Of Private Vice and Public Virtue

Of Private Vice and Public Virtue

As the Lewinsky scandal unfolded, the New York Times was chronicling how New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani was straying from the straight and narrow path of political morality. The mayor’s actions deserve more attention than they have attracted, because, though less titillating, they raise the same questions of character and morality and are more consequential for the integrity of a political democracy than the president’s misbehavior. Despite all the blather about how Clinton has damaged “family values,” Giuliani is the more subversive figure.

The Giuliani story begins, curiously enough, with a Times report from Beijing. On September 9,1998, Joan Robinson, the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, was...