Image: Wiki Commons by Martin Falbisoner
About This Quiz
Fresh off a victory against Great Britain during the American Revolution, the newly-formed United States began establishing its own government, which was finally free from unwanted intervention coming from across the pond. The First Congress met in 1789 in New York, and later Philadelphia, as they worked on building their own official meeting place in Washington DC.
President George Washington laid the cornerstone of what would become the U.S. Capitol Building in 1793, and even though the construction was plagued by money and labor shortages, the grand building inspired by the Roman Pantheon eventually rose above the city. Congress first met at this building — which is known for its iconic eight-million-pound iron dome — in 1800, and continues to meet there to this day.
Since that time, the structure has grown alongside the U.S. surviving everything from a major fire, to wars and even attempted terrorist attacks. Along the way, this building located at 100 Constitution Ave has also survived another threat ... the threat of scandal. This scandal comes in the form of bad behavior from the very people elected to create the laws and represent their constituents, and it's been popping up since the earliest days of the American Congress. Think you can remember what got these lawmakers into hot water? Prove it with this quiz!
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Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy was just 30 when he was elected to represent Massachusetts in the Senate, taking the spot of brother John, who had just become President. Leaving a party in his home state a few years later, he crashed his car, leaving passenger Mary Jo Kopechne to drown. Kennedy didn't alert authorities to the accident for hours but still got off with a two-month suspended sentence. The incident at Chappaquiddick prevented Ted from ever making a serious run at the White House, but he remained in the Senate 'til 2009.
Anthony Weiner
Robert Byrd
Orrin Hatch
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Richard Burr
Terry Sanford
John Edwards
John Edwards served in the Senate from 1999 to 2005, and he even ran for VP with presidential hopeful John Kerry in 2004. In 2011, he was indicted on half a dozen felony charges after investigators discovered he had used campaign money to cover up the fact that he fathered a child with his mistress, even as his wife Elizabeth was dying of cancer.
James Broyhill
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Fraud
Money laundering
Long-time Texas Republican lawmaker Tom DeLay found himself in hot water for campaign finance activities he used to help Texas state reps in the 2002 election. In 2005, he was indicted on a series of charges ranging from money laundering to conspiracy. He stepped down from his House Majority Leader role and spent the next decade fighting the charges.
Drunk driving
Murder
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DC Madam
Republican David Vitter represented Louisiana in the U.S. Senate from 2015 to 2017. When his name showed up on a list of clients in the DC Madam scandal, he called a press conference and asked for forgiveness for his "sins." Turns out, all was not forgiven, as Vitter found out when he ran for governor of his home state in 2015. His opponent focused hard on the scandal during his campaign and easily beat Vitter at the polls.
Koreagate
Bill Clinton sex scandal
House Banking Scandal
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Have an abortion
Pennsylvania Republican Tim Murphy campaigned on a strong pro-life platform and vehemently opposed abortion throughout his tenure in Congress. That all changed when Murphy's own mistress experienced a pregnancy scare, leading Murphy to suddenly be much more open to the concept of choice. A 2017 investigation by the "Pittsburgh Post Gazette" revealed Murphy urged his paramour to have an abortion. He later resigned from Congress.
Buy him a gun
Hide money for him
Stop cheating on him
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Animal abuse
Bank robbery
Murder
In 1859, NY Congressman Dan Sickles suspected acquaintance Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key, of having an affair with Sickles' wife. He shot Key, killing him, but managed to get away with murder thanks to an insanity plea. Sickles served out a term in Congress and left in 1861, but he was even reelected in the 1890s to serve another term.
An affair
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John Edwards
Chris Collins
Anthony Weiner
Poor Anthony Weiner just can't stop sexting. An incident in which Weiner sent nude photos over Twitter led him to resign from Congress in 2011, while a 2017 scandal where Weiner sexted with a minor landed him in the slammer.
