Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, Trump … which presidential scandal was the worst, and why?

President Clinton, in a 1995 photo with White House intern Monica Lewinsky (AP Photo/OIC)

Welcome to the PoliSci 312C elimination round! We talked recently about Chapman University’s popular “Presidential Scandals” class, where associate political science professor Fred Smoller helps students dissect the fractured civic landscape in a class devoted to these four national traumas.

For their final exam, students had to rank the scandals from worst-worst to least-worst — and explain why. While some of former President Richard Nixon’s staffers argued that Nixon was the real victim Watergate, these young folks had very different ideas.

Many went surprisingly easy on Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, though there was spirited debate over whether the Monica Lewinsky affair constituted sexual harassment, and whether it ever should have entered the public eye.

They agreed, along with their professor, on one thing: That increasingly outrageous presidential behavior traced back to an original sin — our failure to hold Nixon accountable.

Caspar W. Weinberger, a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, with Ronald Reagan (Jose R. Lopez/The New York Times)

President Donald Trump, Smoller said, is what happens when foul presidential behavior goes unpunished and is thus condoned. Deviance, Smoller said, has been normalized.

Let’s refresh your memory on the details:

Iran–Contra was when senior Reagan administration officials helped traffic arms to Iran. It was between 1981 and 1986, when, um, Iran was subject to an arms embargo. Proceeds were to fund the Contras, a rebel group in Nicaragua, even though Congress had cut off funding for the Contras.

Watergate: Nixon’s people broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters to gather intel on his political opponents, which led to an attempted cover-up. Nixon also used the levers of government to punish critics.

A noose on makeshift gallows on January 6, 2021. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Jan. 6: Trump spread false information about the outcome of a free and fair election, pushed fringe theories about the vice president’s powers to determine a victor and encouraged supporters to “fight like hell” to protest the peaceful transfer of power, which resulted in a sack of the Capitol.

Clinton-Lewinsky sexcapades: Also known as Monicagate, Lewinskygate, Sexgate and Zippergate, it involved the “improper” relationship between a 49-year-old president and a 22-year-old intern that Clinton at first insisted never happened.

‘Blatant attack’

Let’s start with the admirably succinct Student A (in a somewhat sad commentary on current affairs, all the students asked that their names be withheld for fear of retribution), who cued it up as follows:

Trump and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, took first place. “A blatant attack of the democratic process encouraged by a government official,” Student A said.

President Richard M. Nixon and his wife Pat Nixon (AP Photo/Charlie Harrity, File)

Next up: Watergate. “An attack on the fair electoral process, an attempt to manipulate the American people.”

Iran-contra came in third. “A disregard for the checks and balances system, negligence from president, which is not as deliberate as inciting a riot.”

For Student A, and most everyone else, Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky came in last. A sorry media spectacle that had very little impact on what Clinton did as president, Student A argued.

The much more loquacious Student B might quarrel.

“Watergate was the worst and most detrimental scandal,” Student B said. “It created a strong sense of distrust in the government that started changing the way the media and the people viewed the president and the government as a whole. Also, arguably, one of the worst aspects of the scandal was that Nixon wouldn’t admit to it and tried to cover up and erase documentation/tapes. Had he admitted his mistakes, the people would have been much more understanding and trusting.”

President Donald Trump at the rally on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

This argument surprised me: The Iran-Contra scandal wasn’t as bad as Watergate, Student B argued, because there was serious fear of communism spreading at the time.

“I believe Reagan and his national security advisers were trying to do what was best for America after Congress denied them the ability to get involved in Nicaragua and Iran,” Student B said. “Reagan also handled the press well and got in front of the case, which helped prevent further problems and was a smart approach.”

Does that make violating the separation of powers in the U.S. Constitution OK?

Jan. 6’s storming of the Capitol was also a two-sided coin, Student B argued. On one hand, it was very dangerous to democracy to have one of America’s most iconic government buildings stormed by an angry mob. But on the other hand, people felt the election was corrupt and wanted to stand up to the government as the Constitution allows.

A pro-Trump mob breaks into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“While the information on election fraud may have been inaccurate and was proven to be insufficient to alter election results, if the people truly felt the government was corrupt, they have the freedom to stand up and fight, which is one of the reasons why America has been the most successful democracy of all time,” Student B said.

