair; Tonya Harding; the Tailhook scandal; Michael Miken; the Erik and Lyle Menendez trial; Aldrich Ames; and the naval academy cheating scandal.
The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal
By George Childs KohnCheckmark Books
Copyright © 2000 George Childs Kohn
All right reserved.ISBN: 9780816044207
Excerpt
A
"A. B. PLOT." See Ninian EDWARDS: rash politician.
ABSCAM
In the Washington, D.C., of 1978 and 1979, the wordwas out in certain political circles that an enterprisinggroup of Arab sheiks were willing and eager to give cashpayments in exchange for promises of legislative "favors."Avaricious bigwigs met with the wealthy Arabsand their associates in a number of secret, swank locations?arented Washington townhouse, several NewYork City hotel rooms, a luxurious Florida home, andan elegant yacht off the Florida coast, to name a few.The sheiks and their representatives sought political andbusiness help in making investments, constructing hotels,securing casino licenses, and obtaining immigrationpermission for other Arabs.
What the Washington politicians didn't know wasthat these Arabs and their company, Abdul Enterprises,were in reality completely bogus, agents in a "sting"operation set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI), and that hidden in all of these posh meeting spots,videotape and recording devices were planted and secretlymonitored the dealings.
The American public first learned of this clandestineFBI "sting" operation in early February 1980 when 31public officials were named as subjects in the so-calledAbscam (for Arab scam) investigation. The public wasespecially shocked when law-enforcement officers disclosedthe involvement of United States congressmen,seven of whom were indicted in 1980 on charges ofbribery and conspiracy by different federal grand juriesin Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn, New York. Theseven were U.S. Representatives Michael O. Myers(Dem., Pa.), Raymond F. Lederer (Dem., Pa.), John M.Murphy (Dem., N.Y.), Frank Thompson, Jr. (Dem.,N.J.), John W. Jenrette, Jr. (Dem., S.Car.), and RichardKelly (Rep., Fla.), and U.S. Senator Harrison A. Williams,Jr. (Dem., N.J.). Also indicted (and later convictedand sentenced to prison) was Mayor Angelo J.Errichetti of Camden, New Jersey, an important figureat the start of the FBI investigation, who introduced the"Arabs" to other politicos and business friends. Theethics committees of both houses of Congress launchedsearching inquiries into the bribery charges, notwithstandingsome objections by the attorney general of theUnited States, who thought the government's criminalprosecution in the cases might be jeopardized by thecongressional probe. Some of the press was severely criticizedfor obtaining and then leaking secret Abscam informationbefore federal grand jurors saw it. In addition,there was much heated public debate over the proprietyof the "entrapment" by the FBI. Some contended thatthe government had gone too far and had stretched thefederal statutes in gaining evidence against those accused;recordings and videotapes clearly showed the culpritsaccepting cash bribes for political influence,however. Despite the controversial nature of the situation,the U.S. Justice Department defended the Abscam"sting" throughout all of the trials and said that the politiciansand others involved had entrapped themselvesby their greed.
Representative Myers was shown taking $50,000 inreturn for promising to introduce private legislation topermit Arabs to enter and remain in the United States;his conviction came on August 30, 1980. Afterward theHouse, stunned, recommended his immediate expulsionand voted affirmatively for this on October 2, 1980;Myers became the first House member expelled since1861. Next, Representative Jenrette was convicted,having taken a $50,000 bribe (half of the money wasdiscovered by his wife, Rita, hidden in one of his shoes,and was passed on to authorities; see Rita JENRETTE).Grand jurors found both Thompson and Murphy guilty(December 3, 1980) but the latter was acquitted of thecharge of bribery (a charge of which all his Washingtoncolleagues were found guilty): Murphy had received"an unlawful gratuity." Representative Lederer,strongly pleading his case of illegal entrapment by theFBI, was also found guilty (again, a $50,000 bribe),and about two weeks later, on January 26, 1981, aWashington federal court decided that former congressmanKelly (he and all the other Abscam indicted representatives,except Lederer, had lost their House seatsin the 1980 elections) was guilty (a verdict overturnedin 1982); Kelly was the only congressman to admit takinga bribe ($25,000) and claimed he took the moneyas part of his own investigation into congressional graftand corruption. The incriminating videotape recordingshowed Kelly agreeing to help two bogus sheiks emigrateto the United States, declaring as he pocketed themoney, "If I told you how poor I am, you would cry."
New Jersey's Senator Williams stood trial like theothers and was convicted of nine counts of bribery andconspiracy in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, onMay 1, 1981. Damning videotaped and recorded evidenceshowed him agreeing to help obtain a federalcontract for Abdul Enterprises to build a titanium minein Virginia; in return the senator would receive morethan $12.5 million and partial control of the mine. Althoughclaiming innocence and unlawful entrapment,Williams was sentenced to prison (Murphy, Myers, andLederer were, too) and fined $50,000. Knowing hefaced almost certain expulsion from the Senate, wherehe had served for the last 23 years, he resigned his seaton March 11, 1982. New Jersey's "most popular politician"in 1981 became the first of that legislative bodyin more than half a century to do so in the face of allegationsof misconduct.
Brock ADAMS: guilty of sexual misconduct?
