Every year, new scandals rock the news. The worst of them can even represent an era, others can even come to define the building where they took place. Here are just a few of those.
Watergate Complex, Watergate
Watergate Complex image via wikipedia
“Watergate”, the word alone has become synonymous with “scandal”. What many surprisingly don’t realize, however, is the “Watergate Scandal” was named after the building complex where it took place. On June 17th, 1972 five men were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee’s office at the Watergate Complex. Those five men and two others were indicted for photocopying sensitive documents, wiretapping telephones, as well as various other actions and acts of sabotage towards the democratic party. Worse, all seven men were directly or indirectly employed by President Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the “resident. The event was a public relations nightmare. In the next election, Republicans would lose five seats in the Senate and forty-nine in the House. President Nixon, who had conspired with his staff to cover up the scandal’s connection to the White House, would ultimately be forced to resign the Presidency. The Watergate complex is a group of five buildings in Washington DC comprising of an office building, three apartment buildings, and a combination hotel/office building. The complex still stands to this day, although it has gone through a number of owners. Today, the suffix “-gate” is still added to words as a way to label scandals for the media.
St. Francis Hotel, Fatty Arbuckle
St Francis Hotel in 1904 image via Wikipedia
If you’re going to talk about scandals, then you have to talk about Hollywood. And if you’re going to talk about national Hollywood scandals then you have to mention this one, because it was the first. On the night of September 5th, 1921 Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle threw a party in a suite at San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel. At the time, Roscoe was one of if not the highest paid actor in Hollywood. At the party, an aspiring actress named Virginia Rappe fell ill. The hotel doctor believed it was due to intoxication. She would die two days later in the hospital from a ruptured bladder. Rumors immediately began circulating that Roscoe had raped her with various objects and perhaps even ruptured her bladder with his enormous weight. What followed was a media storm as newspapers made a fortune featuring nothing short of tabloid journalism about the case. Public officials up for re-election attacked Arbuckle to make themselves appear as moral crusaders. Arbuckle was charged with manslaughter and put through trial three times. The first two trials were hung juries. Finally with the third trial, he was acquitted. Throughout it all, there was absolutely no evidence that Arbuckle had done anything to the woman beside check in on her. Virginia Rappe had apparently gone through several abortions and had yet another one shortly before the party, which is likely how her bladder was injured. The supposed “witness” was a known serial extortionist. The scandal ruined the innocent Arbuckle’s career. The St. Francis Hotel is still in operation to this day and is one of the tallest buildings in San Francisco. It has been a favorite of Republican Presidents for almost a century.
Oval Office, Lewinski Scandal
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office via mikedoe.net
Since 1909 it has been the official office of the President of the United States. Suffice to say, it has unfortunately seen a number of scandals. Few of those scandals, however, have been attached to the room itself as much as the Lewinski scandal. In early 1998 it was revealed that President Bill Clinton had an extra-marital affair with one of his White House interns, 22 year old Monica Lewinsky. President Clinton at first denied the relations, but when recordings of Lewinsky admitting to the affair were presented followed by a dress of Lewinsky’s stained with President Clinton’s DNA, President Clinton had to confess his wrong-doing. President Clinton was impeached but acquitted of all charges and remained in office until the end of his second and final term. The Oval Office was originally built in 1909 as part of a remodeling of the West Wing that had been built in 1902 when Theodore Roosevelt took office. The Oval Office’s décor is customized to the taste of each President while he is in office, right down to the current President Obama.
Louvre, Theft of the Mona Lisa
On August 21, 1911 the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. As if this weren’t surprising enough, the theft itself remained undiscovered until a day later. Those who walked past the blank wall where the Mona Lisa had hung assumed it had been taken away for photographing. So how was the painting stolen? An employee at the Louvre hid it beneath his coat while he walked out of the Museum. This employee would hide the Mona Lisa in his apartment for two years before finally attempting to sell it to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, claiming he had stolen it as an act of Italian patriotism. We was quickly arrested and served a short time in prison. The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, containing almost 35,000 objects. The museum was originally built as a fortress in 12th century, it has served its current purpose since August 10th, 1793.
The Roman Forum, Assassination of Caesar
When it comes to ancient scandals, the assassination of Julius Caesar is one of the greatest. On March 15th, the “Ides of March” in the year 44 BC, Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Forum. The conspirators surrounded Caesar and stabbed him 23 times, continuing to do so even after we was unable to defend himself. Although Caesar’s final words are often credited as “Et tu, Brute?”, that quote is actually from the Shakespeare play; his real final words, if there were any, are unknown. The assassination, which the conspirators considered tyrannicide, ironically had the opposite effect of ultimately ending the Roman Republic. The Roman Forum was the hub of the Roman world. It served as a city square, where the citizens would gather. Beyond that, it was also the economic and political center of the city and empire. Its ruins still stand today.
Whether it be in ancient times or modern history, scandals can bring new facets to the world around us, whether it be an added word to our lexicon, an attitude towards a particular time, or even fame to where they occurred.
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