Essay On Political Scandals

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Recommended: Checks and balances in government

Nik Bremer Kinkaid
History per. 5 4/7/14
How Political Scandals affected the country
Throughout the world, political scandals have plagued the purity and loyalty that a government must retain while running a country. Political scandals have been happening even since the first type of government was created and will keep on happening. Throughout the 20th century, political scandals have stymied this country’s loyalty and caused a lot of public outrage. A scandal is defined as an action or event that is regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. 5 specific scandals have negatively hurt this country in many different ways ranging from the impeachment of presidents to the perpetrators of these scandals re-obtaining roles in governments. The first major scandal occurred in the early 1920’s at the Teapot Dome oil reserves which involved Warren G. Harding and his disloyalty in ‘overlooking’ The second major scandal was the infamous Watergate Scandal involving president Richard Nixon during the 1970’s. This was the first time a president had ever been forced to resign from his position at president of the United States. This scandal is also known as the biggest scandal in American history. The third scandal is the Iran-Contra affair involving president Ronald Reagan and the Reagan Administration in the late 1980’s. This scandal had put America in a bad situation with its relationship with other certain countries such as Iran and Nicaragua. The fourth scandal involves a group of 5 senators known as the Keating 5 which occurred in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The 5th major scandal this country faced was Bill Clinton’s presidency scandals which occurred during the 1990’s. The first of m...

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...dal completely backs up the notion that corruption still revolves in our government. It furthermore proved that “the Constitution's system of checks and balances could function to force an abusive or tyrannical president out of power.” This abusive use of power forced Nixon to be the first president to ever resign in the middle of their term. This scandal hurt the republicans similarly to the Teapot Dome Scandal. However the result of the next election was Democrat Jimmy Carter. Another effect this scandal put on America was that it forced congress to create many new laws about what the president can and can’t do. “Congress passed a series of laws sharply limiting a president's power, including amending the Freedom of Information Act, limiting the president's power to wage undeclared war, and laws surrounding financial disclosure, like the Ethics in Government Act.”

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