Scandals That Rocked the Nation Quiz

Answer: Bernhard Goetz

The crime was set in motion when one of the teens asked Goetz for five dollars. According to Goetz, this triggered his explosive reaction. He had been mugged three years earlier by African Americans. He explained to the jury that he carried a gun for protection. Each of the four teens had criminal records, although they were not armed at the time they were shot.

The mood of New York City in 1984 and rampant crime played a big part in Goetz's acquittal. The crime and subsequent trial put New York City in the spotlight and forced the city to take crime more seriously.

It did and continues to do so, significantly lowering the city's crime rate over the years.

Answer: Orson Welles

With his commanding voice and great acting skills, the 23-year-old Welles convinced many radio listeners that the space invasion was real. In his own defense he claimed that he only wanted to entertain the public. He later apologized but it took a long time for the public to forgive him. It also raised questions about whether or not radio programming needed more regulation.

Answer: Jim Bakker

After Jim Bakker's fall from grace he handed over his ministry to Jerry Falwell, a rival televangelist who discovered that the PTL Club was in truth financially strapped. Bakker paid so much to his lover, Jessica Hahn, to keep their affair quiet that the PTL Club was on the verge of bankruptcy. Bakker was sentenced to 18 years in jail for fraud and cheating his followers out of $158 million.

He was paroled after serving five years. Unbelievably, many of Bakker's followers stood behind him through it all.

Answer: Orenthal James Simpson

O. J. Simpson's murder trial had the nation riveted to their TV sets. Simpson's legal defense team was first led by Robert Shapiro, then Johnnie Cochran. On October 3, 1995, the jury rendered the verdict of not guilty of the murders of Nicole and Ron. O.J. might have avoided time in prison back in 1995 but on December 5, 2008 he was sentenced to 33 years in prison for armed robbery.

Answer: Charles Van Doren

The producer of "Twenty-One," Dan Enright, wanted to boost ratings so he fed the answers to Van Doren. Van Doren's unbelievable three-month winning streak netted him $100,000, pretty good for back then. "Time Magazine" put him on their cover and called him the "Wizard of Quiz." Van Doren's good fortune was about to end.

A contestant, standing by to play the quiz, found a notebook backstage with all the answers written in it. Other contestants came forward to testify. As a case against the show's producers went before Congress in 1959, Van Doren cracked under the pressure and confessed all.

Answer: Lana Turner

Cheryl Crane, Lana's fourteen-year-old daughter, confessed to stabbing her mother's lover, Johnny Stompanato. The public sided with Lana and her daughter, although there were some who believed that Lana herself was the real killer. Due to Cheryl's young age, there was never a trial and the medical examiner who presided over a special court didn't require Cheryl to testify. Lana Turner, ever the actress, took the stand at the inquest and tearfully recounted the events leading up to Stompanato's death.

Her daughter, she explained, was merely protecting her mother from the actions of a violent man. The jury acquitted Cheryl of the murder charges after only 30 minutes.

Answer: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Officer Ervin Arnold found that Newport, Rhode Island, where he was stationed, had a large gay community within the Navy. He was a conservative living in conservative America and didn't like what was happening. He decided to do something about it. Arnold recruited a number of officers to help him in a sting operation.

The officers had the full backing of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The plan was to recruit straight Navy men to party with and seduce the gay sailors. They were then ordered to write reports detailing their sexual exploits. Seventeen sailors were caught and some were sent to jail. Word got out about the unethical operation.

The newspaper editor of the "Providence Journal" wrote a series of articles demanding an investigation into the Navy sex sting.

This led to the Senate hearings in 1921. The Navy, and particularly Roosevelt, were condemned for endangering the lives of the young men involved and the lives of the gay sailors who were seduced and beaten. This case was one of the first to fully document the discrimination toward homosexuals.

Answer: Rodney King

When he was released from the hospital, Rodney King was badly bruised. His leg, cheekbone, and eye socket were broken, and he was left with permanent nerve damage to his face. He had also been shot with a stun gun. TV viewers were appalled at the police brutality. Everyone, including the mayor of L.A., wanted the police chief, Daryl Gates, to step down and Gates resigned.

The three officers involved in the beating were charged with excessive force and assault with a deadly weapon. Their trial was moved outside of L.A. and a predominantly white jury acquitted the officers. Later, after much rioting and vandalism in the streets of South Central L.A., the officers were tried in L.A. with a racially mixed jury.

This time Commanding Officer Stacey Koon and Lawrence Powell, the officer behind the beatings, were found guilty and sentenced to 30 months in federal corrections camps.

The third officer was fired from the L.A. police force.

Answer: Jerry Lee Lewis

After he married Myra, Jerry Lee's career took a nosedive. The public could not accept the fact that he married a relative and one so young. Also, he was still married to his second wife at the time Myra became his bride. Years later, once he started recording country ballads, his career took off again.

Interestingly, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart and country music crooner Mickey Gilley are Jerry Lee's cousins. His cousins seem to take a prominent place in his life.

Answer: Tuskegee Institute (University)

The plan was to find poor, uneducated African American men with the disease, monitor them until they died, and perform autopsies on the bodies in an effort to better understand the disease. The unfortunate men were told they had bad blood, not specifically syphilis.

They were offered free meals, medical exams and burial services for their assistance in the study, none of which they ever received. It wasn't until the 1940s that syphilis was treated with penicillin. By the time the men had died, they had unknowingly passed the disease on to their wives, girlfriends, and to those children born after being infected.

In 1972 the Associated Press found out about the study and released a shocking article in the New York Times. People were horrified.

In 1973 a class action suit was filed on behalf of the participants of the study and their families. In 1997 President Bill Clinton issued an official apology on behalf of the study's participants, their families, and the entire African American community.