PRESIDENTIAL ETHICS AND THE ETHICS OF THE PRESIDENCY

The ethics of presidents are best understood by looking at the standar ds they create for those who work for them or the standards that are f orced upon them by Congress or the courts. This article attempts to re move the radical distinction between normative values and ethical code s that dominates research in this area. Rather, a more interesting app roach is to view codes, executive orders, and ethics systems as ethica l metaphors that attempt to capture what presidents think public servi ce is about. The article also focuses on the expansion of ethical stan dards for public officials and provides a historical sketch of ethics and presidents.