Ethics in public service has become a major topic in the United States over the past twenty years. A number of scandals, ranging from the Vietnam War to Watergate and more recently the Iran-Contra affair, has focused public attention on the ethical behavior of public officials and public employees. Ethical problems plagued the Reagan administration during its entire eight years in office. This is somewhat perplexing, since the Reagan administration assumed office emphasizing the importance of family, morals and values, and deemphasizing the role of government and the administrative state. More than 150 political appointees of that administration resigned for unethical behavior during those eight years. The moral failure of so many of these political appointees is noteworthy, since the Reagan administration had such strong support from the Moral Majority, Protestant fundamentalists and evangelicals.1 The number of ethical violations during the Reagan administration was higher than for any other administration. Yet these ethical lapses may represent only the tip of the iceberg for public administrators.