Brock Adams spent much of his life in public service.Born in 1927, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 17 tofight during World War II. In 1961 he gave up a successfullaw practice to accept an appointment from PresidentJohn F. Kennedy as U.S. attorney for the WesternDistrict of Washington State. Three years later, at age37, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representativesand served seven consecutive terms. From 1977 to 1979he served as President Jimmy Carter's Secretary ofTransportation, and in 1986 the lifelong Democrat waselected to represent Washington in the U.S. Senate.
As a congressman, Adams championed the cause ofwomen's rights. He was an outspoken supporter of awoman's legal right to obtain an abortion. He also sponsoredbills to fund research into the prevention of infertilityand breast cancer and supported a number ofother bills related to women's health care. As chairmanof the Senate subcommittee on aging, he held the firstcongressional hearing on menopause.
In 1989 it became clear that Adam's interest inwomen went far beyond his duty as a public servant.Kari Tupper, the daughter of lifelong friends of Adams,publicly accused the senator of sexually molesting hertwo years earlier, shortly after his election to the Senate.According to Tupper, who was 24 years old at the time,she met the senator in his Washington, D.C., home fordrinks. But something was wrong with her drink, andshe blacked out. When she came to, she was completelynude and Adams was pawing her body. Tupper filedcharges against Adams, but when the U.S. attorney'soffice hemmed and hawed for 18 months before finallyrefusing to prosecute him for lack of evidence, she contactedthe Seattle Times.
Following publication of Tupper's story in 1989, theTimes received anonymous calls from eight women whoclaimed to have been sexually mistreated by Adams.One woman, who had worked for Adams in the U.S.Department of Transportation, claimed that in 1978 hegave her a glass of wine with what appeared to be twocrushed pills in the bottom of the glass. Although shedid not drink from the glass, Adams fondled and kissedher anyway. Another woman claimed that Adam gaveher a funny-looking glass of champagne which madeher feel woozy. Adams took her home, where sheblacked out, when she came to, Adams was removingher clothing.
The most serious charge came from a woman whoaccused Adams of raping her. She claimed that whenshe complained to Adams of having a cold, he offeredher two vitamin C pills. But the pills made her feelfunny, so he graciously took her home. Once inside, hemade a pass at her, which she refused. Undaunted, Adamsthen forced the helpless woman onto the couch,removed her panties, and then penetrated her againsther will. As he left, he gave her $200 in cash.
Although none of the women would allow the paperto print their names, in 1992 each of them signed anaffidavit stating that she would testify in court in theevent that Adams sued the Times for defamation of character.So the Times ran a second story, this time accusingAdams of two decades of sexual misconduct. Adams,who was running for reelection at the time, denied thecharges. He claimed that his political enemies were orchestratinga smear campaign against him which hecould not fight because of the women's anonymity. TheTimes countered that all of his accusers were activemembers of the Democratic Party who had nothing togain by coming forward with their allegations. Shortlythereafter Adams withdrew from the race, and when histerm expired he returned to private life.
John ADAMS: "The Duke of Braintree" canard
Politically inspired canards seem to be self-perpetuating,sometimes with the help of historians unwilling to digout the facts. Consider the canard circulated in 1801 bythe Democrat-Republican press (supportive of ThomasJefferson) against the defeated Federalist incumbentJohn Adams. The press sneered that he had slyly packed23 new circuit courts with friends who formed an honorroll of Federalism and, adding a charge of nepotism,with a nephew?all by burning the midnight oil on thenight before Jefferson's presidential inauguration.
As president, Adams sought to reform the federalcourt system by increasing the number of district courtsfrom three to six. The bill enabling the change provedto be ill-timed: it was passed after the national presidentialelection of 1800. Even though the Electoral Collegehad not met, Adams, who had run for reelection, wascertain that its choice would be between Democratic-RepublicansJefferson and Aaron Burr. Thus, eventhough the reform plan had been devised before theelection, implementation of the act would inevitablybring charges of political expediency against Adams.
Nonetheless, he went ahead as quickly as possible todevelop a nominations list for the 23 new judges, submittingthem to the Senate on December 8, 1800. Theappointees were Federalists, and included a relative, oneWilliam Cranch.
Apparently Adams's opponents, eager to score pointswith the less sophisticated readers of their papers, consideredanything Adams did reprehensible and attackable.And the Senate, aware of Adams's intolerableposition, delayed confirmation actions until February1801 and was still at work on Adams's list when theElectoral College met and named Jefferson as Adams'ssuccessor. Some confirmations had been made in February,and Adams had signed their commissions; but theSenate did not complete its 'work until the last day ofAdams's presidency. The confirmations reached Adamslate in the day of March 3, 1801 (including one forWilliam Cranch), and it is these for whom Adams signedcommissions?for five-year terms?during the eveningbefore his early morning exodus for New York?notexactly by burning the midnight oil.
