Presidential Adulteries

Another woman has surfaced in connection with Herman Cain, this time having claimed to have had a 13 year affair with the Presidential candidate. By now, it's getting a little obvious, don't you think. Cain appears to have sexual appetites that he has had a hard time keeping satisfied within his marriage.

But in this matter, he is in good company among the great American leaders of the past.



JFK's Mistress, Marilyn Monroe

 Thomas Jefferson had his Sally Hemmings, his slave and his mistress, by whom he had perhaps as many as six children at Monticello.

Warren G. Harding had his Carrie and his Nan. "She was the wife of a longtime friend. During Harding's presidential campaign in 1920, Carrie demanded that Harding divorce his wife and marry her. Carrie threatened to release the many love to the press -- although Harding had already given her a Cadillac and offered her $5,000 a year. To avoid the campaign distraction, Harding’s campaign managers paid Carrie more than $20,000. In addition, he sent Carrie and her husband on a trip around the world."

Franklin Roosevelt had his Lucy Mercer, who was with him when he died in Warm Springs, Georgia, and of course, long before that as well.  Eleanor Roosevelt apparently knew that, as William Manchester put it in The Glory and The Dream, "she could have neither romance nor a close relationship with Franklin."  In the end, "wounded by her mother, her father, her mother-in-law, and her husband, she now embraced all humanity."

Dwight Eisenhower had his Kay, his vivacious military chauffeur while he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during WWII.

John F. Kennedy--well, how long a post can this be?  JFK had his Marilyn Monroe, his Angie Dickinson, his Jayne Mansfield, his Judith Exner, his Mary Pinchot Meyer, etc.  It's not clear how much, if any, of this Jackie knew, but I suspect she knew alot and may have been in psychological denial.  Of all these affairs, possibly the most significant one, for reasons easy to see, was with Mary Meyer.  "Born to wealth she attended upper-crust private schools, through which young Mary met both her future husband (Cord Meyers) and future lover (JFK). Mary was the wife of a top-level CIA official and one of JFK’s lovers during his Presidency. She was also a reporter for Mademoiselle. When free-spirited Mary decided to try LSD, she turned to Timothy Leary. Mary was murdered on a Georgetown towpath beside a canal in October 1964."

Lyndon Johnson had his Madeleine Brown and possibly others as well.  Madeleine Brown did an interview years later that connected LBJ with the assassination of JFK.

Ronald Reagan probably had affairs in Hollywood before he became President, for he was divorced and, well, you know how Hollywood is.  But he was old enough in the White House to stay faithful to his ferocious Nancy.

Bill Clinton was truly a protégé of JFK in the realm of adulterous affairs. The first woman, who almost derailed his Presidential campaign was Jennifer Flowers. The second woman, who almost got him thrown out of office, was Monica Lewinsky. And there were many others, it appears.

Newt Gingrich, while not a President, is running for President, and he is on his third marriage. According to Wikipedia, he had extramarital affairs with both his second and third wives, while still married to his previous wife.

So...isn't the male sex drive of powerful men a marvelous thing to behold? 

Since this above list contains a bipartisan list of Presidents (past and prospective), some of whom are widely revered by the American people and acknowledged to have been successful as Presidents, perhaps we should learn to give this issue a wide berth.

But don't hold your breath....