Opuscula First mistresses And other ladies In the White House

IT’S A FUNNY THING, president after president has had extra-marital “interests” and the press usually was silent.

According to Beowulf Boritt¹ who designed the sets for Clinton the Musical not all presidential lovers were women.

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a mistress, Lucy Mercer. Eleanor knew about her; Mercer was engaged as Eleanor’s social secretary. Meanwhile, Eleanor managed by giving her attention to Lorena Hickok.
  

• Dwight D. Eisenhower had a mistress; his chauffeur during WW 2 . Mamie knew about her.
  

• John Fitzgerald Kennedy was infamously known as a womanizer. Jackie turned a blind eye. JFK outdid all his presidential peers, having affairs with Marilyn Monroe, Blaze Starr, Judith Exner, Jayne Mansfield, Pam Turnure, and Jill Cowan.
  

• Wm. Jefferson Clinton was caught with his pants down – literally – even though he “never had sex with that woman." It briefly made the news. Clinton also was sexually linked to Jennifer Flowers. Hillary had to aware of his “peccadilloes.”
  

• Thom. Jefferson famously had an affair with Sally Hemmings, but by then he was a widower.
  

• Geo. H.W. Bush had Jennifer Firtzgerald.
  

• James A. Garfield had a fling with Lucia Gilbert Calhoun, a reporter, yet apparently the affair never made the pages of her paper.

Not all presidential lovers were women, at least according to Boritt.

Boritt contends that James Buchanan and William Rufus King were an item.

It may be easier to list presidents to whom no extra-marital liaisons are attached.

Harry S Truman, Richard Milhouse Nixon, and Lyndon Baines Johnson come to mind. Truman’s wife, Bess, stayed home, leaving Mr. Truman at the mercy of the Washington ladies.

TRUMP’S AFFAIR(S)

Today’s “media” delights in headlining President Trump’s liaisons with the ladies.

Why he would want a relationship – of any type – with a porn star (Stephanie Clifford a/k/a “Stormy” Daniels) is beyond my ken. Perhaps, as he allegedly suggested, “because he could.”

Newsweek headlined How Many Times Has Trump Cheated on His Wives? Here's What We Know² and listed Marla Maples (when he was married to Ivana). The Wall Street Journal!, according to Newsweek, claimed Mr. Trump had a fling with Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playmate of the Year. Trump denies this.

Meanwhile, 19 women are alleging “sexual misconduct.”³. Many of the claims date back decades causing one to wonder (a) why these claims were not made in a timely manner and (b) if some of the claims simply are “me, too,” jump on the bandwagon claims.

While this scrivener does not condone sexual impropriety, it seems that Trump's extra-marital affairs are a subject for discussion between Trump and his spouse, not between Trump and the media.

Looking back on the silence of the media when previous presidents had, in some cases, fairly blatant affairs, it seems hypocritical to headline Trump’s alleged “sexual misconduct.”

Perhaps Americans are “prudish” when it comes to their presidents – certainly not to their representatives in the Senate and House (Edward Ted Kennedy comes to mind) – but if we are, we are among a minority. Even “staid ol’ England” has its scandals. France is famous for sexual peccadilloes among its politicians.

Mr. Trump suggests that the leftist media is on a “witch hunt,” looking for any tidbit that might embarrass him. That might be “OK” if the media could not see out of one eye and was blind in the other about other politicians – namely Hillary and friends – who also should be held to the same standard.

Benghazi? Email server? History covered by the cobwebs of “journalists” who slant or spin the news to their favorites’ advantage.

Mr. Trump may be a “sexist pig,” but we’ve been electing “sexist pigs” to office for more than a century if reports are to be believed. Same goes for scoundrels in the White House.

Unlike several of his predecessors, Mr. Trump is not diplomatically polite. He’s rude and crude, but for the first time in decades, other nations leaders listen when he speaks. No one will accuse Mr. Trump of being a pantywaist.

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/y75v3h8s

2. http://tinyurl.com/yakw2pge

3. http://tinyurl.com/yb6kbdse

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

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