In 1993 Bill and Hillary Clinton selected Ron Brown to be their secretary of commerce not in spite of his history of corruption but because of it. Compromised as Brown was, especially after the president used his juice to clear him of a bribery charge involving Vietnam, Brown became the Clintons’ designated bagman for foreign cash. Brown hated the role, but unfortunately, he earned it. As things turned out, the Justice Department cleared Brown of his Vietnam charges rather in the nick of time. Just a week later, on Feb. 10, 1994, without the taint of scandal, he was able...