Ben Cardin
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Drug addiction
Financial fraud
After 17 years representing Illinois in the House, Democrat Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned his position in 2012 after being accused of using campaign funds to buy lavish items like a fur cape and a Rolex. Jackson was sentenced to 30 months in prison, while his wife got 12 months for her part in the financial fraud.
Extramarital affair
Manslaughter
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Mistress
Wayne Hays spent more than 25 years representing Ohio in the U.S. Congress, only to resign in a cloud of scandal in 1976. Turns out, he hired his mistress and paid her a federal salary to do nothing. He also divorced one wife and married the next without inviting his lover to the ceremony, making his mistress mad enough that she called the "Washington Post" to spill the beans.
Wife
Drug dealer
Son
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Westboro Baptist Church
Her husband
A Georgia Senator
U.S. Capitol Police
U.S. Capitol Police failed to recognize Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney as she brushed past security while entering the Capitol in 2006. Rather than stopping to straighten the matter out, McKinney struck an officer in the chest. She was charged with assault, but a grand jury declined to indict her.
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Explicit emails
Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley quickly resigned his position in 2006 after news broke that he had sent explicit messages to underage male pages working in the Capitol. Additional victims eventually came forward, though Florida prosecutors declined to charge Foley with a crime, citing lack of evidence.
Drunk driving
Stolen campaign funds
Affair with fellow Congressman
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Espionage
Money laundering
Representative Steve Stockman's second term in Congress ended in a cloud of scandal in 2015 after the Texas Republican was accused of setting up a fake charity to raise money for campaigning and personal expenses. He was found guilty of a whopping 23 felonies, including money laundering, and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018.
Drug dealing
Soliciting a sex worker
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Dwight Eisenhower
Oliver North
Ted Kennedy
Joseph McCarthy
Republican Joseph McCarthy represented Wisconsin in the Senate from 1947 through his death in 1957. He lives on in infamy for the witch trials he conducted in the '50s, where he accused people of being Soviet spies and ruined many innocent lives. McCarthy lost many supporters after driving opponent Lester Hunt to suicide in 1954.
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Iran-Contra
Koreagate
ABSCAM
Suspecting corruption in Congress, the FBI set up a sting in which agents posed as representatives of a Middle Eastern company in the late '70s. Six Representatives and one Senator took the bait, accepting bribes in exchange for a promise of contracts with the U.S. government. Today, this event is known as the ABSCAM scandal.
Watergate
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Dry cleaner
Post office
Yes, there is a Congressional post office, a fact which made headlines in the early '90s thanks to an investigation of corruption involving employees of the post office and certain members of Congress. Together, these crooked individuals were using the post office to launder money. Chicago Rep. Dan Rostenkowski ending up serving time for mail fraud in the case, but he was pardoned for his crimes by President Clinton in 2000.
Dining hall
Gym
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Wedtech scandal
Throughout the '80s, a small New York City contractor called Wedtech fraudulently won millions in federal defense contracts with the help of corrupt government officials. For his part in the Wedtech scandal, long-time NYC Representative Mario Biaggi was forced to resign from Congress and was eventually sentenced to eight years in the slammer.
Credit Mobilier scandal
House Banking scandal
Office Chair scandal
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Education
Hospitals
Railroads
Just after the Civil War, a company called Credit Mobilier was granted federal contracts to help construct routes on the Union Pacific Railroad. The company padded its invoices and bribed politicians to get away with their fraud. The House ultimately censored Rep. Oakes Ames and Rep. James Brooks for their involvement. Then-Congressman Andrew Garfield maintained his innocence in the scandal and was later elected President.
Immigration
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Korea
In an event now known as Koreagate, South Korean politicians offered bribes to several American Congressmen in exchange for various favors or agreements. California Congressman Richard Hanna was sentenced to one year for conspiracy charges related to the scandal, while Rep. Otto Passman ended up being acquitted for his role.
Japan
China
Thailand
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John McCain
John Glenn
Alan Cranston
Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy has had scandals of his own, but he wasn't a member of the Keating Five. This group of five Congressmen includes Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, John McCain, Donald Riegle and John Glenn (yes, the astronaut). The group was subject to a Senate Ethics Committee investigation for allegedly interfering with a federal investigation against Charles Keating, the chairman of a powerful Savings and Loan institution.
