[The Political Graveyard]
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List of Politicians Who Got Into Trouble or Disgrace
Very incomplete!

Please take a moment to look over the expanded new version of this page, and let me know (via POLYGON at POLITICALGRAVEYARD dot COM) of any errors or problems you find. Many thanks!

Originally this page was titled "Politicians who Died in Disgrace", but it became difficult to define that. Did Richard Nixon die in disgrace, when the President and other leaders praised him at his funeral? So I broadened the scope to "trouble and disgrace," and to include still-living figures.

In general, to qualify for listing here, mere rumor of scandal is not enough. What's required is some kind of formal action, such as censure, disbarment, impeachment, recall or expulsion from office, including resignation under fire; or some kind of brush with the criminal justice system, including arrest, indictment, conviction, or imprisonment. In a few cases uncontested evidence of wrongdoing emerged after death.

Note that not all of these people deserved the trouble they were in; sometimes charges were brought for purely political reasons, or they were prosecuted for simply acting on their principles. Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence, ended up in debtor's prison because he went broke financing the American Revolution, for example, and George Crockett was jailed for doing what most lawyers would consider his ordinary job defending an unpopular client. Many other cases are not so clear; I just list them here and let history decide.

Suggestions for additional entries to this list are humbly solicited.

in approximate chronological order