Originally this section was a single page 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 lawbreaking is not enough. What's required is a public scandal, or 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. Some were found not guilty or otherwise exonerated. Many other cases are not so clear; I just list them here and let history decide.

For your convenience, the list is provided alphabatically, chronologically, in offense categories, and state-by-state. Note that the same individual may appear in more than one offense category, state, or decade.

By Category of Offense:

Chronological by Decade:

By State or Outlying Area:

Alphabetical order: