Some have said MLK was a womanizer. Is that correct?

[Deja Q]

Don't bash me, it's something I've heard from various people.


Some also say he was a socialist, but even Christ and the Almighty One would approve of that. For the Almighty One sent Christ, who in turn preached helping one another and being nice to one another. (as far as I understand it to be.)

[illinoisprogressive]

1. It seems like this was the case.

[Teaser]

2. He never once womanized me

nt

[Mandate My Ass]

3. Who cares? It's none of your business

or anybody else's. That was a private matter between himself and his wife. It has nothing to do with his activism and accomplishments.

[SanFranciscoValues]

5. I agree

Does it matter at all?

[question everything]

14. It might have, then

same as with someone who was gay.

Today we shrug but in the 50s and 60s exposure of such private matters would have ruined them and a shrewd operator like J. Edgar would have used such threats of exposure to get them to do what he wanted to.

There were stories that this why Hoover lasted so long under the Kennedy administration.

[MADem]

41. About the only one Hoover never threatened was LBJ, who was aptly named

He certainly had a busy Johnson, if the stories are to be believed. Even he was irritated at the Kennedy stories, bragging that he cut a much wider swathe.

Who knows, maybe he had a pic or two of Hoover in a dress...(though to be fair to JEH, that story is said to be fiction). But maybe he had some of the mafia evidence stashed somewhere, who knows?

http://hnn.us/articles/814.html

[bananarepublican]

85. So was JFK. I believe Bill Clinton was/is rather fond of the ladies too!

Isn't it ironic that MLK and JFK gets physically assassinated, BJC gets character assassinated, and yet Mark Foley merely resigns and collects a pension!

It sure seems to me that most 'bad luck' has zeroed in on those opposed to 'right-wing-freak-show' interests, doesn't it?

[southernleftylady]

7. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!

its like when they talk about clinton and the blow job.. shit i think bush NEEDS a blow job so he would release some of that tension and stop blowing up innocent people!!!

[Deja Q]

20. Public figures are open to scrutiny. It is therefore logical AND reasonable

That they live clean lives or at least prove they recovered from previous mistakes and can move on properly. (the latter is what most people seem to forget.)

It's the same reason I won't trust any politician who blathers on about lifelong marriage when they've had X number of divorces themselves or when they prattle about the lack of morality on tv when they freely contribute to it (Bill O'Reilly lost his right to rant with dignity a long time ago; he's leashed to a network that shows nothing but THE least moral because it's popular and therefore profitable.)

Also, it's kinda hard to promote peace if you're bonking any number of women who might just have husbands who as sure as hell won't feel very peaceful if they found out!! And they, just like the two doing the illicit act -- have a right to know. You're right, it's their lives too.


Yes, technically it's none of anybody's business except MLK's, his wife's, his concubine's, and the concubine's significant other as applicable. Unfortunately our world hasn't worked that way and I don't see it happening any time soon.

[Kingshakabobo]

32. He was going to repent but someone shot him in the face.

:eyes:

[Deja Q]

40. How do you know? How does anybody know? And is it wrong to ask?

(apparently so, it is wrong to ask questions - just believe what we are told. Is that it?)

:eyes:

[me b zola]

15. Thank you

You said--more politely--what I wanted to say.

[Mandate My Ass]

19. On today of all days!!!

"Oh, don't bash me, but a man who accomplished more for civil rights than most other people combined, and was killed for it, might have had some nookie on the side. Oh my, what a loser!" :eyes:

[Deja Q]

23. I am repeating what I heard.

What's the goddamn crime in that?

[countingbluecars]

43. Not a crime.

Just tacky.

[Bluebear]

46. Tacky is the word. There were 364 other days to ask the question. nt

[Mandate My Ass]

49. Even then....

Yikes, the colossal impropriety of this post should be blatantly obvious to anybody with an ounce of common sense/decency. The man wasn't even elected, he volunteered for a cause that included the ultimate sacrifice. Sheesh.

[Kingshakabobo]

64. "I am repeating what I heard."

That's a valid excuse for a 5 year old.

[XOKCowboy]

83. Repeating what you heard is the goddamn crime...

Where did you hear it? Was the source credible? So credible to document it here? By repeating the rumor/gossip/talking point just perpetuates the myth. You're on the internet so try Google and come back with some documentation, make the same claim and we'll debate facts.