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Lying under oath
Soliciting Congressional pages
Both Illinois Rep. Dan Crane and Massachusetts Rep. Gerry Studds were censured by the House Ethics Committee in 1983 for soliciting underage pages working in Congress. Crane ended up being beaten in the next election and leaving the House, while Studds stayed in his seat all the way through 1997.
Selling weapons to Iraq
Betting on sports
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Statue of Liberty
Golden Gate Bridge
Lake Michigan
Grand Canyon
Ralph Cameron represented Arizona in Congress all the way through 1927. During that time, he claimed he personally owned a popular Grand Canyon trail, charging every visitor $1 to use it. He also spent his time in Congress fighting efforts to transform the Grand Canyon into a national park. Fed up with his greedy antics, Arizona voters failed to re-elect Cameron in 1926.
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Give them the White House
Give them Manhattan
Give them Alaska
Give them the entire Southeast
In an effort to inflate the value of his own landholdings, Tennessee Senator William Blount conspired to help Great Britain gain control of Florida and the Southeast U.S. back in the 1790s. When his crimes were discovered, the Senate voted to impeach him, but the removal was never officially completed because Blount ran home to Tennessee rather than standing trial in Washington.
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Lorne Michaels
Al Franken
After a long career in comedy, starring on "SNL" and hosting a radio show, Al Franken became a Senator in 2009. The Democrat from Minnesota found himself embroiled in scandal in 2018 when a series of women accused him of sexual misconduct. Through he disputed the allegations, Franken resigned from Congress, a move he later stated in interviews that he regretted.
Seth Myers
Bill Hader
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His mistress
His financial fraud
His gay son
H. Styles Bridges spent 24 years representing New Hampshire in the Senator. As a supporter of Joseph McCarthy, he was part of a blackmail plot against McCarthy's fellow Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt. After Bridges and McCarthy threatened to expose Hunt's gay son to the media, Hunt committed suicide, leading Bridges to resign from office in disgrace.
His Communist parents
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Barney Frank
Barney Frank became the first member of Congress to publicly and willingly reveal his homosexuality in 1987, and he was also the first gay Congressman to marry a same-sex partner while in office. Unfortunately, he also invited a male sex worker to share his home in the '80s, which might not have been a big deal if he hadn't also used his political clout to have more than 30 of his roommate's parking tickets taken care of, resulting in a reprimand from the House Ethics Committee.
Joseph Kennedy
Richard Neal
Jim McGovern
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Fighting over a poker game
Believing two men were fooling around with his wife, North Carolina state legislator Robert Potter castrated the poor souls in the 1830s. He later ran for Congress but was kicked out in 1935 for fighting over a poker game. You might not want to cross this guy.
Stealing a horse
An illegitimate child
A murder case
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Tom DeLay
Gary Hart
Former lawyer and Navy Lieutenant Gary Hart represented Colorado in the Senate from 1976 through 1988. He made a run for the Democratic nomination for President, but an investigation by a radio station threw a wrench in his campaign when it revealed not only an affair but a pattern of womanizing. The scandal ended his bid for the White House and made him a household name for a period.
Larry Craig
John Tierney
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Alexander Hamilton
Thomas Jefferson
Aaron Burr
John Smith made history as one of the first two Senators elected to represent Ohio. He is also famous for a different reason, however. In 1803, he helped Aaron Burr — yes, the guy who shot Alexander Hamilton — as part of a treasonous plot by Burr to seize control of either Mexico, the Southeast or the entire United States. The scandal resulted in Smith's expulsion from Congress that same year.
James Madison
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Bribery
Racketeering
Tax evasion
Vagrancy
After more than 15 years representing Ohio in the House, Jim Traficant was forced out of office and convicted of charges that included bribery, racketeering and tax evasion for using campaign funds for personal expenses. The Democratic Congressman was eventually sentenced to a seven-year term for his crimes.
