Professor Elam

Friday Feb 20 2015

Harry Truman is the one ex President admired by both parties. Here is a summary of his life after the Presidency.

After retiring from the presidency, Truman returned to Independence, Missouri, where he wrote his memoirs, oversaw the construction of his presidential library and took long walks. He died on December 26, 1972, and is buried next to Bess in the courtyard of the Truman Library.

Now compare that with the Clinton Foundation.

At the same time, those companies were among the many that gave to the Clinton family's global foundation set up by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. At least 60 companies that lobbied the State Department during her tenure donated a total of more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of public and foundation disclosures.

Even Democrats are questioning the ethics of such blatant fund raising.

There is nothing new in all this, various Presidents since Truman have capitalized on their office by giving speeches and such but the Clintons have taken this to a new plateau. The Bushes are famous for using family ties to 'participate in business.' Bush H friends bought his son a baseball team to burnish his image as a business man after he failed in the oil business of West Texas for example.

But the point here is that Truman went out of his way to avoid profiting from what he clearly thought was an ethical conflict.  The Clintons on the other hand have milked  the cow for every dime they can find, even while HiIllary served as Secretary of State. By the way No Secretary of Defense since the 1960s has failed to become a millionaire after leaving office. Al Haig spun the revolving door between NATO,  e Henry Kissingger, George Shultz, Madeline Allbright, and on it goes.United Technologies, and becoming Secretary of State.

We had a lively discussion on Brian Williams in the Ethcis class last week. What do you think of the Washington revolving door that allows so many in 'public service' to do so well upon leaving office?

See Henry Kissinger, George Shulz, Madeleine Albright, and on it goes