Faux News uses "some say" all the time.

[HEyHEY]

29. Mandate your ass to do what?

[Deja Q]

39. Mandating that what a person heard automatically means the person BELIEVES it, apparently.

x( :grr: :mad: ad nauseum

x(

[Ishoutandscream2]

4. Yes, from all I have read

it's true. I believe Hoover had audio tape recordings of King in some compromising positions with other women.

[Deja Q]

38. Yipes.

Now onto a tangent: It also begs to wonder if Hoover has his own fun time listening to the tapes over and over again (not that it's any of my business to ponder)... :sarcasm:

[question everything]

6. Probably.

but then, leadership is an aphrodisiac and in the pre-feminism days, many men took the adoration by women is their rights.

Just like Bill Clinton, they are, were, human and they should be judged by the total of their life.

I'd rather have a leader who is a womanizer, who cheats on his wife, then someone who appears as holier than anyone. YOu know who they end up.

[monmouth]

12. Can you get a visual on Holy Joe with a girlfriend???? Ewwwweewww eom

[kskiska]

22. He's on his second wife.

[TahitiNut]

27. "On"? Right now? Really?

Ol' Joe has always seemed like a bottom to me. :eyes:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. He could have screwn the cheerleader squads of all NFL teams simultaneously for all I care.

That's as important as the color of Gandhi's underwear.

[rosesaylavee]

71. ...which were a nice taupe with just a hint of rose

from what I hear. Hand dyed as well as hand woven. Incredibly soft and pliant too. :P

[Selatius]

9. The FBI had dirt on him on his extra-marital affairs. And yes, he was a democratic socialist.

They used the dirt to try to blackmail him into shutting up or doing what they wanted him to do. It didn't work out, but coincidentally, he was killed by a lone gunman. What a coincidence.

[silverlib]

10. It's the danger in having heroes

and why it is better to honor men and women for heroic acts and not expect perfection.

[fooj]

16. Well said.

It's not about "Who" they do...it's about "WHAT" they do.

[Deja Q]

25. Thank you for a thoughtful response.

[Ladyhawk]

82. HypnoToad, you should know better than to post something in GD

that is against the normal groupthink! Shame on you for exercising your right to ask a question. You should have used Google and not bothered anyone on this blameless website. Don't you know that it's okay to criticize dead Republicans (Reagan, Ford, etc.), but not okay to criticize dead Democrats or anyone who was liberal? Sheesh! You'd have though you would have learned by now to walk in lock-step!

:sarcasm:

Seriously, GD sucks ass.

[gratuitous]

11. J. Edgar Hoover certainly thought so

Of course, Hoover was also prone (you should pardon the image) to putting the worst possible gloss on anything when presented with a fact set about someone he didn't care for. If he couldn't hang a charge of womanizing on someone, he usually went with the veiled "homo" reference. If he couldn't put out smears about sexual misconduct, then he'd posit some kind of other moral failing, whether it was drug use, alcohol abuse, or having an overdue library book. So long as it was a smear, Hoover was interested in it.

[Burma Jones]

17. Hoover was also prone to wear Women's Clothing.......

Hoover was perhaps the most despicable person to have ever gained a prominent Gov't position in our history.....

[Deja Q]

35. Ah, the old pinning the nonexisting evidence trick...

So it doesn't matter how perfect or noble a person is, an enemy of that person will attempt to find anything to smear with. But if nothing nasty can be found then something will be concocted anyway? That's low.

And as a more generalized thought, isn't Hoover remembered as a crossdresser? Or should I wait for his birthday so all the Hoover fans to bash me for repeating what I've heard about him because that's none of anybody's business either?

[HEyHEY]

13. Yar Captain! Storm brewing off the Port Bow!

[TahitiNut]

24. Yep. Another peep fest that'd make a Venetian blind.

:shrug:

[Deja Q]

42. Quite.

Judging by some of the responses I should have waited at least 2 months. :eyes: Much as there are 'free speech zones', I'm sure I can fathom 'ask questions zones' based on temporal rather than cartographical locations in the near future. :silly:

[Double T]

18. Yes, MLK was a womanizer.

For some details: http://www.theipinionsjournal.com/2006/01/martin-luther-king-jr-was-also.html

[Burma Jones]

you're baaaaaaad Mr. Toad

[MADem]

21. The reason it isn't a matter for speculation is because that pervert Hoover tapped the guy

Tapped his phones, tapped his hotel rooms, got all sorts of audio. RFK had a role in it, too, as he authorized some taps when he was AG (that was more to do with the 'Commie' accusations). Commies were a 'big deal' back then, now they're allies...go figure.