These facts were less important to the press than theopportunity to harangue on Adams's dubious timing.Labeled "The Duke of Braintree's Midnight Judges"(implying that Adams ran his residence town of Braintree,Massachusetts, as a feudal fief), the appointees' installmentswere cited as examples of Adams's "harsh andimplacable spirit," as Federalist wrenches in the gears ofthe new administration. And when Adams somewhatrudely refused to participate in Jefferson's inauguration,they reran for the second of three times the canard aboutthe "midnight judges" and invented new ones. Adams,they claimed, to avoid his political funeral at Jefferson'sswearing-in achieved the remarkable feat of riding onhorseback in one day the muddy 250 miles from Washingtonto New York!
The two press attacks on Adams at Jefferson's accessionwere augmented by a third attack soon after theCongress was installed. At Jefferson's direction, the judicialreformation act was repealed and the Adams appointeeswere dumped unceremoniously out of office.The third publication of the attacks accusing Adams of"duplicity" in commissioning the "midnight judges"may have been instrumental in convincing earlier historiansthat the charges were tree.
Adams and the out-of-office Federalists knew better;but they had, until the writing of Page Smith in the20th century, been thoroughly discredited. Adams hadat least one solace: his appointment of John Marshall,his secretary of state and Jefferson's bitterest enemy, aschief justice of the Supreme Court assured him that Federalistprinciples would not be totally ignored.
Sherman ADAMS: political liability
Sherman Adams, onetime governor of New Hampshireand President Eisenhower's closest and most trustedaide, had been an integral part of the White House forfive years, presiding over the daily operations of the staffThough some of his detractors found him stem, curt,and sometimes rude, his closeness to the president waslater attested to by Eisenhower's praise of his aide's"tireless service" and "brilliant performance."
But in June of 1958, Adams' relationship with BernardGoldfine, a wealthy Boston industrialist and textilemanufacturer, became subject to an investigation whichwould end in Adams's reluctant resignation and contributeto a major decline in popularity for the entireRepublican Party.
That summer, the House Subcommittee on LegislativeOversight, under the chairmanship of Oren Harris(Dem., Ark.), began investigating the relationship ofGoldfine to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) andthe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Thesubcommittee learned that Adams had intervened onseveral occasions with both the FTC and SEC to gain"preferred treatment" for Goldfine, a friend of Adamsfor more than I5 years, who had been accused by agovernment agency of violations of manufacturing law.Goldfine had sold coats with their fabric contents incorrectlystated as 90 percent wool and 10 percent vicuña,when actually they contained nylon.
During the subcommittee's hearings, the 59-year-oldAdams was accused of receiving gifts of clothing (notablya $700 vicuña coat from the Goldfine factory) andaccepting payment of hotel bills (some $2,000 worth)from Goldfine, who had also entertained Mr. and Mrs.Adams in his home. These disclosures caused a greatpublic furor, and Adams's political enemies, Democratsand conservative Republicans, particularly of the OldGuard, delighted in them, seeing an opportunity to getrid of Adams and his "liberalism."
To counter his public chastisement, especially by thepress, the assistant to the president voluntarily appearedbefore the House subcommittee on June 17, 1958. Althoughhe admitted that he should have acted with "alittle more prudence" in his dealings with Goldfine, hedenied that he had influenced the FTC and the SEC inany way and stated that his intentions had always beenupright (he later said he might have erred in judgment).
At a press conference the next day, President Eisenhoweraffirmed his belief in his besieged assistant, saying"I believe that the presentation made by Governor Adams... truthfully represents the pertinent facts. I personallylike Governor Adams. I admire his abilities. Irespect him because of his personal and official integrity.I need him." The subcommittee then exonerated Adamsof any guilt, but Goldfine was cited for contemptby the House of Representatives and later given a prisonterm following conviction for violations on tax returns.
The questionable ethics of Adams caused implacabledistress in the Eisenhower administration and broughtcalls for his removal as a "political embarrassment" fromwealthy, vocal members of the Republican Party, whichbegan to see him as a liability in an election year (1958).Democrats kept the public continually debating Adams's"influence peddling" and his alleged acceptanceof bribes (supposedly more than $1 million worth, includinga tractor, a miniature golf course, horses, cattle,electric kitchen appliances, and an expensive carpet).The public was scandalized by these accusations againstthe presidential assistant, who was thought unquestioninglyto be an unselfish official.
The political and public pressure grew until Adams,on September 22, 1958, finally handed his resignationto President Eisenhower, who sadly accepted it. Adamsmaintained that he had done no wrong, was a victim ofa "campaign of villification," and wanted to save theRepublican Party further embarrassment by resigning.In time, President Eisenhower, who attested to his loyalfriend's "tireless service" and "brilliant performance,"realized that the Adams crisis helped contribute to theDemocratic sweep in the national elections in Novemberof that year.
William AGEE. See Mary CUNNINGHAM: promotedfor favors?
Spiro AGNEW: dishonest vice president resigns
When in the spring of 1973 President Richard Nixonwas involved in the unfolding WATERGATE scandal, itseemed entirely possible at the time that Vice PresidentSpiro T. Agnew might inherit the American presidency.Yet in the space of a few months, Agnew's public profilechanged from presidential to criminal.
In early August 1973, Agnew revealed that he wasunder federal grand jury investigation for violation ofcriminal law. United States Attorney for MarylandGeorge Beall alleged that Agnew had received kickbacksfrom contractors, architects, and engineers while he wasBaltimore County Executive and then governor ofMaryland.
