Presidential Sex Scandals

Sandy Davidson talked about a lot of different aspects of politics and the media.  I was especially intrigued when she mentioned about the presidential sex scandals.  Why would someone ever think about having an affair, especially someone who is the president of the United States?  An affair is wrong, plain and simple.  But as the president, you have have the media breathing down your neck everyday and watching your every move.  Did these presidents think that they could get away with it?  What about the ones that actually did?  It is possible that other presidents could have had affairs and just did a good job hiding it.

Sex scandals within the White House are not just recent happenings either.  Back in 1802, Thomas Jefferson was accused of having relations with a slave named Sally Hemings.  He was a widower and she was the illicit daughter of Jefferson's father-in-law and a female slave.  Historians believe that the rumors are just gossip that his enemies and rivals spread about him, but in 1998, DNA testing on Jefferson's descendants showed that either he or a close relative was likely to be the father of Sally Hemings' youngest son.

Another largely publicized scandal was involving President John F. Kennedy.  He married Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953, but was supposedly sneaking other women into the White House.  Judith Exner and Marilyn Monroe are two of the suspected women.  Even those close to him have stopped denying many of the allegations.  Along with Kennedy was Bill Clinton, one whom we are all quite familiar with.  He had been having an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, from November 1995 to March 1997.  Everything was made public in 1998 when Paula Jones sued President Clinton for sexual harassment.  His impeachment charges for perjury and obstruction of justice were acquitted.

These sex scandals date back to the early 1800s and they just keep coming.  The media will look for anything to exploit the politicians, so odds are the public will learn of these affairs.  Maybe the day will come when our government will only consist of politicians with morals and honesty, but until then, we can always count on the media to give us the juicy stories exploiting the well-known figures of our nation.

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