Articles tagged with: presidents

Presidents and Sex Scandals

Date: January 15, 2013 Author: Grant Comments: 2 Replies

Presidents and Their Sex Scandals–A Long Running Tradition

obama-gay-scandal

I mean, really? Does anyone believe this stuff?

That being said, it wouldn’t be the first President of the United States to partake in a sexual relationship leading to a national scandal.

Anyone living today–and old enough to be surfing the web to read this–remembers the following:

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” – Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

This affair, with Monica Lewinsky, led to President Bill Clinton being impeached by the House of Representatives. (He was later acquitted by the Senate.) His career came to a stand still; however, it did launch the career of his wife, Hillary Clinton. In fact, in a video by Youtube sensation Philip Defranco, while covering the previous nights coverage of the 2013 Golden Globes, he referred to him as “Hillary Clinton’s husband.” Any other former president would have been recognized by name, but his scandal lowered his status to that below his wife’s.

But surely there were more infidelities–scandal’s of presidents past?

Yep, and here they are! Having started with President Clinton, we will now work backwards in time through some of my favorite sex scandals.

John F. Kennedy

Happy Birthday Mr. President

Who do you think you were fooling, Kennedy? The most famous of your ladies was Marilyn Monroe, but let’s face it. America was well aware of all the others. During John F. Kennedy’s presidency, reporter R.W. Apple, Jr. of the New York Times observed a beautiful woman being escorted in the president’s suite. He took the information to the editor and was told, “Apple, you’re supposed to report on political and diplomatic policies, not girlfriends. No story.” It was a time when the President of the United States was invincible, and the media was uninterested in getting on his bad side. The story was squashed, but the infamy of his sexcapades rivals his assassination.

Dwight Eisenhower

kay-summersby-and-dwight-eisenhower

While Eisenhower was a General during World War II, he was driven by Kay Summersby. Spending so much time with her, he couldn’t help but fall in love. As the writers at Guyism: What Guy’s Need to Know put it, “how could a man like him resist the romantic overtures of a temptress who was obviously proficient at working a stick like his driver, Ms. Summersby?” (I know, crude.) The affair went on for years, but if you want a full description of their love-making, check out: Past Forgetting: My Love Affair with Dwight D. Eisenhower. That’s right, six years after his death, Kay Summersby published a tell-all book about their relationship.

Warren Harding

President Harding was powerful, but not powerful enough to keep his private love life out of the court system. President Harding was involved in two major sex scandals. The first of these was with Carrie Phillips, the wife of one of his friends. Along with thier sex came lots and lots of love letters. Where are these letters now? Sealed by the courts. However, you won’t have to wait long. An article in The Blade, a Toledo, Ohio, newspaper from December 30, 1971, states that the love letters will be sealed until 2014. Unfortunately, this would not be the worst of it. Four years after the death of President Harding, Nan Britton, published a book entitled, The President’s Daughter, which not only told of their romps, but–you guessed it–accused him of fathering her child.

Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland and Maria Crofts Halpin

President Cleveland’s sex scandal started long before his presidency, but I deem it worth mentioning because it did affect his chances of becoming President. Before Grover Cleveland became president he had relations with a Maria Halpin. She accused him of fathering her bastard child, and Cleveland didn’t deny it. Poor Maria Halpin became such a heavy drinker, Cleveland had her committed to a mental hospital and sent his child to an orphanage. Maria Halpin was released from the institution and Cleveland gave her $500 to disappear. (Roughly $10,000 dollars in 1880 money.)

What I find most interesting about this is how it almost cost him the presidency. While campaigning, the story became widely know and often crowds followed Grover Cleveland and chanted,

Ma, ma, where’s my pa? Gone to the White House, ha ha ha!

Somehow with all this… Grover Cleveland became President twice, both in 1885 and 1893.

Companions of the White House, the First Pets

Date: January 7, 2013 Author: Grant Comments: 1 Reply

There have been a lot of great men to serve as America’s president, but we can’t leave out the Presidential pets–the First Pets. There were many odd pets in the early years of America’s inception.

George Washington had thirty-six dogs, Polly the parrot, and Nelson the horse. Not three to six dogs, thirty-six (36). What I find most interesting about his large dog collection are the names that were given to these pets: Madam Moose, a Dalmatian; Vulcan, a Hound dog; Sweetlips, a Hound dog; and Scentwell, a Hound dog. Odd and quite humorous; however, he also had a collection of dogs that all shared names from a common theme, alcohol.

