Being the president of a nation is unarguably a big deal; it’s even a bigger deal when that nation is the United States. That explains why each administration always has its challenges and scandals. While some scandals have escaped our minds due to their relative insignificance, others are unforgettable – from sex scandals to money diversion. Here are five of the biggest presidential scandals in American history.
John F. Kennedy
While many Americans admired JFK’s beautiful and inspiring wife and the First Lady of America, Jackie Kennedy, the President was busy scheming affairs. John Kennedy didn’t just have one or two affairs during his 1961-1963 administration; there were several.
JFK reportedly had a pattern of sleeping with blondes, a sharp contrast to his brunette wife. His special assistant at the time, Dave Powers, was in charge of fetching young blonde women for JFK. It’s no surprise that he had an affair with Marilyn Monroe.
Ronald Reagan
During Ronald Reagan’s administration, between 1985 and 1987, the United States had an arms embargo against Iran. However, seven Americans were held hostage, and their lives were at stake, so President Ronald made a compromise that Americans had no idea about.
The president secretly sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the citizens. The deal wasn’t exposed until 1986, when he admitted to the sales but said it had nothing to do with the hostages. After an audit, Ronald confessed it was an arms-for-hostage deal.
George Bush
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 29, 2005. The hurricane greatly affected the city and its citizens. However, the response of The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was significantly below expectations. The residents of the area struggled to survive days after the storm. What about the President?
President George Bush’s actions were even more inadequate. He simply surveyed the damage done to the devastated areas from Air Force One on his way home from vacation. The fact that he didn’t deem it fit to land made Americans furious that he didn’t care about Black people.
Warren Harding
Warren G. Harding’s 1922 scandal was probably the most intense in American history. Albert Fall, the Department of Interior Secretary, took control of the oil reserves on the federal land in Wyoming. The discovery put Warren’s administration under serious heat.
Fall took gifts, bribes, and no-interest loans for rights to the Teapot Dome oil fields. He evaded the right procedure of taking bids from private oil companies for the right to operate the reserves. Well, he was sent to jail after being declared guilty.
Donald Trump
After the 2021 scandal, Donald Trump became the first president in United States history to be impeached twice while in office. Congress charged Trump with incitement of insurrection for his role in stirring up his supporters and causing chaos.
Due to his suspicion of election fraud, Donald Trump reportedly encouraged his supporters to charge the Capitol before Congress could certify the electoral college results. This scandal resulted in an investigation for which arrests are still being made today. It was also the last scandal under Trump’s administration.
