JFK - lying about the missile gap with Russia to get elected
Johnson - lying about his intentions in Vietnam
Nixon - too many to list
If anything, I'd say there is more transparency around unethical behavior by elected officials.
And that's what worries me - note in my post above I was careful to talk about "public". Before there was a veil of deniability, the idea that at least a pretense of innocence had to be maintained.
Now it feels like there is little care to hide it. Sure, many of us are outraged, but that outrage has done nothing to translate into stopping the actions.
When even pretence is no longer a concern, there's no limit really.
Yes, and it's because there are more watchdogs and reporting than ever before, and "the internet does not forget"
And politicians using inordinate behaviours as political currency and more people to condone the same absurdities
Go back a little more and you've got Mexicans at the border branded as dirty, forced to take bleach showers and have their clothes fumigated using Zyklon-B, inspiring the Germans to use it to mass-execute Jews. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1917_Bath_riots ).
Go back a little more and you've got slavery and states trying to segregate from the US to maintain the system.
Go back a little more and you've got immigrants genociding the native population using biological agents, bullets, and mass rape to conquer the land as their own.
The US has NEVER had the moral high ground; their best claim to fame is helping to liberate Europe from the Nazis, but other than that they've absolutely shit.