In the charges, which included bribery, conspiracy,extortion, and tax fraud, he was alleged to have received$1,000 a week while county executive and governorand a lump-sum payment of $50,000 after becomingvice president. Government prosecutors said Agnewcontinued to receive payments after becoming vicepresident, with the understanding that he could help inthe awarding of federal work contracts. In all, the governmentbelieved Agnew accepted at least $100,000 inbribes.
At first Agnew denied any involvement, calling thereports "damned lies." He said they were "accusations... coming from those who have found themselves invery deep trouble and are looking to extricate themselvesfrom this trouble and are flirting with the ideathat they can obtain immunity or reduced charges, perhaps,by doing so."
President Nixon unequivocally expressed his supportfor Agnew; however, as time went on and evidencemounted, his support was reported to be "hedged" or"carefully calibrated," and eventually he was describedas nonsupportive.
At the end of September 1973, the federal grand jurybegan to hear evidence in the case. On October 10,Agnew pleaded nolo contendere (no contest) to the income-tax-evasioncharge and resigned from the vicepresidency. It was part of a plea-bargaining deal inwhich he agreed to resign and plead guilty to a relativelyminor charge to save the government the trouble andexpense of proving the larger charges against him. Theprincipal goal of Agnew's lawyers had been to keep himout of jail. The evidence for extortion was so strongthat, according to U.S. Attorney James Thompson, "if[the case] had gone to trial, a conviction would haveresulted. The man is a crook."
Although some of the prosecutors wanted very muchto see Agnew in jail, the chief prosecutor, U.S. AttorneyGeneral Elliot Richardson, was willing to let Agnewescape that fate as a key concession in the plea bargaining,saying conviction of a felony and resignation fromoffice were punishment enough. Richardson also agreedthat Agnew would not have to admit he received illegalpayoffs, and Agnew's lawyers, in exchange, agreed topublication of all the evidence the prosecution had assembled.Richardson urged in court that Agnew bespared a jail sentence "out of compassion to the man,out of respect for the office he held, and out of appreciationfor the fact that by his resignation he has sparedthe nation the prolonged agony that would have attendedupon his trial." The settlement also preventedthe need for facing two constitutional issues. First, Agnewhad claimed that a sitting vice president of theUnited States could not be indicted. Second, there wassome question as to whether newspersons could be subpoenaedto appear in court and forced to reveal theirsources. This issue was constantly discussed with regardto continual news leaks in the case.
Presiding Judge Walter Hoffman acknowledged thatthe approved deal would not satisfy everyone and thatit left open the question of Agnew's guilt or innocenceon the graft charges. He said that ordinary business orprofessional persons convicted of the same crime wouldbe jailed. He ordered a fine of $10,000 and a three-yearprobation.
Agnew had pointed out in court that in Maryland,payments to politicians were so commonplace theywere simply budgeted for. Perhaps the greatest ironywas that the man whom Richard Nixon chose as hisrunning mate, at least in part because of his "law andorder" stand, turned out to be a white-collar criminal.
On October 12, Nixon named House RepublicanMinority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the new vice presidentof the United States. In May 1974, Agnew wasdisbarred by a Maryland court of appeals.
Agnew's demise was greeted with various degrees ofrestraint and harshness by the press. He was never afavorite of the press because of his frequent verbal attackson their methods. For example, he called the Watergatereporting techniques of the media "a very shortjump from McCarthyism." Shortly before his conviction,he urged those with a "morbid preoccupation"with Watergate to stop thwarting the will of the Americanpeople. NBC news commentator David Brinkley,whom Agnew had often attacked, described Agnew as"a tragic and almost pathetic figure."
The magnitude of Agnew's misdeeds may have beenmuted by the timing of their disclosure. Said Eric Sevareidof CBS News, paraphrasing an English proverb:"Agnew was stealing the goose from the common,while the Watergate conspirators were trying to stealthe common from the goose."
In 1982, while living in Rancho Mirage, California,Agnew repaid the state of Maryland $248,735 (restitutionfor past alleged kickbacks to him). He tried to deductthe amount from his California tax return as anexpenditure but was not allowed to. In 1996 he died atage 77, in Maryland.
Marv ALBERT: NBC sportscaster assaults lover
During the 1980s and 1990s, Mary Albert was one ofAmerica's most popular sportscasters. A native ofBrooklyn, New York, he began his broadcasting careerin 1966 with the National Basketball Association's NewYork Knicks. He was later hired to provide commentaryfor the National Hockey League's New York Rangersas well, and he soon became a well-known figure toNew York sports fans. Although he continued to workfor the Madison Square Garden Network, which televisedKnicks and Rangers games, in the 1980s he beganbroadcasting coast-to-coast for the National BroadcastingCorporation (NBC). His high-energy style contributedto the success of the network's coverage of theNBA, National Football League, and Olympic Games,and in 1991, the first year he worked the NBA Finalsas the play-by-play announcer, NBC won an Emmy forits telecast of that event. His signature call was "Yesss!"which he shouted out after a particularly impressiveplay. Young Americans were so taken with this simplebut enthusiastic expression that millions of them used itto celebrate just about every event in their lives thatturned out surprisingly well. Albert's devotion to hiscareer was total, as evidenced by the title of his 1993autobiography, I'd Love to but I Have a Game: Twenty-SevenYears Without a Life.
