Shocking! Lurid! Tawdry! A History of American Scandals

The greatest tennis player who ever lived has no monument to his achievements—because in addition to transforming the game during the 1920s and ‘30s, Bill Tilden also spent a lot of time being caught with underage boys. And with the one-two punch of homosexuality and penchant for minors, his reputation circled down the drain, even as people still clamor for his reinstatement. But finally—a sexual predator even Jerry Giesler wouldn’t defend!

Our 18th president may have been a great general in the Civil War, but running a whole country wasn’t really his jam. With the wool pulled over the eyes of Ulysses S. Grant, two men were able to corrupt the Treasury department and corner the gold market, bringing an already struggling America to its knees in the fall of 1869.

Joan Bennett saw her career fizzle in the early ‘50s. Maybe it’s because she was getting older in a town that has never prized experience over beauty in its female stars. Or maybe it’s because she watched her husband shoot her agent in the groin outside the Beverly Hills police station a few weeks before Christmas. The two men recovered—nay thrived!—but Joan had the great final word on the whole debacle. Featuring guest appearances by an adulterous Ingrid Bergman and a vicious Hedda Hopper!

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was on many lists and it turns out that Client 9 might not have been the worst one! This episode takes us to the Empire State to cover how Spitzer went from the Sheriff of Wall Street to resigning in disgrace... and we uncover some uncanny similarities to today. Plus, a segment we like to call “Straight White Men Write Headlines about Sex.”

Client 9 Documentary 

Her 1982 Golden Globe win gets its own subheading on the awards’ Wikipedia page—but how much did Pia Zadora’s then husband spend on her trophy? As it turns out… well, there’s a lot more scandal here than what everyone thinks of when they refer to poor Pia. Unless they’re Sally Field, caught whispering, “Pia who?” From Pia’s incest-themed movie to Tom Cruise standing up against the HFPA’s racist misogyny as a proud Scientologist, let’s get into the seedy side of awards and virtue signaling.

Spiro Agnew was perhaps the biggest crisis for democracy during Watergate—but all anyone (dimly) remembers is that he didn’t pay his taxes. But as we learn, some vice presidents have no compunction about continuing their graft operations from the White House, and some men facing federal charges become real blabber mouths. And finally we answer the question: Who is the biggest loser?

Bag Man Podcast 

A Washington lobbyist ends up dead while a male escort entrepreneur is jailed upon Greta Van Susteren’s advice. Craig J. Spence is found dead in his hotel room after being linked to a male prostitution ring, and the FBI is not naming names… except for his. We learn how not to get caught swiping a credit card and the only person who would actually spend $20,000 a month on mortuary services.

Sources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/07/18/the-shadow-world-of-craig-spence/2837e91e-49ce-4121-9416-8e0c7a2debf6/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/07/24/from-small-town-roots-a-big-city-scandal/92064bce-3044-4caf-8ac1-bc0929e15143/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_J._Spence

You’re listening to Shocking! Lurid! Tawdry! A History of American Scandals. Every Tuesday  Kasey Howe and Mark Peikert scrabble through the graveyards of forgotten front-page news to unearth the skeletons of bad behavior, stories that consumed the country and then faded into history, some more deservedly than others. But not on our watch! Join the fray as Kasey and Mark remember what America forgot.

Logo: Jessica Balaschak

Do you love scandals? Of course you do. Join co-hosts Kasey Howe and Mark Peikert as they relive the history-making, the obscure, and the salacious peccadillos that once gripped the nation. In between, you know, the salacious stories currently gripping the nation.