Sherman Adams resigns over gifts from a regulated businessman

Sherman Adams, President Eisenhower's chief of staff, resigned after congressional investigators revealed he had accepted a vicuña coat, an oriental rug, and other gifts from Bernard Goldfine, a Boston textile manufacturer with pending Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission cases. Adams had made inquiries to both agencies on Goldfine's behalf while the cases were active. The episode established a political standard that senior officials must avoid even the appearance of using their position to benefit private benefactors.