In 1997 it turned out that Albert did have a life outsideof sportscasting, albeit a seamy one. The divorcedfather of four was accused of forcible sodomy, a felony,by a woman with whom he had enjoyed a 10-year-longsexual relationship. She claimed that Albert met her ina hotel just outside Washington, D.C., where theywatched pornographic movies. An argument apparentlyensued over her refusal to engage in three-way sex withAlbert and another man, and he bit her viciously andrepeatedly on the neck and back, then forced her toperform oral sex on him. Albert emphatically denied thecharges.
Not long after the accusation, Albert's name andphone number were found among the possessions of aNew York City dominatrix who had been murdered.During his trial a surprise female witness for the prosecutiontestified that Albert had sexually assaulted her in1994 in Dallas, Texas. The witness worked at the hotelin which Albert was staying, and when she went up tohis room, supposedly to help him send a fax, he allegedlymet her at the door clad only in women's panties and agarter belt. She testified that he grabbed her head, pulledit toward his fully erect penis, and bit her on the neckbefore she managed to escape.
The surprise witness's testimony led Albert to pleadguilty to assault and battery, a misdemeanor, on thefourth day of his trial. That same day, NBC fired him,and shortly thereafter he resigned from the MadisonSquare Garden Network. Although his career as a nationallyknown television sports announcer was ruined,he was fortunate in that he received no jail time; instead,he was placed on probation for one year. He got counseling,remarried, and returned to sportscasting as theradio play-by-play announcer for the Knicks and as thehost of a New York City radio sports talk show. In1998, following the successful completion of his probation,the misdemeanor conviction was removed fromhis record.
Horatio ALGER: lover of boys
That imprudence can be disastrous was the lessonlearned by Horatio Alger, Jr., on March 20, 1866. Hiscarelessness had cost him his ecclesiastical reputation, hisjob, the cordiality of his father, and his clerical career.But because the news of his folly was almost totally suppresseduntil the 1970s, Alger was able to develop a newcareer and win lasting fame as the writer of more than100 books illustrating the doctrine that poor but diligentboys could progress from poverty to pelf and honor.
The son of a highly regarded Unitarian clergyman,also named Horatio, Alger had been carefully trained byhis father to become the family's second cleric. Despitepoor health, he experienced a normal school life, matriculatingat Harvard College at the age of 16. Therehe discovered a literary talent, through which he hopedto support himself; but, after he was graduated in 1852,only to find that publication of his poems and sketchesbrought him little money, he reluctantly matriculatedin 1857 at Harvard Divinity School in the hope that hecould become a minister-writer.
His career there was interrupted by unsuccessful attemptsto make a living as a writer. Receiving his degreein 1860, he further delayed ordination by futilely combiningwriting, editorial work, part-time teaching, andoccasional preaching. He gained some renown throughinclusion in Evert Duyckinsk's Cyclopedia of AmericanLiterature and his appearance as part of a contemporaryauthors group, but he was barely able to support himself.
In the late fall of 1864, after a period as a supply clergymanto the nearly moribund First Unitarian Parish ofBrewster, Massachusetts, Alger became its full-timeclerical leader. At the time he was 32 years old, short (5feet, 2 inches), and balding. In the pulpit, he was a vigorousand eloquent speaker. His tendency to becometotally absorbed in and dedicated to groups and causesmade him active in every department of the parish's life.
He was especially zealous about organizing and participatingin boys' groups. He joined them in theirsports, hiking, and study activities. Parishioners notedthat he "was always with the boys," and some of thewomen of the parish were disappointed that their youngparson, an eligible bachelor, had not squired the equallyeligible young women in the congregation. In early1866, they began to ask why, first to each other, thento their husbands, and finally through an investigatingcommittee made up of the male lay officers of thechurch.
What they discovered, according to parish recordsmade public in the 1970s, was that Alger and the boyswere involved in acts "too revolting to relate." InBrewster, Alger had discovered a second talent: the abilityto seduce young men. The records name two parishyoungsters with whom Alger was so involved, and hintsthat others were also the recipients of his affection.
Called before the committee and confronted withtheir findings, Alger did not deny the charges; instead,with remarkable sang-froid, he stated that he had been"imprudent." He also stated that he considered his connectionwith the Brewster parish at an end. Alger leftBrewster forever on the evening train. Letters followedhim, in which the parish leaders alerted other Massachusettsparishes of his dismissal without disclosing particulars.The parishioners of Brewster ended theirinvestigation after recording their incomplete disclosuresand then squelched the record for more than acentury. Informed, Alger's father began a permanent estrangementfrom his son. Some parents threatened courtproceedings but were dissuaded by the officials of thestatewide church, who noted that Alger had promisednever to practice again as a clergyman, and withdrewtheir notice.
Alger fled to the anonymity of New York City, enteredwholeheartedly into his alternative career of writing,and until the end of his life worked with highlyapplauded dedication for the prosperity of the city'sNewsboys' Lodging House. Because no record of furtherimprudence has been unearthed, Alger was apparentlyable to sublimate his homosexual interests totally.His most recent biographer suggests that he began a permanent"literary ministry" as an expiation of his moraltransgressions?a dedication to the writing of moraltracts celebrating a connection between hard work andsuccess which led to his "canonization" in the 1940s asone of the most influential writers of America's 19thcentury.