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John Boehner
Dennis Hastert
Jim Wright
Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich was a college professor before he was elected to Congress in 1979 to represent Georgia. After two decades in Congress, he became Speaker of the House in 1995, only to resign in 1998 after he was reprimanded on tax-evasion charges.
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Bootlegging
But you couldn't guess that it was bootlegging that got Rep. John Langley in all kinds of trouble in the '20s. After resigning from Congress, he was sentenced to prison for selling alcohol during Prohibition ... only to be pardoned by President Coolidge. Langley's wife then ran for and won his Congressional seat, keeping things all in the family.
Skipping church
Adultery
Cattle rustling
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Ronald Wilson
George Herbert
William Jefferson
Democratic Congressman William Jefferson represented Louisiana in the House from 1991 to 2009. After accepting bribes to help a Kentucky IT firm win contracts with the Army, Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for bribery. After years of appeals, he was released in 2016.
James Earl
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Slavery
South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks was a huge fan of slavery ... so much so that he beat anti-slavery Senator Charles Sumner with his cane on the floor of the Senate. The attack was so bad that Sumner took a full three years to recover. While Brooks resigned after the 1856 incident, the pro-slavery voters in his state quickly re-elected him, sending him back to Washington to serve another term.
Homosexuality
Child abuse
Poker
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Manslaughter
Soliciting a minor
Ticket scalping
Bribery
Believe it or not, an arrest for soliciting a 16-year-old in 1978 didn't really damage Rep. Fred Richmond's career. In fact, it wasn't until he was caught bribing an employee of an NYC Naval Yard that public outrage forced Richmond to resign his seat in 1982.
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Solicitation
Dealing drugs
Espionage
Fraud
Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter tarnished the nearly 30-year legacy of his father Duncan L. Hunter when he replaced him in the House in 2009. The younger Hunter was forced to resign from all Congressional committees when both he and his wife were indicted for fraud in 2018. Turns out, the Congressman had been using campaign funds to cover up affairs with at least five women.
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Airgate
Roadgate
Rubbergate
Donald "Buz" Lukens ended up resigning from Congress in 1989 after he was caught on camera describing a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl. That resignation didn't save him, however, as he ended up being convicted in 1995 for his actions during the House Banking Scandal, also known as Rubbergate. Lukens had left Congress by the time the investigation was completed but was still convicted of bribery and sentenced to 30 months.
Moneygate
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School
Airport
Outspoken LGBT opponent Larry Craig represented Idaho in the House from 1981 to 1991, then served in the Senate from 1991 to 2009. After he was arrested for indecent exposure in the men's room of a Minnesota airport in 2007, he declined to run for re-election to Congress.
Restaurant
Baseball game
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Smoking crack cocaine
Stealing a car
Sexual assault
Democratic Congressman Mel Reynolds was indicted in 1994 for a sexual assault he committed against an underage campaign volunteer in 1992. He was sentenced to five years in prison for the crime, which forced him to resign from his position in the House.
Financial fraud
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Working in his office
Driving
Elected to the House in 1939, Arkansas Democrat Wilbur Mills later became head of the Ways and Means Committee. In 1974, he made headlines when he drunkenly crashed his car in Washington with a dancer named Fanne Foxe in the passenger seat beside him. Even after the scandal and a DUI arrest, Mills was easily re-elected to the House later that year. Continued involvement with both alcohol and Ms. Foxe led Mills to head for rehab rather than running for re-election in 1976.
Jogging
Dining at a restaurant
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Abramoff Scandal
More than just an everyday lobbyist, Jack Abramoff was busy buying off politicians in the '00s. When his tactics became public, many politicians and White House officials were brought down, including Ohio Rep. Bob Ney. After a decade in Congress, Ney resigned for charges ranging from conspiracy to lying to investigators and accepting gifts in exchange for political favors.
ABSCAM
Credit Mobilier
Lavender Scare
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You Got:
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