In 1826, Gov. Joseph Desha pardoned his own son for murder. In a horrific crime, Gov. William Goebel was assassinated in 1900. James Wilkinson was branded a traitor against Kentucky and the nation. “Honest Dick Tate” ran away with massive amounts of money from the state treasury. In modern times, Operation BOPTROT resulted in perhaps the biggest scandal in the state.
At various points in history, Kentucky’s politics and government have been rocked by scandal, and each episode defined the era in which it happened. Authors Robert Schrage and John Schaaf offer a fascinating account of Kentucky’s history and its many unique and scandalous characters in their book Hidden History of Kentucky Political Scandals, recently released by Arcadia Publishing.
The two local authors will sign copies of their book between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday on the first floor of the museum.
Schrage is active in local history circles and has served on the boards of the Rabbit Hash Historical Society, Boone County Historic Preservation Board and Behringer-Crawford Museum. His previous works include Lost Northern Kentucky, Legendary Locals of Covington, Eyewitness to History: A Personal Journal, Carl Kiger: The Man Beyond the Murder, The Ohio River from Cincinnati to Louisville, Boone County: Then and Now and Burlington.
Schaaf retired as executive director of the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission, where he worked for fifteen years, and served on the steering committee of the international Council on Governmental Ethics Laws. Prior to that, he was the general counsel for the Legislative Research Commission, as well as an attorney with a Louisville law firm and editor of a weekly newspaper.
Schaaf received a degree in journalism from the University of Kentucky and his JD from the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. This is his first effort at writing a book.
For more information, call (859) 491-4003 or email info@bcmuseum.org.
From Behringer-Crawford Museum
