Watergate Scandal was the result of the break-in at the Democratic National

Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.

in June 1972. It was reported that Nixon had had a tape-recording system in

the offices and that he had recorded many conversations. The scandal leads to

the resignation of the then President of United States, Richard Nixon on 9th

August, 1974. This incident also resulted in the indictment, trial, conviction

and incarceration of 43 people; including dozens of Nixon’s top

administration officials.

The year 1998 was not a favorable year for the highest office holder of US,

President Bill Clinton as he was blamed of being in a physical relation with the

22 years old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. In 1995, Monica

Lewinsky was hired to work as a secretary for the White House and soon

began a close personal relationship with him. The news of this extra-marital

affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of

Clinton in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Also popular as Irangate, Contragate or the Iran-Contra scandal, the

Iran Contra Affair was a political scandal in the United States that

came to light in November 1986. The gossip made many headlines

at the time and is still considered as one of the top 10 US political

scandals. The dishonesty took place during Ronald Reagan

administration where senior Reagan officials secretly assisted the

sale of arms to Iraq. The scandal began as an operation to free seven

American hostages being held by a group with Iranian ties

connected to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution.

The famous Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery incident that was

carried out in US from 1922 to 1923 during the term of President

Warren G. Harding. Albert Fall, the Secretary of the Interior under

Warren G. Harding, leased navy petroleum reserves to several oil

companies for nonsensically low prices. Despite Albert’s efforts to

hide the dishonesty, news about his murky dealings was leaked out

by the Wall Street Journal rocking the whole administration.

Immediately detailed investigations were made and it was found out

that Albert received a total of $404,000 as bribery. Later he was

sentenced to lockup.

Abu Ghraib Torture Scandal is all about the human rights violation

that took place in 2004 at the Abu Ghraib lockup in Iraq. The

tortures inflicted upon the culprits of the Abu Ghraib included

urinating on culprits, jumping on a wounded culprit’s leg, pouring

phosphoric acid on culpits, rape and sodomy using a baton. The

scandal made Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s resign and

many of the involved military personals were convicted in courts

martial and dishonorably discharged from service.

The Keating Five engaged five United States Senators who were accused of

corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger

Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The senators were

Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, John Glenn, John McCain and Donald W.

Riegle who were accused of improperly intervening in 1987 on behalf of

Charles H. Keating which was the target of a regulatory investigation by the

Federal Home Loan Bank Board.

Pentagon Papers involved the unauthorized release of a 7000 page document

to the press in the year 1971. These papers were the highly secret US

Department of Defense documents pertaining to the US involvement in the

Vietnam War spanning a period of 1945 to 1971, commissioned by the

Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. The crime was committed by

Daniel Ellsberg, a worker with the department, by leaking it to New York

Times when he became disappointed with the role played by the US in the

war.

Wilson met Edith Galt just a few short months after his wife Ellen

Louise Axson had passed, and by May they were engaged. Way back

in 1914, this was very scandalous. Rumors even started that Wilson

claimed down Axson life so that he could marry Galt. Though they

were engaged they got married only after his first wife passed away.

Also known as Eaton affair or the Eaton malaria the Petticoat Affair is one of

the top ten US political scandals that involved members of President Andrew

Jackson’s Cabinet and their wives during 1830 – 1831. It began with the

marriage of Jackson’s secretary of war, John Henry Eaton, to recently widowed

Margaret Timberlake. The marriage proved a great scandal in American high

society; with rumors that Eaton had been having an affair with Timberlake

which led to end of her first husband’s life. Most of Jackson’s cabinet turned

against Eaton but Jackson supported him, and the controversy led to such a

conflict that almost Jackson’s entire cabinet resigned over the issue.

In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875,

involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents,

politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. Though it happened in St.

Louis, it was organised in Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and

Peoria. According to report, a group of Republican politicians drained off

millions of dollars in federal taxes on liquor involving a far-reaching millions

of dollars in federal taxes on liquor from distillers, rectifiers, gougers,

storekeepers, and internal revenue agents.

VISIT: www.toptenofcity.com/politics/us-

political-scandals.html