Question

The Whiskey Ring Scandal 1870s

How did money corrupt the political process?

Answer 1

Whiskey Ring, a group of whiskey distillers in U.S. history (dissolved in 1875) who conspired to defraud the federal tax government. Operating primarily in St. Louis, Mo., Milwaukee, Wis., and Chicago, Ill., the Whiskey Ring in Washington bribed Internal Revenue officials and accomplices to keep liquor taxes on their own. Treasury secretary Benjamin H. Bristow orchestrated a joint investigation that uncovered the ring and resulted in 238 charges and 110 convictions. The public was excited by claims that the secretly held tax money was to be used in the Republican Party's nationwide effort to reelect President Ulysses S. Grant.

Of the 238 people charged in the Whiskey Ring case, 110 will be prosecuted and more than $3 million would be recovered from the lost tax revenue. In June 1876 Bristow, an outcast in the Grant cabinet, resigned as treasury secretary. He initially tried the Republican Presidential nod, but lost it to Ohio's governor, Rutherford B. Hayes.

While Grant himself never betrayed his reputation for integrity, the hypocrisy of his subordinates, appointees and trusted friends marred his legacy as president as the Whiskey Ring Scandal saga clearly shows. After eight years of controversy, Grant left office in 1877 and embarked on a two year trip around the world with his son. While his backers subsequently made a bid to make Grant the Republican candidate of 1880, he lost to James Garfield. Grant was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1884; his memoirs became a major financial and critical success after his death the following year.