HARDLY any Administration is free of scandal. Harry Truman had T. Lamar Caudle and assorted "five-percenters." Dwight Eisenhower had Sherman Adams and his vicuna coat. Lyndon Johnson had Bobby Baker—and Abe Fortas. To a cynical public, the recurrent surfacing of peculators and huggermuggers suggests that almost everyone in Washington is on the take. The truth is more reassuring, though bad enough. The capital does tolerate unsavory practices that could and should be stopped.
If it is any consolation, moral standards in Washington have rarely been higher than they are today. For most of...