Something about the field of ethics and politics in the post-Watergate consciousness may be learned from the following true story, which popped into memory, for reasons that will be evident, during the Watergate period (characters in that drama were startled to find themselves taped; the central figure in this story has the opposite problem). A teacher of ethics was invited to give a speech at a school of public administration. He was told to speak on ethics and politics to a group of budding public administrators. Confident that he was familiar with the subject from some years of teaching a graduate seminar, he worked up his remarks, as sometimes happens, on the airplane. The dean of the school gave him a generous introduction, presenting him as a considerable expert in the field. He noticed as he began to speak that the dean switched on a tape recorder.