CONTROVERSY OF L.B.J

Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in a scandal that later became known as the Pentagon Papers. The Pentagon Papers were a series of documents leaked to the New York Times by Daniel Ellsberg showing that the government had mislead the public about their involvement in the Vietnam War. This was such a huge thing because it was one of the first major causes of public distrust in the government. Before the Pentagon Papers were leaked, the majority of people had faith in what their leaders could, and would, do. It was also the first time in modern history that this major and widespread of a leak had occurred. Daniel Ellsberg was a former military analyst who at first wanted to keep his name out of it in fear of repercussions. This can be related to the recent op-ed piece published in the New York Times in which an anonymous source speaks out about the president. Though it is not classified information, it still shows that some are afraid of their name being in the spotlight in fear of what might happen to their reputation.

 

Citation 

Pruitt , Sarah. “The Long, Complicated History of Political Leaks.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 8 Mar. 2017, http://www.history.com/news/9-leaks-that-changed-the-world.

CONTROVERSY OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES

During the end of his term, Rutherford B. Hayes nominated Stanley Mathew to be a Supreme Court Justice in hopes that things would move quickly. However, Senate members strongly disliked the president’s nominee and so they refused to vote on the matter, leaving Hayes’ term to end before the issue was ever brought back up (Stevenson). Once President Garfield was in office he did push for Mathew, and his nomination was accepted by Congress with a vote of 24-23 which was the closest count ever, until maybe now…

This story is somewhat similar to what is going on in the news today. President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee was disliked by democrats even before the allegations came out against him, and now that they have Congress has put off making the final vote in order to hear what the FBI finds out about what really happened. The first vote was split right on partisan lines which was 11-10.

 

Citation

Stevenson, Freeman. “Top Scandals and Controversies of Each United States President | Deseret News.” DeseretNews.com, Deseret News, 20 May 2013, http://www.deseretnews.com/top/1512/1/George-Washington-Top-scandals-and-controversies-of-each-United-States-president.html.

CONTROVERSY OF JOHN Q. ADAMS

This video does a good job at explaining what the “corrupt bargain” was between John Q. Adam and Henry Clay. It is interesting to see how far campaigning has come because if this were to happen in present day, it might not seem as big of a deal as it did back then.

CONTROVERSY OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 

Thomas Jefferson owned something like 600 slaves and lived on a very large plantation in which he called his Monticello plantation. Other presidents owned slaves during these days as well, but Thomas Jefferson was known for having six children with one of his slaves named Sally Hemings. Some say that Jefferson and Hemings had an actual relationship during the years that all of this occurred, and though it is impossible to know for certain the dynamics of their relationship, it is kind of hard to believe seeing how Hemings was only 14 when their “relationship” began and she technically was considered to be his property at the time. Even if it wasn’t rape, I am sure that she felt a certain pressure and obligation to him since he was her master and in charge of her quality of life.

Though slavery is not legal anymore, the practice of sexual misconduct is still around and seen in the news all the time. Unfortunately, it is more often males who see the need to preform these acts. Men are more able to use their masculinity, position of power, and authority in order to coerce women into certain situations which, even though they might not have specifically said “no”, feel uncomfortable with what is going on.

 

We hear about controversies in the news all the time, and our presidents are not immune to this. The past couple of weeks we have been hearing all about Kavanaugh regarding his sexual assault allegations. This is controversial because people are deciding whether or not they believe he is innocent. Whatever you believe regarding his guilt/innocence, it is undeniable that talking about this kind of subject has come a long way. More and more people are realizing that we need to believe the women and men who have enough courage to speak out against their attacker. This week’s blogs will highlight some of our most controversial presidential moments, not only talking about sexual assault cases.