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To: Ilaine who wrote (34077)	11/6/2000 4:53:24 PM
From: JHP	Respond to of 436258

Historians say Bush arrest breaks new ground by Jules Crittenden Sunday, November 5, 2000 If he is elected Tuesday, George W. Bush may become the first president to have experienced the humiliation of a criminal arrest, historians said. A car passes the stretch of Maine road where George W. Bush was arrested for drunk driving in 1976. (Staff photo by Mark Garfinkel) But observers are divided over how Bush's drunk driving arrest and his failure to divulge it might effect the institution of the presidency and his ability to govern. Doris Kearns Goodwin noted that Andrew Jackson was tarred by the partisan press as a ``murderer'' for killing a man in a duel and a ``bigamist'' because his wife may not have completed her divorce when she married him. Several presidents had mistresses - some such as Clinton faced scandal while in office - and several have weathered suggestions of financial impropriety. Historians said yesterday they do not recall any presidents with arrests in their past. ``It's not like he was in a black and white suit, on a chain gang,'' said Goodwin, who has written about Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. ``When you're president, it's the power and prestige of America you're carrying with you. We saw with Clinton he was able to run around the world, meeting with foreign leaders, and was respected by them.'' Caryl Rivers, a Boston University journalism professor, agreed: ``It probably won't have any more effect that say, Gennifer Flowers had on Bill Clinton and his ability to govern. We've had these things before. He'd have to do something that is very untoward during his presidency.'' G. Calvin Mackenzie, a presidential scholar at Colby College, said the worst Bush could expect would be a regular ribbing on late-night talk shows. He said the political ascendance of baby boomers, raised in the age of sex, drugs and automobiles, and the advent of videotape means embarrassing youthful episodes may continue to haunt politicians. But he said there may be a greater acceptance, and he doubts the arrest will affect Bush's credibility. But Michael Riccards, a presidential historian and president of Fitchburg State College, said Bush has seriously damaged his credibility because he chose to make character and integrity a campaign issue while withholding information about his own failings. ``If you are going to be self-righteous, you either have to have lived a life of moral rectitude or you have to lay it out clearly early on,'' he said. ``If you're not going to talk about your personal life, you can't talk about other people's personal lives.'' While Bush's arrest may not affect Tuesday's election, Riccards said, ``It does have a long-term effect. . . . The primary asset any president has is his credibility.'' If any new evidence of past moral failings or a mugshot of Bush emerges, it could tarnish the presidency, he said, ``That would take us into a new trough. That would be an image that would stay with people.''