Russell ALGER: the embarrassment of incompetence
When the author Dr. Laurence J. Peter made Americanssmirk knowingly with his announcement of the PeterPrinciple ("In a hierarchy every employee tends to riseto his level of incompetence"), almost no one, includingPeter himself, realized that American governmental historysupported his findings through the person of RussellAlexander Alger.
Log-cabin born, Alger was?at first?a self-mademan. He quit an unremunerative Ohio law practice todevelop a large fortune in Michigan lumber. The latter(coupled with an extensive popularity) made him governorof Michigan, "favorite son" candidate during theRepublican nominating convention of 1888, and in1889 commander of the influential league of Union veteransof the Civil War called the Grand Army of theRepublic.
In 1897, Alger was rewarded politically by U.S. PresidentWilliam McKinley by appointment to the post ofsecretary of war. It was here that he reached his level ofincompetence. Both before and during the Spanish-AmericanWar, he functioned so ineptly that he wasforced to resign under a cloud of humiliation and embarrassment.
When Alger became secretary of war, he found himselfto be in charge of a department riddled with inefficiencies:command posts filled with elderly officerslying low until retirement, a bureaucracy of 25,000 personsin the War Department, and active jealousies betweenofficers of the line and the War Departmentbureaus that governed them. A Civil War veteran withthe rank of brevet major-general, Alger would in theoryhave been so immediately aware of these problems thathe would have quickly corrected them. Instead he didnothing. Moreover, although relations between Spainand the United States had been deteriorating since the1870s because of expansionist American interventionsin Cuba, Alger saw nothing seriously amiss in the factthat his department lacked a general staff and had notprepared systematic studies of problems that could arisein the event of a war with Spain. Instead, Alger ran hisdepartment in a kindly, routine way, becoming the targetof the antagonisms existing between it and the militarypost commanders. Illogic also played a part in hisexecutive decisions: he blamed the condition of the WarDepartment upon civilian indifference and failed to realizethat as the civilian head of a military department,it was his job to lead the American citizenry towarddemanding the needed improvements.
Even after March 9, 1898, when the United Statesbattleship Maine was sunk in Havana harbor, Algerseemed petrified. Congress had voted an appropriationon February 15, 1898, of $50 million "for the nationaldefense," but Alger did not act at all until after Congresshad declared war against Spain on April 25.
As a result, even though the war was brief, Alger'sdepartment was unprepared for it. Hospital serviceswere inadequate, winter clothing was sent for the fightingof a war in the Tropics, and guns and ammunitionwere procured on a hit-or-miss basis. Even the food providedto American troops was of a very poor quality:among the loud criticisms of Alger were angry criesabout "embalmed beef" as the soldiers' main sustenance.Moreover, Alger himself may have been responsiblefor the early failure of the Santiago campaign inCuba by having refused the Army's supreme commanderpermission to go to Cuba, instead sending aMichigan crony, the dangerously obese William R.Shafter, who was incapacitated for most of the expedition.(Only the actions of U.S. colonels Leonard Woodand Theodore Roosevelt, with the "Rough Riders" [avolunteer cavalry unit], forced the surrender of Santiago.)
After the war, Alger's commissary general was courtmartialed, and Alger was to be considered next. However,an investigation by a presidential commissionfailed to establish the extent of Alger's responsibility forthe maladministration of the War Department, andPresident McKinley refused to fire Alger until politicalpressure forced him to request Alger's resignation in July1899. Alger was humiliated enough to write in 1901 aself-serving defense of his conduct in office. PresidentMcKinley was assassinated before he had an opportunityto comment on Alger's careful rationalizations.
Despite the scenting totality of Alger's ineptitude inoffice, he decided to run for United States senator fromMichigan in 1902. Even more surprising is that he waselected. Regardless of the scandal Alger had broughtupon the War Department, Michigan was still enthralledwith its past governor. As a senator, however,Alger kept such a low profile that nothing memorablewas recorded about him in the Senate annals.
See also "EMBALMED BEEF" SCANDAL.
ALIEN PROPERTY CUSTODIAL SCANDAL. SeeThomas MILLER: fraud as Harding's Alien PropertyCustodian.
Ira ALLEN: alleged treason in Vermont
Of the four Allen brothers, whose names are inextricablyintertwined with that of Vermont, the most familiaris Ethan, who led the Green Mountain Boys inprotecting Vermont from the militia of the New Yorkcolony, which from 1749 until 1777?at times withroyal backing?considered the Vermont territory itsown. But an Allen equally deserving of fame is Ira(1751-1814), the youngest of the brothers and theoreticianof the Vermont settlers, who risked the charge oftreason to protect Vermont during the American RevolutionaryWar.
