My college Engineering Ethics (yes, we take that class, stop snickering) textbook gives the Challenger as the second example (following the Citicorp building). According to the Rogers Commission titled the Report to the President by the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, the supervising engineer, Robert Lund, was told "take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat" by the Sr. V.P. of the company who had previously given a no-launch recommendation. That recommendation was changed, under no direct order but knowing the pressure to make launch. The predicted temperature at launch was below the minimum recommended for safe operation (by a rather large margin).

So, it wasn’t any sort of political maneuvering on some national level, but rather a company that hoped to ensure that through cooperation with the agency in charge, they would have their contract renewed. Certainly, these are all things that must be considered as no one truly designs or operates in a vacuum. However, the decision to withdraw sound engineering judgment crossed the line.

Plus some other things.