Marconi and Credit Mobilier: An Anglo-American Study in Scandal

Abstract

The Marconi Scandal was an issue which has not become a national legend, it escapes mention in some good general accounts, while the Credit Mobilier lives on in infamy. Whether these two deserve the distinctions rendered to them by historians is a good question. I have treated the Marconi Scandal first, so that the apparent excesses of the Credit Mobilier will not make the issues appear to be academic. One can see that both of these issues filled the countries' press while they awaited resolution, and this should be remembered. The sums of money involved seem small today, but are vastly greater considered in their time and place. So neither of these events can be passed over, though they may not stick on the tongue of all who study the periods, they were always with those who lived them.