Once a part of New Hampshire west of the ConnecticutRiver, the Vermont territory developed from NewHampshire lands granted from 1749 through 1764. IraAllen surveyed much of these grants, found them valuable,and with his brothers and a cousin formed the OnionRiver Land company, which occupied 77,000 acresbetween the Onion (now Winooski) River in Vermontand Lake Champlain. In 1764, a royal decision had assignedthe Vermont territory to the New York colony;and in 1770 a self-seeking New York colonial court haddeclared all New Hampshire grants invalid; and theNew York militia had marched in to take possession ofthem. The Vermonters resisted, with Ethan Allen directingthe fighting of the Green Mountain Boys untilthe Revolution began, while Ira laid out a road and beganconstructing the city of Burlington, Vermont.
The Revolution stopped the New York militia,which was needed elsewhere from its incursion, whilethe Green Mountain Boys espoused the patriot cause.In 1777, at the Westminster Convention in Vermont,Ira and Ethan Allen, Thomas Chittenden, and Jonas Fayled the delegates to declare Vermont an independentrepublic, a decision confirmed later that year at Dorset,along with the first declaration of universal manhoodsuffrage in the New World.
The Continental Congress, influenced by NewYork's claims and prominence, refused to recognizethese declarations, but the British did in 1779, offeringEthan Allen and Vermont self-government under theCrown. In 1780, the Vermonters replied when negotiationssoon to be guided by Ira Allen began with theBritish general Frederick Haldimand. Ira's aim was tosave Vermont whatever the outcome of the war.
Members of the Continental Congress and some Vermontersconsidered Ira's actions and the Haldimand negotiationstreasonous and berated Ira in print. But mostVermonters regarded the Allens' opportunism as a signof shrewdness and backed the maneuver. In the earlyyears of the Revolutionary War, when British victoryor at best a compromise with Britain seemed imminent,Ira's diplomatic cleverness kept the Vermonters frombeing pressed to agree to British control and absorptioninto Canada. But in 1781, the defeat of Cornwallis atYorktown made the negotiations unnecessary.
In 1783, however, New York renewed its territorialclaims on Vermont, and Ira again led the resistance until1790 when a payment of $30,000 ended the controversy.By 1791, when Vermont was admitted to theUnion, Ira had almost been ruined financially, but itlater became clear that his shrewdness during the Haldimandnegotiations had saved the Vermont territoryand helped lead to its statehood.
Richard ALLEN: the "forgotten" money
In November 1981, the White House was extremelydiscomfited by a Japanese newspaper report that U.S.President Ronald Reagan's trusted assistant for nationalsecurity affairs, Richard V. Allen, had taken an alleged$1,000 cash bribe from a Japanese women's magazinefor helping arrange an interview with the president'swife, Nancy. The interview, between three Japanesejournalists and Mrs. Reagan, had taken place the dayafter the president's inauguration in January 1981. TheFirst Lady was reportedly vexed by the public disclosureof Allen's dealings and the subsequent governmental investigationsinto them.
The gifts that federal officeholders can legally acceptare strictly limited in the United States, whereas in Japan,presents or payments given in return for a favor(such as an interview) are considered a traditional practiceor custom.
Immediately after the Japanese newspaper revelationof the gifts, the White House reported that the JusticeDepartment was looking into whether Allen had brokenthe law. Allen, known among associates for his jocose,waggish nature, acknowledged that he had received theJapanese request for the interview and also the moneybut said that he had not set up the interview himself andhad not solicited the money. Instead, said Allen, themoney had been put into his office safe by his secretary,where it had been "forgotten" when he switched officessoon afterward. According to Allen, he had planned tohand over the cash to federal authorities.
Concurrent with the Justice Department probe wasan FBI inquiry into Allen's business conduct. This revealedalleged illegalities in the January 1978 sale of Allen'scompany?a consulting firm, showing that he hadin fact sold the firm in January 1981. Moreover, unlistedon Allen's taxable income was some $5,000 that thecompany had paid him in fees, besides his having beenon company payroll since the purported 1978 sale. TheFBI also probed into a gift of two Seiko watches thatAllen had received from the Japanese journalists followingthe interview with Mrs. Reagan. This contradictedAllen's statement that the watches had been presentedto him before his swearing-in.
Although the FBI study initially cleared Allen of anywrongdoing, doubts persisted and, fueled by press reports,brought on another FBI search into Allen's affairs,on orders from the White House.
Serious questions were raised about whether the envelopein the safe contained $1,000 (the amount foundin it) or $10,000 (the figure written on the outside ofthe envelope and on a receipt). Edwin Meese, Allen'sboss and counselor to President Reagan, stood firmlyby the beleaguered national security adviser, who facedmuch hostility from the American public as he trieddesperately to calm the increasing storm. Secretary ofthe Navy John Lehman came forward on Allen's behalf,saying he had witnessed Allen receiving the $1,000 andseen Allen show "chagrin and amazement" at gettingthe money in cash.
But there was also conflicting evidence. One of theJapanese journalists who had interviewed the First Ladysaid that she had asked for but never received a receiptfor the money. And a long-time Japanese friend of Allenrevealed that he had handed Allen "a big present" tohelp his journalist wife win an interview with Mrs. Reagan.
