When I began my research, I went to Wikipedia to get information I could use to build my story. I Googled “List of Federal Political Scandals in the United States” and came up with 101 pages of scandals and corruption. “I Googled politicians that went to jail in the U.S.A” and came up with another monster list.
The 1960 election Kennedy vs. Nixon. In this election it is alleged that Sam Giancana and his Chicago crime syndicate (the mafia) were able to influence Mayor Daley’s powerful political machine to push Kennedy over the top in Illinois. “Three Chicago election workers were convicted of voter fraud in 1962 and served short terms in jail.” Wikipedia 1. In the book “The Dark Side of Camelot” Seymour Hersh writes an explosive book on John F. Kennedy’s rise to power with the help of Frank Sinatra and the Chicago mob.
The 1968 election Nixon vs. Humphrey went without problems. However, the Watergate scandal that pre-empted it involved wiretapping the Democratic Party’s headquarters, burglary, a coverup of the burglary and kidnapping. Twenty-two senior White house officials were indicted and fifteen went to jail. Nixon resigned on August 8th 1974. For a greater understanding of this American tragedy read, “All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward.” I have a soft spot for Nixon. He was cheated out of the 1960 election and wanted to make sure this didn’t happen again. He ended the Vietnam War. He established diplomatic and trade with China which stifled Russian influence around the world. The high crimes he committed will never be forgotten.
The 2000 election Bush vs. Gore. All votes were counted except for Florida. Florida had a butterfly ballot that was so confusing, that votes intended for Al Gore went to Pat Buchannan. The second problem with the ballot was the method by which the voter could make his vote. The vote was made by punching a hole in a card like piece of paper. But the thickness of the “card stock” made it difficult to punch the hole all the way through the ballot. The part of the paper that was left intact was called a “chad.” If the chad had three parts punched through it was called a “hanging chad” and was considered a vote. If the paper was simply indented that part of the paper or “card stock” was called a “pregnant” or “fat” chad and may or may not have been counted. The counting of these votes continued for weeks because the two sides argued over which “chad” would count and which “chad” would not count. It went to the Florida Supreme Court which ordered a recount. Bush appealed the recount and it went to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4 that the Florida recount was unconstitutional on the grounds that there was no clear standard these “chads” could be counted with any consistency, and that time had run out, to come up with a remedy. The process was stopped with Bush ahead on December 12th 2000. Did the wrong person sit in the oval office of President of the United States cause of bad voting machines? What could be worse? An entire election was an error because Florida voting machines were “doofus.” Say it isn’t so!
George W. Bush handled the 911 crisis beautifully. His quick response mobilizing our forces and defending the homeland were excellent. He met the challenge of Al- Qaeda head-on and was able to contain it. What happened in Iraq, George?
On April 7, 2003 former President Jimmy Carter, talked about his experiences when he ran for the Georgia Senate. He said that in one county 126 people voted against him “alphabetically” and “a number of them were in prison or dead”. 2. He said that after the election he decided to try and fix the state’s election code. After much legal wrangling he was able to amend the code so “that no one in Georgia in the future could vote either in a primary or general election who had been dead more than three years.” 3
After the 2020 election Donald Trump has filed several lawsuits saying that the election was fixed, that people voted more than once, that the dead voted in mass, that pole watchers were not allowed to observe the counting of ballots, and that the whole election was a fake.
I watch the news and every time Trump brings one of these lawsuits it gets knocked down or dismissed for lack of evidence. It looks like the election results were accurate and that Joe Biden should be President of the United States. Do I know that for sure? Absolutely not! The history of corruption in American elections is so pervasive no one can ever be completely sure.
- Wikipedia
- The Carter Center, Speech to Georgia Legislature 04/07/2003
- The Carter Center, Speech to Georgia Legislature 04/07/2003
