Ethics in U.S. Government

From the Abscam investigation to Judge Susan Webber Wright, who presided over the Paula Jones case, this ready-reference encyclopedia provides 264 alphabetically organized entries on the ethics controversies, political scandals, investigations, reforms, and the people involved in them from the formation of the Republic through the year 2000. Throughout American history, political scandals and political reforms have helped to shape the nation's political system. Extensive entries on the activities and players in the Whitewater investigation, Watergate, impeachment proceedings in history, and the ethics controversies in a number of presidential administrations offer full coverage of the most significant ethics controversies in American political history. Entries on legislation, court cases, organizations, and terms and concepts provide needed ready-reference material for student research. More than 65 photographs enliven the text.

A significant number of entries are devoted to individuals involved in ethics controversies that have taken place since World War II. Each entry is cross-referenced to other entries on related topics and each entry concludes with a short bibliography of further reading. A timeline of significant dates in the history of ethics controversies will aid the reader in placing ethics events in historical context. This encyclopedia contains the most current information on ethics controversies in government and will be valuable for student research.

ROBERT NORTH ROBERTS has taught in the Department of Political Science at James Madison University since 1982. He is author of White House Ethics: The Politics of the History of Federal Conflict of Interest Regulation and co-authored with Professor Marion T. Doss, From Watergate to Whitewater: The Public Integrity War. Professor Roberts, author of numerous articles on public service, received from the Ethics Section of the American Society for Public Administration the Ethics Scholarship Award for the Best Article published in 1999 for The Supreme Court and the Law of Public Service Ethics, that appeared in Public Integrity (Winter, 1999).