Second terms plagued by troubles

The extramarital affair and subsequent resignation of retired four-star general David Petraeus as CIA director is just one of the many dramas that have unfolded after a president has won re-election. Here is a look at other scandals and controversies that have plagued presidents after voters returned them to the White House. President George W. Bush's delayed response to Hurricane Katrina is considered by many to be his administration's greatest failure. Here, he tours the damage done by the storm as he consoles two sisters in Biloxi, Mississippi. (September 2, 2005) After denying having any sexual relations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, President Bill Clinton admits to the affair and apologizes for misleading the country on December 8, 1998. He later becomes the second president in U.S. history to be impeached by the U.S. House. President Ronald Reagan is questioned by reporter Helen Thomas six days before the disclosure that profits from arms sales to Iran were diverted covertly to Contra rebels in Nicaragua. (March 19, 1987) The Nixon administration unraveled during Watergate. President Richard Nixon resigns. (August 9, 1974) The scandal engulfing David Petraeus has jolted President Barack Obama's national security team George W. Bush hurt by Katrina, Bill Clinton was impeached Ronald Reagan was dogged by Iran/Contra and Watergate ended Richard Nixon's presidency (CNN) -- Just as President Barack Obama secured his re-election, a scandal jolted his national security team. The resignation of retired four-star general David Petraeus as CIA director over an extramarital affair followed by the investigation of the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, in relation to e-mail exchanges with a woman caught up in the Petraeus mess is just one of many dramas to unfold following a presidential re-election. Here, we take a look at big scandals and controversies that plagued other presidents after voters returned them to the White House. George W. Bush | HURRICANE KATRINA, 2005 President George W. Bush won re-election in 2004, defeating Democrat Sen. John Kerry. The Republican was a wartime president after the 9/11 attacks and managed to secure a second term as commander-in-chief. Eight months after Bush's second inauguration, Hurricane Katrina destroyed parts of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,800 people. The Category Three storm made landfall on August 29, 2005, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and causing $108 billion in damage. Bush was asked to declare a federal state of emergency for the city before the storm hit but delayed acting for days, leaving many without any aid. A congressional report released in 2006 called the government response to the storm a "failure of leadership" that left people stranded when they were most in need. Bush left office at the end of his second term in 2009. Bill Clinton | MONICA LEWINSKY, 1998 "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky," President Bill Clinton said with his wife, Hillary, standing by his side at a White House news conference. It was January 26, 1998, and several days earlier, news organizations began reporting the alleged affair between Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a young White House intern. Clinton eventually acknowledged a sexual relationship with Lewinsky and became only the second president to be impeached by the U.S. House, which alleged perjury and obstruction of justice following a lengthy investigation by an independent counsel. However, the Senate acquitted him in 1999 and Clinton left office at the end of his second term two years later. Ronald Reagan | IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR, 1986 President Ronald Reagan did not blink at fighting communism in Grenada and in Central America. But funding of anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua would lead to the worst scandal of his administration. The secret and rogue operation under the direction of the National Security Council's Oliver North used the proceeds from weapons sales to Iran to fund the Nicaraguan Contras -- despite a congressional ban on such funding. Ronald Reagan appeared on TV stating there was no "arms for hostages" deal, but later admitted that there had been. Richard Nixon | WATERGATE, 1972 The Watergate break-in triggered the slow unraveling of Richard Nixon's presidency. On the night of June 17, 1972, operatives of Nixon's re-election campaign broke into offices at the Watergate Hotel complex in Washington -- headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered a scandalous trail that led to the Oval Office and Nixon's resignation in 1974.