Hey, as far as womanizers, JFK was, too. So was Bill Clinton. Eisenhower. FDR. Thomas Frigging Jefferson...and a host of others. And if you wanna go there, some say Jesus Christ himself wasn't some oddball virginal boy, either, but was a regular married guy.

There's piles of source information on the internet and in libraries. It really isn't germane to his legacy, frankly. It simply illustrates that he, like the rest of us, was human.

If Coretta can forgive, it's not up to us, really....

[MsUnderstood]

26. wow nominated for WORST TOPIC EVER

n/t

[sshan2525]

28. Maybe so...

but we all have our flaws and for me, it doesn't detract from his greatness one whit. Those thing are presonal not public concerns, IMO.

[Swamp Rat]

30. If he was, I totally forgive him.

I love MLK!

[CatWoman]

51. and I love Swampy!!!!

:hi:

:loveya:

[Swamp Rat]

56. Cats and rats living together in peace and harmony!

:hug: :loveya:

[CatWoman]

58. OMG!!!

It's the end of the world!!!

ARMAGEDDON!!!

:rofl:

[oblivious]

31. What a strange thread topic. "I've heard from various people" Like google doesn't exist.

[ariellyn]

45. Ditto. nt

[barb162]

87. Google can't "prove" it one way or another

It's stories that may or may not be correct

[oblivious]

89. Yeah, like anyone on DU can prove it one way or another. It's just a dig at MLK.

[jobycom]

33. I never really wondered about it. His public work did not involve his sex life

so it wasn't important to the public. MLK's greatness involved his personal sacrifice, his vision of equality and freedom, and the ultimate achievement of large parts of his goal.

If he had been an advocate against womanizing and then turned out to be a womanizer, it would be a big deal. If he had condemned his opponents for their human failings and secretly had the same failings, he would have been a hypocrite. But as it was, since it had nothing to do with his life's work or his contribution to society, it was irrelevant. He could have been a monk or a Casanova, it wouldn't have mattered.

[aquart]

34. So? I hope the night before he was murdered he walked out of a motel saying,

"Wow! If I die tomorrow, that was worth it!"

[sammythecat]

36. There is hardly an un-castrated male alive

who is not a womanizer to some extent. Most just aren't very good at it. Lack of success is a good inhibitor, and success is encouragement to do it again.

MLK was not a perfect man, but he was a great man.

[MADem]

44. Ha ha ha!!! Good point, there!!!

The ladies don't line up to get next to the ugly, stinky guy with with no money, no style, no ride, no nice home.

The ones who have fame, attention, money, people listening to them and fawning over them, well, those types of folks (male or female, gender isn't the issue) don't have to sleep alone if they don't want to......

[Elidor]

63. Sexist bullshit

Pull something else out of your ass.

[sammythecat]

68. My reply, unlike yours, was not meant

to be insulting.

It's just life as I see it. Give a man the looks of Brad Pitt, the personality and intellect of MLK, and a billion dollars. Such a man will be absolutely bombarded with temptation. I believe he would at some time, if not many times, succumb. It would have nothing at all to do with love. Only momentary lust. That's why they call it a sex "drive". It's almost irresistible in the right situation.

Please don't bring up anecdotal evidence to the contrary. I'm talking about a random guy. Give him these gifts. How much money would you wager that he would never have a dalliance in his life?

on edit: I'm not pleased with this assessment, it's just the way I think it likely is. And it does not detract, in the slightest, from my estimation of Martin Luther King. I have nothing but total admiration for him. I think he is one of the greatest in history. A truly great human being.

[carpe diem]

37. it's classic right wing double standard...

the cross-dressing, living w/ male companion FBI director Hoover was listening in on King and the Kennedy's bedroom behavior...to this day they use private failures to distract from the public service of people on the left...if they can get you talking about who he was f**king, you will forget about the causes he championed...it still works...we just about have to have Jesus walking on the water to avoid this trap, and when we do have leaders who are damn near perfect in private as well as public, the RW machine just make the sh*t up...

