Presidential Ethics and the Ethics of the Presidency

Abstract

The ethics of presidents are best understood by looking at the standards they create for those who work for them or the standards that are forced upon them by Congress or the courts. This article attempts to remove the radical distinction between normative values and ethical codes that dominates research in this area. Rather, a more interesting approach is to view codes, executive orders, and ethics systems as ethical metaphors that attempt to capture what presidents think public service is about. The article also focuses on the expansion of ethical standards for public officials and provides a historical sketch of ethics and presidents.