Political Affairs are Not New
Published by Norm Schneider on June 30, 2011 in Opinions-
0
Liked it 
Subscribe to RSS
Let’s take a historical trip down memory lane and see how politics and infidelity have always gone hand in hand.
Anthony Weiner, John Edwards and several other political and entertainment notables may be the most recent of the American elite to be caught with their pants down, but those who run for office in the U.S. have a long and sordid history when it comes to fidelity and honesty. Zippergate is not a new phenomenon.
FOUNDING FATHERS
One of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, fathered a number of children with his mistress/slave Sally Hemings. Another member of the clan of founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, admitted to paying a bribe to cover up an affair he was having with the wife of a convicted swindler.
In 1874 President Grover Cleveland began paying financial support to a woman he had an affair with although he wasn’t sure he was the father of the child – it seemed his female friend was actively involved with a number of men. Cleveland eventually had the woman committed to an asylum and the child to an orphanage – giving new meaning to the term “the power of the presidency.”
PRESIDENTIAL PARTYING
Other early presidents were also busily running the country’s affairs at the same time they were conducting their own extramarital affairs. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had an affair with Lucy Page Mercer, his wife’s social secretary – a not too well kept secret. And before he became president, General Dwight Eisenhower had an affair with Kate Summersby, his personal secretary and military aide during World War II.
In more recent history, rumors of John F. Kennedy’s supposed affairs with Marilyn Monroe and Judith Exner are still the stuff of tabloid fodder and speculation. Few doubt he had affairs with women other than his wife Jackie, as was also the case it is said for his brother Robert. Presidential candidate and Senator Gary Hart saw his political dreams come crashing down when he was photographed with a “friend” on a boat. And, of course, President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky almost ended his presidency.
LOCAL PERFIDY AS WELL
It isn’t just presidents or presidential candidates that have been free and easy. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was found to be openly cavorting with a Spanish television station’s anchorwoman, only to have both his girl friend and his wife leave him. Similarly, New York Governor David Patterson, who came to office when former Governor Eliot Spitzer himself was caught in a prostitution scandal, admitted to having had a number of affairs.
It seems, when it comes to politicians, history shows their run for office will often include a run for the bedroom as well.
I was interested in what was written here but have to say it all comes into question when in the very first part of it the author states what has been proven to be very questionable. When he wrote that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemmings, his slave, it shows that there was no real effort made to make sure the information is correct. In recent years a number of studies have been done including DNA testing. It has been found that it is very questionable that Jefferson fathered children with her. Rather, it is possible that a relative of his might have, but not him.
Hard to believe something written so recently could have this huge error in it.
Good point Dave. And to say that Eisenhower had an affair with Kate Sommersby is also in question. That was rumored but never really proven. Yet this clearly liberal writer actually tries to paint a picture of John Kennedy’s affairs as being rumors when it’s been proven over and over again that he was a cheater on Jackie.
Probably the worst comment he makes is that running for office seems to include affairs. Even if everything he wrote is true, the fact that a few people had affairs out of over 40 who’ve served as president and the thousands who’ve served in other offices is a big leap. Certainly politics seems to attract the seedy types from society, but just because some are guilty of doing bad things does not make them all bad.