Long-time mayor of Washington D.C., Marion Barry (born 1936) followed his third term in office with a conviction on cocaine possession charges, but Washingtonians had not seen the last of him. Released from prison in 1992, three years later, Barry assumed the office of mayor for the fourth time.

For over 20 years, politician Marion Barry has epitomized all that is good and all that is bad about big-city politics in America. The Southern-born civil rights activist fought to gain legitimacy for Washington, D.C.'s citizenry, wresting control of the capital city's governance from the U.S. Congress and taking important steps to cure the city's problems with crime and unemployment. As he moved from business organizer to school board member to mayor, however, Barry was increasingly implicated in the corruption and graft that seemed to pervade the city government. In 1990, after serving as mayor for 12 years, Barry was...