SEX SCANDALS IN THE US POLITICS

Sex Scandals in the US Politics



Abstract

What does all this mean to us today? Certainly, an unharnessed sex drive has not steered the behavior of every President of the United States, at least not that historians know about. History records few sexual peccadilloes or large moral lapses among most of the men whom historians regard as caretakers rather than as active law-makers or dynamic leaders in the office. What the brief discussion above does suggest is that real or alleged sexual improprieties of our Presidents have endured as part and parcel of our political discourse throughout the nation's history. Trying to describe an attitude he believed central to understanding the American public, the often cynical journalist H. L. Mencken once defined "Puritanism" as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." Of course it was Mencken who also noted that "nothing is so abject and pathetic as a politician who has lost his job, save only a retired stud-horse."

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Background4

Everyone Makes Mistakes4

Early Attitudes Toward Women4

Women in Colonial Times4

The Cult of True Womanhood4

Feminism during the Progressive Era4

Depression and War4

The Women's Movement Reawakens4

The Weaker Sex?4

Women in Politics4

Feminist Philosophies4

Women in Reform Movements4

Sally Hemings-Thomas Jefferson Affair4

Evolution of the Myth4

Myth vs. History: Oral Tradition as Unreliable Evidence4

Broader Context of the Myth Today: The Assault on Standards4

The Flawed Case for the Jefferson-Hemings Story4

Annette Gordon-Reed's Book4

The TJMF (Monticello) Committee Report4

The Implausibility of the Story4

Denials by Jefferson Himself and Virtually All His Contemporaries4

Jefferson's Character4

Lewinsky Scandal4

Allegations Of Sexual Contact4

Denial And Subsequent Admission4

Perjury Charges4

Impeachment4

Aftermath4

2000 presidential election4

Collateral scandal4

Personal acceptance4

1983 Congressional Page Sex Scandal4

Mark Foley Congressional Page Incident4

Larry Craig scandal4

The Arrest4

Allegations About Prior Conduct Become Public4

Responses To The Arrest4

Resignation Announcement/Reversal, And Motion To Withdraw Plea4

Gay men allege sexual contact with Craig4

February 2008 Senate Ethics Committee letter4

Discussion4

Petticoat Affair or Eaton Affair4

Love Irony4

You Want A Raise?4

Sex Pays the Bills4

You Booze, You Lose!4

Ride Sally Ride!4

Idaho Or Udaho4

Time for Foley to Turn the Page4

Sanford Does the Argentina Tango4

Conclusion4

References4

Bibliography4

Introduction

Revelations about sexual activities have been considered potent political weapons since the dawn of the Republic. The now well-aired allegations that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with his slave, Sally Hemings, were apparently first introduced early in his first term as President by a disappointed office-seeker but had no discernible effect on his overwhelmingly successful bid for reelection in 1804. The absence of modern mass media and indifference to what men did with their slaves would have prevented the type of reaction predictable today. (Abbott, 1989)

Background

Andrew Jackson was the first to encounter a serious attempt to make an illicit sexual relationship part of a presidential campaign. Jackson led the popular vote but lost a four-way race in 1824 to John Quincy Adams, a contest that had to be decided amid much politicking in the House of Representatives. Almost immediately, supporters of Jackson began a nationwide campaign to make sure that "the people's choice" would not be denied again in 1828. Detecting the threat to the incumbent, backers of Adams began circulating a charge that Jackson and his wife had begun living together and then ...