The Rise and Fall of Duke Cunningham

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published June 14, 2007 at 8:30 PM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

The rise and fall of former San Diego Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham is an epic story. He resigned in disgrace in November 2005 at the center of the worst corruption case in Congressional history.

The rise and fall of former San Diego Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham is an epic story. He resigned in disgrace in November 2005 at the center of the worst corruption case in Congressional history. But three decades earlier, he was an all-American success story.

He was a former Navy pilot who became a Vietnam war hero and rode his fame into Congress. Cunningham's downfall was triggered in June 2005 by a story that appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Written by a Copley News Service reporter -- and at first glance appeared to be a real estate story -- it told of how a defense contractor lost $700,000 on a Del Mar house he had bought from Cunningham.

But this was more than a home sales report. Much, much more.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Guests

Marcus Stern , Copley News Service.
Dean Calbreath , San Diego Union-Tribune.

Both guests are Pulitzer-winning reporters, and co-authors of “The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught.”