Arkansas Mischief: The Birth Of A National Scandal

As Jim Mcdougall puts it, "In the end I was just a guy caught up in the Clinton tornado." Earlier he had managed J. William Fulbright's senate campaigns (and helped make him millions in real estate transactions). Before he was old enough to vote, he masterminded JFK's presidential campaign victory in a state with decidedly anti-Catholic sentiment. Following Kennedy's election, McDougal worked in Washington for Arkansas's other powerful senator, John McClellan. A lifelong populist (and part-time rogue entrepreneur), Jim McDougal was convicted of eighteen counts of banking fraud. He died in prison on March 8, 1998, at the age of fifty-seven.

Curtis Wilkie has been a staff writer for The Boston Globe since 1975. Now based in New Orleans, Wilkie covers the South and national politics for the Globe. He has written for George, The Nation, The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, Playboy, and other magazines.