Scandals
How a Murderer from Italy Remade Himself as an American Renaissance Man
In retrospect, it seems odd that Henry Woodhouse got away with as much as he did for more than half a century. After all, it wasn’t every day that a paroled murderer with no discernible education became a darling of America’s burgeoning aviation elite—heralded as a renowned ...read more
8 Very English Political Scandals
The United Kingdom’s Brexit chaos is so intense that it’s easy to forget about the country’s political scandals of yore. Rest assured that both royals and members of Parliament were making sketchy decisions long before Brexit. 1763: John Wilkes’ Parliamentary Ouster In 1763, a ...read more
Was the 1995 Government Shutdown the Pettiest Ever?
In November 1995, Newt Gingrich gave President Bill Clinton an ultimatum: approve cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, or he would shut down the government. The ensuing shutdowns were a public embarrassment for Gingrich and a victory for Clinton, but the president’s ...read more
The Salacious Letters That Helped Bring Down Mary, Queen of Scots
In 1567, a tempestuous, unhappy queen picked up her pen and wrote a passionate sonnet to her lover. “My love for him is not an empty show,” she wrote, “But purest tenderness and constancy.” Or did she? The sonnet was one of 12. And those documents were part of a larger hoard ...read more
How Gary Hart’s Sex Scandal Betrayed His Character
Gary Hart was the presumed Democratic presidential candidate in the spring of 1987 when the Miami Herald reported that rumors of his “womanizing” were true. The ensuing scandal over his extramarital affair with a woman named Donna Rice ended his candidacy. Yet according to Gail ...read more
When a Millionaire Married a Teen And Sparked Opposition to U.S. Child Marriage
Last month, Delaware became the first state in the Union to ban child marriage. In all other states, legal exceptions allow minors—mostly girls, some as young as 12—to marry even if the state’s official minimum age is 18. Between 2000 and 2010, there were nearly 250,000 child ...read more
How ‘Deep Throat’ Took Down Nixon From Inside the FBI
Former FBI deputy director William Mark Felt, Sr., age 91, broke his 30-year silence and confirmed in June 2005 that he was “Deep Throat,” the anonymous government source who had leaked crucial information to Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, which helped ...read more
The Scandal That Ruined Alexander Hamilton’s Chances of Becoming President
As the first secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Alexander Hamilton built the foundations of the national banking system and wielded more power in the earliest years of American democracy than any other man beside George Washington. Yet unlike Washington, and unlike his longtime ...read more
Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick Incident: What Really Happened
Late on the night of July 18, 1969, a black Oldsmobile driven by U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy plunged off the Dike Bridge on the tiny island of Chappaquiddick, off Martha’s Vineyard, landing upside down in the tidal Poucha Pond. The 37-year-old Kennedy survived the crash, but the ...read more
Monica Lewinsky Scandal
The Monica Lewinsky scandal began in the late 1990s, when America was rocked by a political sex scandal involving President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern in her early 20s. In 1995, the two began a sexual relationship that continued sporadically until ...read more
Why Princess Margaret Sacrificed Love for the Crown
At Elizabeth II’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1953, all eyes should have been on the new monarch. But someone else stole the show that afternoon: Princess Margaret. At the televised event, the queen’s sister picked a piece of lint from the lapel of Peter Townsend, a war ...read more
Three of the Most Damning Secrets Dug up in U.S. Elections
Political opposition research may be more intense than ever before, but the idea of smearing your rivals by exposing their secrets is definitely not new. Here’s a look at some of the biggest scandals in presidential elections involving dirt dug up by the other side. 1. Andrew ...read more
Aaron Burr’s Notorious Treason Case
In the summer of 1807, the city of Richmond, Virginia, played host to one of the most remarkable trials in early American history. The case involved several legal luminaries, but its undisputed star was the defendant, 51-year-old Aaron Burr. The New Jersey native had only ...read more
Ulysses S. Grant, the Whiskey Ring and America’s First Special Prosecutor
Not only does the U.S. president have the authority to appoint a special prosecutor—he also has the authority to fire one. President Ulysses S. Grant exercised both of these powers in 1875, during the Whiskey Ring Scandal. Before the scandal was over, Grant also did something no ...read more
The Long, Complicated History of Political Leaks
1. The Hutchinson Letters In December 1772, Benjamin Franklin, who was then serving as Britain’s Postmaster General of the American colonies, anonymously received a packet of letters written to a British official by Thomas Hutchinson, the governor of Massachusetts. In the ...read more
Cyclist Lance Armstrong is stripped of his seven Tour de France titles
On October 22, 2012, Lance Armstrong is formally stripped of the seven Tour de France titles he won from 1999 to 2005 and banned for life from competitive cycling after being charged with systematically using illicit performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions as well as ...read more
Sacco and Vanzetti executed
Despite worldwide demonstrations in support of their innocence, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for murder. On April 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Massachusetts, was shot and killed along with his guard. The ...read more
Sex scandal leads to political fallout for Arkansas congressman
Representative Wilbur D. Mills, a Democrat from Arkansas, resigns as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the aftermath of the first truly public sex scandal in American politics. On October 7, 1974, at 2 a.m., Mills was stopped by park police while driving at night with ...read more
British Secretary of War John Profumo resigns amid sex scandal
On June 5, 1963, British Secretary of War John Profumo resigns his post following revelations that he had lied to the House of Commons about his sexual affair with Christine Keeler, an alleged prostitute. At the time of the affair, Keeler was also involved with Yevgeny “Eugene” ...read more
Miss America resigns over nude photos
On July 23, 1984, 21-year-old Vanessa Williams gives up her Miss America title, the first resignation in the pageant’s history, after Penthouse magazine announces plans to publish nude photos of the beauty queen in its September issue. Williams originally made history on ...read more
Lance Armstrong wins seventh Tour de France
On July 24, 2005, American cyclist Lance Armstrong wins a record-setting seventh consecutive Tour de France and retires from the sport. After Armstrong survived testicular cancer, his rise to cycling greatness inspired cancer patients and fans around the world and significantly ...read more
Ballinger-Pinchot scandal erupts
The Ballinger-Pinchot scandal erupts when Colliers magazine accuses Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger of shady dealings in Alaskan coal lands. It is, in essence, a conflict rooted in contrasting ideas about how to best use and conserve western natural resources. ...read more
Vanessa Williams becomes first Black Miss America
On September 17, 1983, 20-year-old Vanessa Williams becomes the first African American to win the Miss America crown. Less than a year later, on July 23, 1984, Williams gave up her crown after nude photos of her surfaced. Despite the scandal, Williams later launched a successful ...read more
Actress Natalie Wood drowns
On November 29, 1981, the actress Natalie Wood, who starred in such movies as Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story, drowns in a boating accident near California’s Catalina Island. She was 43 years old. READ MORE: The Mystery Surrounding Natalie Wood's Death Born Natalia ...read more