On Clinton’s scandal: “The only major problem with it was his responses and lies. He was very deceitful to the people of America. The scandal itself was the least impactful because it didn’t affect the United States or its democracy and was more of a personal matter.”

A new bar

Hats off to Student C, who criticizes the vagary of the “high crimes and misdemeanors” bar for impeaching a president and proposes a more concrete standard: Removal of a president is warranted when said president abuses power, obstructs justice or actively undermines democracy.

(AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

“By this standard, I believe former President Nixon and President Trump should have been impeached, convicted and removed from office, while President Reagan should have been impeached and President Clinton should have been left alone,” Student C said.

Nixon misused government resources to obstruct justice for his own benefit, but worse still was that Nixon threw the electoral process into question, Student C said. “His actions challenged the core ideal we have in America that we conduct and participate in free and fair elections. By utilizing government resources to monitor, anticipate, and attack his opponent, Nixon compromised and opened the gate for this kind of future behavior … there is a direct correlation of how this invited tampering and poor judgment for the office in the future.”

Cue Trump, “his attempt to extort Ukraine,” and the Jan. 6 insurrection. The president put his own self-interest over that of the nation, Student C argued, and tampered with our ability to conduct a free and fair election. “Trump’s rhetoric, planning and lack of response led to the most horrifying attacks on our democracy,” and were clearly grounds for removal, Student C argued.

Ronald Reagan, left, and George Bush in 1980. (AP Photo)

Reagan, meanwhile, knowingly and blatantly violated laws passed by Congress — but with sincere conviction, “and for this I believe he should be impeached but not removed. There is a case for Reagan to be removed based on his lack of respect for both Congress and the check and balances system established in our government. … I think the intent and actions were done with the American people in mind and Reagan wanting to set up a better future … impeachment without removal is the proper course of action.”

Hmmm.

Student C agreed with the others, saying Clinton’s sexcapade was little more than politics. Clinton’s behavior was inappropriate and lowered the standard for the person running the free world, but was not a violation of the Constitution and not grounds for removal, Student C argued.

Bill and Hillary Clinton (Photo by MIKE NELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

All that raised the question: Do presidents deserve a private life? The responses were mixed.

Yes, some said, of course presidents deserve a private life. But most argued that it becomes the public’s business when it’s brought into the White House.

“If he did not want attention on his private activities, he should have kept them in private spaces,” one student argued.

Though Lewinsky said she fell in love with the president and entered the affair willingly, the power differential was so vast that if it happened today, in the wake of #MeToo, it would be viewed much more critically, several said. Now in her 50s, Lewinsky has said that Clinton should have either resigned or found a way to not throw her “under the bus.”

The professor’s ranking

Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Contrary to many of his students, Smoller thinks all four presidents should have been impeached and removed from office.

All of the scandals — although in varying degrees — lowered the bar for acceptable presidential conduct, he said.

Republican Congressman M. Caldwell Butler of Virginia nailed it when he said this and helped seal Nixon’s fate more than a half-century ago: “If we fail to impeach, we will have condoned and left unpunished a course of conduct totally inconsistent with the reasonable expectations of the American people … and we will have said to the American people, ‘These deeds are inconsequential and unimportant.’”

And here we are.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being worst-worst, the professor ranked Trump and Jan. 6 at No. 10, worst of the worst.

Fred Smoller (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Reagan and Nixon tied with 9 each. “I can’t make these a ’10’ because Jan. 6 was so incredibly horrible that it has to stand by itself. … Reagan ignored Congress. Trump tried to destroy it,” Smoller said.

Clinton gets a 5. “Bad, and he should have resigned, but a personal shortcoming that did not destabilize our system of government. Still, it lowered the bar for permissible presidential behavior. Congressional Democratic leaders should have insisted he resign, just like Republican leaders Hugh Scott, Barry Goldwater, John Rhodes did with Nixon. Dems would have been in a better place to call out Trump if they lowered the boom on Clinton.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, we find ourselves in the midst of what many argue is another presidential scandal, where the executive branch usurps Congressional powers and ignores judicial orders. Where might this land in the pantheon of presidential scandal rankings? Only time will tell.

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