In 1971 Richard Nixon listed the qualifications for a chief of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). “I want to be sure he is a ruthless son of a bitch,” he said, on tape. “That he will do what he’s told, that every income tax return I want to see I see, that he will go after our enemies and not go after our friends.” In the end the man he appointed, Johnnie Walters, did not comply. His copy of Nixon’s “enemies list” went into a safe until it was eventually delivered as evidence to Congress. Walters later argued that using the tax system to settle political scores would have threatened the very basis of America’s democracy.