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In reply to the discussion: How much is Bill Clinton responsible for the culture today? [View all]BoneyardDem
(1,202 posts)15. Why not pose that same question without naming just one POTUS?
Perhaps sex and power have been around a lot longer than Clinton?
https://www.salon.com/2015/02/08/the_7_biggest_presidential_sex_scandals_in_history_partner/
Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland had a reputation for being quite the ladies man. While practicing law in Buffalo, New York, Cleveland had a romance with a young woman named Maria Crofts Halpin. Years later, Halpin accused Cleveland of fathering her son, Oscar. Cleveland did not deny it, and while never admitting paternity, did send her child support. When he ran for president in 1884, that dalliance came back to bite him, as his opponents rallied around the slogan, Ma ma, wheres my pa, gone to the White House, ha ha ha. Still, Cleveland prevailed in the election to become president (an office he lost in the subsequent election, and then regained in 1892).
Franklin Roosevelt
FDRs paralysis, caused by the polio he contracted as a young man, was no impediment to his desires. Roosevelt had a lifelong affair with Lucy Mercer, his wifes social secretary. The affair probably began in 1916 (before FDRs polio struck in 1921), while Roosevelt was serving as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, with Eleanor and their children away for the summer. A couple of years later, Eleanor happened upon some steamy letters between her husband and Lucy. Threatening divorce (which would have ruined Roosevelt politically), Eleanor remained FDRs partner if not lover. Undaunted, FDR continued his relationship with Mercer until his death in 1945 (Mercer was actually with the president when he died.) Other rumored affairs included his secretary, Missy LeHand, and another with the Crown Princess Marta of Norway. Not to be outdone, Eleanor had her own extracurricular activities to keep her busy, not least of which were probable affairs with Nancy Cook, Marion Dickerman and Lorena Hickok.
Lyndon Baines Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson competed with John Kennedy in realms beyond politics. Referring to JFKs sexual voraciousness, LBJ once claimed, "I have had more women by accident than he has had on purpose."
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You mean, because he was the first President the media didn't cover up for, but made a spectacle
pnwmom
Nov 2017
#23
Bill Clinton was not the first nor will he be the last politician to screw around
blueinredohio
Nov 2017
#24
I think there was a message sent out that intimidated women from speaking out against others
MichMan
Nov 2017
#25
He is not. Period. It's a culture that has been with the human race for thousands of years.
madinmaryland
Nov 2017
#28