That’s right, because what pet collection would be complete without alcoholic names?

George Washington fox-hunting with his dogs.

Drunkard, Taster, Tipler, and Tipsy were all names of his Coonhounds.

Another president who had an odd pet was Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, owned a pair of Grizzly Bear cubs. Captain Zebulon Pike, while exploring the West, purchased these cubs as a birthday present for President Jefferson. He did not keep them long, because they outgrew their cages.

No doubt the bears grew up to be ferocious and scary; however, they probably weren’t as scary as the alligators which inhabited the White House. Both John Quincy Adams and Herbert Hoover had pet alligators. Apparently I missed the part of the speech where President Hoover finished ”a chicken in every pot,” with… “and a gator in the White House!”

There were those, however, who had pets with a purpose. The White House lawn is massive. Think about it…

Woodrow Wilson’s pet sheep “mowing the lawn.”

The White House lawn host the largest White House public event every year. In 2012, over 30,000 people showed up to participate in the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. It must cost a fortune to maintain the lawn. Unless, you have pets that graze and eat lots of grass. William Taft and Woodrow Wilson both had pets that earned their keep during their stays at the White House. Williams Taft had cows that grazed the lawn, keeping the grass “cut” and provided Taft with fresh milk. Woodrow Wilson had his own set of grass grazing beast, but of the sheep variety. Not only did the sheep trim the grass, but the wool from the sheep was sold to raise money for the Red Cross.

By far, the most notorious pet owner of the Oval Office was Calvin Coolidge. While he was president, the White House was often referred to as a zoo. This wasn’t because of the activity which occurred here, but literally because there were so many animals on the grounds. President Coolidge had four cats; seven birds, two olive green birds, two canaries, one yellow bird, and one Mockingbird; and nine dogs, ranging from a sheepherder to a bulldog.

This list of animals may not seem large enough to classify the White House as a zoo, but that is only because I listed the non-exotic animals. At one point, during his time in the White House, Coolidge was the owner of a Black Bear, a wallaby, a Duiker, thirteen Pekin Ducks, and two raccoon.

One of the raccoon, Rebecca, became a favorite of First Lady Grace Coolidge. The First Lady would take Rebecca out for walks on her chain, as if she were a dog.

Grace Coolidge with Rebecca the Raccoon.

Here are some interesting quotes I found from former presidents about pets.

“Any man who does not like dogs and want them about does not deserve to be in the White House.” – Calvin Coolidge

“If you want to have a friend in Washington, you should buy a dog.” – Harry Truman

Presidents Before Washington

Date: December 2, 2012 Author: Grant Comments: 3 Replies

When I was in high school, I never heard about the presidents before Washington. My teachers took the cut-and-dry, fast-paced approach to the start of America’s great history. The presidents before Washington were never discussed, let alone explained in-depth to me. I grew up thinking that the steps to establishing America’s government and first president were swift (and of course that I knew them all). It was: 1) the Revolutionary War, 2) the Declaration of Independence, 3) the United States Constitution, and 4) President George Washington elected; boom, boom, boom, boom! I knew about the Articles of the Confederation and the Continental Congress, but I just thought the four steps above happened so quickly that there wasn’t a need for a president, until the “kicking the British to the curb” was over.

Events that happened today in history, Nov 3rd!

Date: November 3, 2012 Author: Today in History Comments: Leave a reply

Some of the great historical events that happened today in history, on November 3rd!

1493	Christopher Columbus arrives at the Caribbee Isles (Dominica) during his second expedition.
1507	Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint Lisa Gherardini (“Mona Lisa”).
1529	The first parliament for five years opens in England and the Commons put forward bills against abuses amongst the clergy and in the church courts.
1794	Thomas Paine is released from a Parisian jail with help from the American ambassador James Monroe. He was arrested for having offended the Robespierre faction. Continue reading…

The Education of the Presidents

Date: October 22, 2012 Author: Grant Comments: 2 Replies

With tonight’s debate, one is sure to hear about education. At some point, Obama will tell you how part of his plan to fix the economy is to allow more people to go to school. On the other side, Romney will flaunt the achievement of the state of Massachusetts–where he was governor–that the schools in Massachusetts are ranked #1 in the nation.

With all this talk about education, I think it is interesting to see just how the presidents of America’s past fared in their education. The following infographic, about the education of US Presidents, was sent to me by the nice people over at eCollegeFinder.org.

So click on the picture below to zoom in and get all the fact, then go to eCollegeFinder and find a school to further your own education, or the education of your children.