The second-term curse
Scandals have haunted and hammered many presidents in their second terms. Among the more memorable:
Clinton: Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr uncovers Bill Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton denies the allegations in a televised appearance on Jan. 26, 1998, but is later forced to recant. The House impeaches him in December, the first such action in more than a century.
Reagan: Ronald Reagan's administration sells weapons to Iran, illegally diverting the profits to the contras, a rebel force fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Lt. Col. Oliver North, a military aide to the National Security Council, is convicted of obstructing Congress. Reagan's knowledge of the arms deals is never made clear.
Nixon: An employee of President Richard Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) is among five men arrested for breaking into the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate complex. Nixon is implicated in the break-in and the ensuing cover-up. He resigns under the threat of impeachment.
Johnson: Lyndon B. Johnson presides over a major escalation of the Vietnam War, sending an additional 35,000 troops to Vietnam each month. In 1968, the North Vietnamese launch their deadly Tet offensive, eroding confidence in the war. Johnson chooses not to run again.
Eisenhower: In May 1960, during the height of the Cold War, an American U-2 spy plane is shot down by the Soviet Union. Dwight Eisenhower denies the plane was in Soviet airspace, but Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev parades pilot Francis Gary Powers before the media. U.S.-Soviet peace talks fall apart. -Angie C. Marek
This story appears in the September 6, 2004 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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