corruption

• 
• SOURCE: Politico
  4/18/2023
  

  The Scandal isn't in Clarence Thomas's Corruption, but His Jurisprudence

  by Corey Robin

  It's a mistake to ask if receiving gifts from a wealthy benefactor has shaped the Justice's rulings. His rulings have paved the way for the power of money in America. 

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  4/10/2023
  

  There's a Precedent for Trump's Indictment: Spiro Agnew

  by Zach Messitte, Charles Holden and Jerald Podair

  Nixon's VP pioneered the right-wing politics of grievance against coastal elites and higher education familiar today. He also had a tendency to accept bribes that is familiar. But in 1973 the Republican Party was willing to cut him loose. 

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  9/28/2022
  

  Does History Show a Remedy for Dark Money?

  by Bo Blew

  Until 1969's Tax Reform Act, private foundations allowed the rich to influence policy and avoid taxation with haphazard oversight by the states. The new generation of independent political action groups needs similar federal oversight.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  2/15/2022
  

  The Ukraine Crisis Represents Kleptocracy Coming Home to Roost

  Western powers have precipitated the possible war over Ukraine not by seeking to expand NATO but by allowing the unchecked reign of kleptocrats since the end of the Cold War. 

• 
• SOURCE: MSNBC
  7/25/2021
  

  The President Who Beats Donald Trump at Corruption

  by Kevin M. Kruse

  "To find the real counterpart to Trump’s gang of money-grubbing grifters, we need to look back a century to the crime-riddled administration of Warren G. Harding."

• 
• 7/18/2021
  

  Trump Cheated on His Taxes. What Happens Now?

  by James D. Zirin

  "When I was a federal prosecutor going after white collar criminals, I always looked for the accountant. He was the most likely witness for the government."

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/26/2021
  

  The County Where Cops Call the Shots

  Aaron Bekemeyer's PhD dissertation research examines how police unions, like those in Suffolk County, NY, became powerful in the 20th Century. Jennifer Mittelstadt also comments on the exceptional status of police unions.

• 
• SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
  12/8/2020
  

  Cleaning House: Watergate and the Limits of Reform

  by John A. Lawrence

  The reform agenda of the "Watergate Babies" class elected to Congress in 1974 achieved important successes but failed to prevent either the rise of the imperial presidency or increased partisan polarization. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/20/2020
  

  Watergate Led to Reforms. Now, Would-Be Reformers Believe, So Will Trump

  Jack Goldmith and Robert Bauer, legal veterans of the George W. Bush and Obama administrations respectively, are proposing a slate of reforms to limit executive branch powers. They hope to match the legislation passed after Watergate and the revelations of intelligence community abuses exposed by the Church Committee.

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  8/27/2020
  

  Nepotism Is Bad For Government. Trump’s Convention Reminds Us Why

  by Christine Adams

  The pervasive influence of Trump's family members on government compares to the courts of the Bourbon kings of France. Republicans might consider how that worked out. 

• 
• SOURCE: Bill Moyers
  7/22/2020
  

  Historic Levels, but Not the Good Kind

  by Heather Cox Richardson

  Warren G. Harding created an atmosphere in which the point of government was not to help ordinary Americans, but to see how much leaders could get out of it.

• 
• 6/28/2020
  

  Big Alex McKenzie and the Last Great Fraud of the Gilded Age

  by Paul Starobin

  Alexander McKenzie’s plot to corner Alaska’s gold proved to be the last great swindle of the original gilded age, as this seamy chapter in our national life gave way to what become known as the Progressive Era.

• 
• 5/24/2020
  

  No More Business as Usual! It’s Time for Joe Biden to Defend our Democracy

  by Claudia Koonz

  A historian of European dictatorship argues that Joe Biden must recognize that not just the election but the health of democracy is at stake and challenge the administration's efforts to operate above the law.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/23/2020
  

  Before Trump Called for Reevaluating Lockdowns, They Shuttered Six of His Top-Earning Clubs and Resorts

  Trump is considering easing restrictions on movement sooner than federal public health experts recommend, in the name of reducing the virus’s economic damage.

• 
• SOURCE: ProPublica
  3/19/2020
  

  Senator Dumped Up to $1.7 Million of Stock After Reassuring Public About Coronavirus Preparedness

  Intelligence Chair Richard Burr’s selloff came around the time he was receiving daily briefings on the health threat.

• 
• SOURCE: History.com
  1/27/20
  

  How the Gilded Age's Top 1 Percent Thrived on Corruption

  Railroads Were at the Forefront of Political Corruption  

• 
• 7/28/19
  

  The Long History of Unjust and Lawless Attorneys General

  by Ronald L. Feinman

  It isn't just William Barr. 

• 
• 5/19/19
  

  To Prevent Brain Drain, Kosovo Must Eradicate Corruption

  by Alon Ben-Meir and Arbana Xharra

  On the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the end of Kosovo war, the country is facing a dramatic large-scale brain drain.

• 
• SOURCE: Tom Dispatch
  3/28/19
  

  The 47-Minute Presidency

  by Tom Engelhardt

  The 47 minutes that define Trump's presidency and why they are worth revisiting. 

• 
• 2/16/19
  

  How Do You Fire a Special Prosecutor? Ask Harry Truman.

  by Andrew Coan

  The Truman tax scandals teach an important lesson about the relationship between special prosecutors and democratic politics.