On November 29, 1981, Allen announced that hewas taking a leave of absence from his post (which hehoped to retake following the Justice Department inquiry).Appearing on the three major American televisionnetworks to defend and explain himself, he said thatthose who had started the "false" stories about himwould be dealt with legally, and he reiterated that theenvelope with the money had been inadvertently "forgotten"in his office safe. In December 1981, the JusticeDepartment cleared Allen of all criminal misconductcharges?notably, bribery concerning the acceptance ofa cash payment. Nonetheless, the White House seemedhighly embarrassed by the scandal, and Allen apparentlyreluctantly tendered his resignation. On January 1,1982, the White House announced this, and three dayslater, William P. Clark, Jr., a deputy secretary of state,was named the new presidential adviser for national securityaffairs.
Patently discredited, Allen continued in governmentemployment as a consultant on the President's ForeignIntelligence Advisory Board. An executive branch reviewconfirmed that he had met and dined with formerclients of his company in the White House but hadcommitted no misconduct or impropriety.
Woody ALLEN: accused of family abuse by Mia Farrow
Scandals are commonplace in the film industry; yet, thescandal that ruptured the fairy-tale romance of writer/director/actor Woody Allen and actress Mia Farrow wasanything but that. It involved their seven-year-oldadopted daughter Dylan and Farrow's 21-year-oldadopted daughter (from her marriage to composer AndrePrevin), Soon-Yi.
The scandal broke when Farrow found nude Polaroidpictures of Soon-Yi (taken at her suggestion) in Allen'sNew York apartment on January 13, 1992. Allen admittedhaving an affair with Soon-Yi since December1991 and an irate Farrow ended their 11-year relationship.Then, in August 1992, Allen sued for custody ofDylan and 15-year-old Moses Farrow (both of whomhe had formally adopted in December 1991) and five-year-oldSatchel Farrow, his biological child. A weeklater, Farrow alleged that Allen had sexually molestedDylan at her Connecticut home. Allen denied thecharges, saying that Farrow had concocted them in retaliationfor his affair with Soon-Yi and to influence theoutcome of the custody case.
A baby-sitter walking by the living room windowin Farrow's Connecticut home reported seeing Allenwith his head between Dylan's knees. Farrow questionedDylan about the incident on videotape andshared it with a reporter and two producers from aNew York television station. Then she made an appointmentto meet the costume designer of Allen'snext film. In April 1993, Allen's lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz,charged that law-enforcement officials werehelping Farrow's cause by giving her lawyers exclusiveaccess to important evidence (e.g., a videotape). Apparently,Abramowitz had asked to see the tape butreceived no response. After a six-month investigation,a team from the Yale-New Haven Hospital concludedin March 1993 that no sexual abuse had taken place.However, the team noted that both Allen and Farrowhad disturbed relations with Dylan. Farrow's lawyerstermed the report "incomplete and inaccurate." FrankS. Maco, the Litchfield County state's attorney, askedfor a copy of the report even as he discredited its findings.Maco said that he had enough evidence to takethe case to trial and to have Allen arrested but had decidednot to for Dylan's sake. These remarks werevehemently criticized by Allen's lawyers and legal experts.On April 7, 1993 a child psychiatrist testifiedthat the Yale report's conclusions were based on bungledinterviews and faulty methodology.
On the stand, Allen acknowledged that his affair withSoon-Yi was perhaps "wrong, not wise" but that hedidn't think that it would cause such a furor. Farrowtestified that Allen was so obsessively preoccupied withDylan that he ignored the other children (she had 11).Still, she allowed him to adopt Dylan in 1991?a factthat she could not explain. Farrow charged Allen withpushing Dylan's face into some hot spaghetti and threateningto break Satchel's leg. Her lawyers read an angryletter from Moses to Allen who retorted that it seemedas if Farrow had dictated it. Allen countered with allegationsof his own: Farrow had mistreated her adoptedchildren and physically abused Soon-Yi and torn up herclothes when she found out about their affair. Heclaimed that Farrow had demanded a $7 million payoffto withdraw the abuse charges. And so the charges flewback and forth. Even their lawyers traded barbs and allegations.
Finally, on June 7, 1993, Judge Elliott Wilk grantedcustody of the three children to Farrow. Allen's accessto them was limited; he could only visit Satchel. Heappealed the ruling. Wilk described Allen's conductwith Dylan as "grossly inappropriate" and said hewas upset that Dylan had to undergo two simultaneousand traumatic sex-abuse investigations in New York(the case was dropped in October 1993 because thecharges were deemed baseless) and Connecticut. TheNew York authorities should have withdrawn in favorof Connecticut, Wilk felt. Allen reiterated his innocenceand said that the Connecticut authorities had pursuedhim relentlessly because he was a celebrity and an outsider,whereas Farrow was a state resident. He proposeda truce for the sake of the children but was immediatelyturned down. Farrow instead appealed to the Surrogate'sCourt in Manhattan to overturn and nullify Allen'sadoption of Dylan and Moses.
In October 1993, Allen filed complaints against Macowith two Connecticut state agencies. He said that Macohad violated legal ethics in statements made during hispress conference. On November 3, 1993, a criminal justicepanel voted unanimously to dismiss Allen's complaint.
Continues...
Excerpted from The New Encyclopedia of American Scandalby George Childs Kohn Copyright © 2000 by George Childs Kohn. Excerpted by permission.
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