The Thesis: FDR was a dying man at Yalta making decisions that shaped the next 80 years. Good man. Tragic consequence. His concessions created the Cold War. Every scandal below inherits it. The CARVER matrix measures exposure and effect, not moral character. Nixon is the ceiling at 30/30. Three presidents scored 28. Trump T2 is at 27 and climbing.

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CARVER Methodology — Presidential Scandal

C
Criticality
How central was this scandal to American institutions and constitutional order? Did it threaten the republic itself?
A
Accessibility
How much evidence is public, declassified, or independently verifiable? National Archives, FOIA, Congressional records, presidential libraries.
R
Recuperability
Did the president or institution recover? 5 = never recovered (Nixon). 1 = fully absorbed the damage. Inverse scale.
V
Vulnerability
Lies under oath, cover-ups, official statements contradicted by evidence. Provable falsehoods. Tapes. Transcripts. Receipts.
E
Effect
Lasting damage: wars started, deaths caused, institutions corrupted, precedents set. Body counts matter. So do broken systems.
R2
Recognizability
Does the public know about this scandal? Watergate is a 5. The Tonkin fabrication is a 4. Eisenhower's Guatemala coup is a 3.
Scale: 1 (Minimal) — 2 (Low) — 3 (Moderate) — 4 (High) — 5 (Critical)   |   Maximum total: 30   |   Recuperability is inverse — 5 means never recovered, 1 means fully absorbed.   |   Sources: National Archives, Congressional Records, declassified documents, Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States.
Rank Name Term Era Deaths Scandals C A R V E R2 Total

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Presidential Scandal Heatmap

17-19
20-22
23-25
26-27
28-29
30