Frank Underwoods behaviour fascinates us because it is dark, scandalous and perhaps because we believe it might just happen. US politics is regularly shaken by scandal, most recently when it was revealed that members of the Obama administration may have targeted political opponents for tax inspections. This Top 10 considers some of the more dubious practices in US politics. 1. Plenty of politicians use their office to gain personal wealth. One of the earliest such scandals to break in public was the Teapot Dome scandal of the early 1920s. Despite the comedy title, there were no domes and no teapots involved. There were oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming. Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, sold the rights to the reserves, for cash, and cattle. 2. A more recent bribery case won attention when $90,000 was found in the home freezer of Louisiana Representative William J. Jefferson. Jefferson had been filmed apparently taking a substantial bribe and the discovery of the cool $90,000 in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminium foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers proved very difficult to explain away. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2009. 3. No Top 10 on the Dark Side of US Politics could omit President Richard Nixon. Forced to resign by the Watergate scandal, he had overseen a series of dubious political practices, including the targeting of political opponents for tax inspections. Interestingly, Nixon paid for a substantial part of his first political campaign with money hed won by playing poker during his US Navy service. Presumably his poker face helped him to deliver such classic lines as, There can be no whitewash at the White House and I am not a crook as the Watergate scandal roiled US politics.
4. Nothing quite matches Chicago politics for scandal. Long associated with the Mafia, politics in Illinois is a hazardous profession. Of the last seven Governors of the state, four have served (or are serving) prison terms. Corruption, racketeering, bank fraud and bribery all featured among the charges. 5. Elections are expensive in US Politics. The Center for Responsive Politics estimates that, in the 2012 race, candidates for House of Representatives races spent $1,066m to try to get themselves elected. Senate Candidates spent £701m while the presidential campaigns spent $1,366m. Thats a total of $3,133m (or £2,049m). Thats just what the official campaigns spent: another $3,395m from party organisations and many millions more from the nominally independent 527 committees and you have some reason that Americans get sick of political advertising during election season and think money is important in their politics. 6. We tend to think of the press as the fourth estate, an independent body keeping a wary eye on the misbehaviour of politicians. Yet, the media need to be close to politicians as they are crucial sources. In a more gentlemanly era, that included allowing leaders to maintain private lives without fear of public exposure. Franklin Roosevelt was wheelchair-bound, but the press never covered that aspect of his life. Even when he fell face-first into the mud while walking to a podium, the incident never received coverage. Equally, many members of the press were aware of Kennedys affairs, but never ran the story. 7. Drink is another common vice in US politics. Most observers were quite convinced that Andrew Johnson was thoroughly drunk when he gave his 1865 Vice-Presidential inauguration speech to the Senate. Reports suggested that he slurred his words and the outgoing vice-president had to intervene to end his speech. More recently in New Mexico, Sunland Park Mayor Martin Resendiz has claimed that he didnt know he was signing, for his city, $1m worth of contracts with a Californian company because he was drunk. In his deposition to a court on the matter, he commented that he signed after two or three hours of us drinking, not exactly the best time to do business, not exactly the best time to read over legal documents.
8. Some scholars suggest that people go into politics to make up for insecurities by winning power and besting other people. Sometimes that can play out in freakish ways. President Lyndon Johnson, for example, enjoyed humiliating his Vice-President, Hubert Humphrey, by consulting with him while he was on the toilet. He also invited foreign diplomats to the White House pool to swim naked with him before negotiations, as he believed this would give him an advantage in later discussions. 9. Not every US politician demonstrates respect for the voters and the democratic system. In 1964, Dick Tuck lost his campaign for the California state senate in 1964 and summarised his feelings succinctly: The people have spoken, the bastards. House of Cards: The Complete First Season is out on Blu-ray & DVD on 10th June from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