[Zuiderelle]

47. Don't bash me, I just like to post stupid shit.

:eyes:

[terrya]

59. Bwhahaha!

That's my first laugh of the day. :-)

I've alerted on that stupid piece of shite.

And now I'm off to add an attention whore to my ignore list....

[omega minimo]

48. This shite at Top of Page on my first visit to GD on MLK Day. GOODBYE HYPNOTOAD.

:evilfrown:

[CatWoman]

50. I think Ralph Abernathy wrote a book, and made those charges

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_n9_v20/ai_8228045

[TheDebbieDee]

52. MLK wasn't perfect, but he was a good man.......

Even good people have their weaknesses and faults.

[WindRavenX]

55. yup

Even Gandhi was, it was reported, an imperfect father.

[WI_DEM]

53. What does that have to do with what we are celebrating his life for?

maybe he was, so were many great men.

[terrya]

54. Gee, I'm sorry that his personal life didn't meet up to your exacting standards.

I've alerted on this ridiculous post right now.

Yes, Nobel Peace Prize winning Dr. Martin Luther King, the man who personified the Civil Rights Movement in this country, who championed civil rights and helped to try to eliminate discrimination and bigotry and tried to deal with the horrible repercussions of racism, yes, he did engage in extra maritial affairs. And...so fucking what? This kind of purient crap was indulged in by then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

On this day, posting something nauseating like this is contempable.

[3121guitarist]

57. His greatness forshadows any pecadillos.

Shameful to even bring this up now. Hopefully he was a socialist. If you read the Gospels, it is apparant that it is a treatese for socialism.

[Doctor_J]

60. A prodigious one

according to many accounts. let it not be said that he and Gingrinch had nothing in common.

But so what? He didn't moralize to others the way Repukes do.

[sundog]

61. any particular reason you chose to start this thread today?

lame

[MonkeyFunk]

62. Yes

really great people engage themselves with others.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

65. So was Eleanor Roosevelt, Marlene Dietrich and Frida Kahlo.

Didn't seem to affect their greatness either.

Just sayin'.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

66. Yes, He Was A Womanizer.

But in my opinion, and hopefully yours as well, that no where near reason enough to think less of him in any significant way. It merely means he had his flaws as each of us have our own. In his case, however, he had strengths that far outweigh the flaws, and far outweigh what many of us will attain ourselves.

[VOX]

67. Google "Martin Luther King" and "womanizer" and look at all the right-wing sewage that comes up....

Maybe he was, and maybe he wasn't; it's none of my business. I do know that the "womanizer" charge is something the far-right-wing loves to bring up when they denigrate one of the greatest Americans in all of history.

His profound legacy certainly lies elswhere.

[USA_1]

69. Reagan Was Divorced ...

... and that makes him an adulterer according to the Bible. Nobody is free of 'sin'.

[WI_DEM]

72. nobody brings up that Nancy was pregnant when she and Ronnie married

either.

[Homer Wells]

70. And Your point IS????????

nt

[Connie_Corleone]

73. Who cares? Someone killed him.

Besides, the only people who bring this crap up on MLK day are those who despise King. All you have to do is go over to FR on this day to see the filth they write about him.

It happens every year.

JFK was a womanizer too, in case you were wondering. I know there's no holiday for his birthday, so you can bring this up on May 29th.

[dsc]

74. So what

By now your question has been answered, but why should this matter. He didn't go around telling others how to behave within their marriages. Instead, he gave us all an amazing gift that transformed our nation. As long as the women concented, and there are no reports they didn't, it is all good.

[Cass]

75. I don't know and I don't care. Its none of my business. nt

[spanone]

76. Who cares? Not me.

[uppityperson]

77. "some say". So what? I bet he ate pickles also.

As if either have anything to do with anything that was special about him.

[HEyHEY]

78. Hey, let's not say things we can't take back!

[frogcycle]

79. hey

that's none of our business

its strictly between him and pickles

[Bluebear]

80. ...

[rman]

81. What if he was?

Why do you care?

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

84. Kicking this thread!!!!!!!!

So the rest of DU and the general public can get a good noseful of this festering pustule of an OP.

[barb162]

86. I have heard that many , many times

Of course, I can't prove it

(just like JFK)

[Tulum_Moon]

88. NOOOOOOOOO! HEEEEEE! DID NOT!!!!!!!!!!!

And I hope this gert's in before his day ends. On the wet coast anyway! LOVE YOU MLK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!