Historical Encyclopedia of U.S. Independent Counsel Investigations - Annotated by Gerald S Greenberg (Hardcover)

About the Book

This volume is a compilation of the U.S. federal special prosecutor/independent counsel investigations spanning the complete twenty-one year tenure from 1978-1999 of the independent counsel statute. The entries include individuals who have served as investigators; those who have been targets of investigations; all attorney generals who have called for appointment of special prosecutors; all presidents during whose terms of office such prosecutors served; and all legal cases that served to argue for or against the constitutionality of the independent counsel statute. These historical precedents are traced from Ulysses Grant's appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the St. Louis Whiskey Scandal in 1875. More contemporary cases include Watergate, precipitated by Richard Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre dismissal of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1973; Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh's Iran-Contra Investigation; and Special Prosecutor Ken Starr's Whitewater investigation of the Clintons and the ensuing permutations which brought individuals like Linda Tripp and Monica Lewinsky to prominence and also brought the statute calling for such investigations into constitutional debate.

The book is fully cross-referenced and contains a comprehensive bibliography and index. It will be of interest to scholars and students of American History and Constitutional History.

Book Synopsis

This volume is a compilation of the U.S. federal special prosecutor/independent counsel investigations spanning the complete twenty-one year tenure from 1978-1999 of the independent counsel statute. The entries include individuals who have served as investigators; those who have been targets of investigations; all attorney generals who have called for appointment of special prosecutors; all presidents during whose terms of office such prosecutors served; and all legal cases that served to argue for or against the constitutionality of the independent counsel statute. These historical precedents are traced from Ulysses Grant's appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the St. Louis Whiskey Scandal in 1875. More contemporary cases include Watergate, precipitated by Richard Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre dismissal of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1973; Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh's Iran-Contra Investigation; and Special Prosecutor Ken Starr's Whitewater investigation of the Clintons and the ensuing permutations which brought individuals like Linda Tripp and Monica Lewinsky to prominence and also brought the statute calling for such investigations into constitutional debate.

The book is fully cross-referenced and contains a comprehensive bibliography and index. It will be of interest to scholars and students of American History and Constitutional History.

Review Quotes

.,."it should prove a useful guide for students of modern American History and government."-Lawrence Looks at Books

.,."there really is no other source that pulls it all together. Recommended."-Booklist/ Reference Books Bulletin

?...it should prove a useful guide for students of modern American History and government.?-Lawrence Looks at Books

?...there really is no other source that pulls it all together. Recommended.?-Booklist/ Reference Books Bulletin

?Entries are clearly written and can be understood by a general audience, but the...appropriate for law libraries and libraries with large political science or US history collections.?-Choice

..."it should prove a useful guide for students of modern American History and government."-Lawrence Looks at Books

..."there really is no other source that pulls it all together. Recommended."-Booklist/ Reference Books Bulletin

"Entries are clearly written and can be understood by a general audience, but the...appropriate for law libraries and libraries with large political science or US history collections."-Choice

About the Author

GERALD S. GREENBERG is a Reference Librarian at Ohio State University's Education, Human Ecology, Psychology & Social Work Library. He is the compiler of Tabloid Journalism: An Annotated Bibliography of English-Language Sources (Greenwood, 1996).