FC: Warren Harding had a love child?
- Thread starter mn78psu83
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He had several affairs.
Up until recently, Nixon I think, the press turned on President's by looking into their personal lives. Before that, nobody cared. Kennedy's affairs were common knowledge. I know a guy, retired secret service, who can run off a name of several women that JFK frequented. One was Marilyn. And, if you get the chance, watch her sing happy birthday to him (google it). Dude was squirming in his seat. Rumor has it, he left the dinner ASAP and did her back stage (not sure of this, just rumors).
Things changed when Watergate hit. The press no longer gave president's a pass and there personal lives became fair game. Dumpster diving a common practice. I'd be willing to bet you couldn't find a president that didn't have an affair from Kennedy on back.
I read a book a couple years ago by Mimi Alford. She was an intern in the White House in the early 60s and had an affair with JFK for a couple years. Their ages were ballpark 45 and 19 when it started. There wasn't a lot of courting or foreplay involved. JFK got her alone (in Jackie's bedroom no less) and went to town and Mimi Alford didn't object. It's not clear to me why husband and wife need separate bedrooms.
No, no, no. Prior to the Civil War we had an adversarial press. Both parties had their press agents and the personal lives of the candidates were absolutely fair game. Read about the Adams-Jefferson campaign. The nonsense, still believed by many, concerning Jefferson's slave child was a fabrication of a Federalist editor. Hamilton ruined Burr through innuendo regarding Burr's personal conduct and got himself killed for it. Later, Jackson almost killed a man for suggesting in print his marriage might be illegitimate. There are literally hundreds of examples of an adversarial press being used to destroy, or at least attempt to destroy, politicians from the time of the Revolution until the Civil War.
During the Civil War the press's relationship with politicians and the people changed. For a time the country demanded only hard facts concerning battles and casualty statistics and after the war there really was no non-Republican press to speak of for fear of being charged with treason.
The press's commitment to telling unabashed truth didn't last very long. The Progressives coopted the press in so many ways that it would be nearly impossible to catalogue them here. The explosion in size of government wrought by both Republican and Democrat progressives would never have been possible without an approving press core. We essentially had a national press core acting as cheerleaders from the turn of the century until the 1980's and the rise of alternative media. The only reason the press even cared about Watergate was because Nixon was a Republican. Wilson, FDR and LBJ did far worse and more venal things as President and the press never cared.
Regarding Harding, there is credible evidence his wife was aware of his affairs and took revenge by poisoning him. Harding's death was very suspicious. Why, and how, a notoriously hardy man caught a mysterious illness and died so very quickly has never been adequately explained.
In what only underscores Pennsylvania's sad post-Colonial history of largely corrupt, incompetent, time-serving and/or lazy public officials on the national scene (with a few exceptions), the only President from our fine Commonwealth was the only "bachelor" President who, it was said, preferred the attentions of "perfumed young men".
Oh, and his idiocy, lack of leadership and in attention largely tipped the country into the Civil War.
Good old Buck.
Todd, good points but what about Thomas Nast's cartoons against the Tweed ring? Never mind, you said from the turn of the century until the 1980s.
The best attack ad ever hinted at both Franklin Pierce's problems with Demon Rum and his somewhat farcical military leadership - opponents claimed he was the "Hero of many a well-fought bottle"
[QUOTE="Chickenman Testa, post: 396117, member: 3054"
Oh, and his idiocy, lack of leadership and in attention largely tipped the country into the Civil War.
Good old Buck.[/QUOTE]
Buchanan was indeed one of the worst presidents ever, but the Civil War would have happened one way or another. Churchill, in his History of the English Speaking Peoples, said,
"Thus ended the great American Civil War, which must upon the whole be considered the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass conflicts of which till then there was record."
Oh, and his idiocy, lack of leadership and in attention largely tipped the country into the Civil War.
Good old Buck.[/QUOTE]
Buchanan was indeed one of the worst presidents ever, but the Civil War would have happened one way or another. Churchill, in his History of the English Speaking Peoples, said,
"Thus ended the great American Civil War, which must upon the whole be considered the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass conflicts of which till then there was record."
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When James Buchanan was a young man he fell hopelessly in love with a woman named Lucy Coleman. She requited his love, but her family who were fabulously wealthy, however, did not think young James a man with "suitable prospects" and refused to allow her to wed. He was devastated and spent his life pining for her. When he was President he had a large portrait of her installed in the White House. The rumors of Buchanan's homosexuality were fabrications of the opposing party's press agents. See my previous post.
Interesting.
He was still one of the worst Presidents.
Did you like the Franklin Pierce story - cracked me up when I read about it. Turns out he was to lead 2 attacks in the Mexican-American War - one he was too drunk to get out of his tent; the other he got up on his horse and promptly fell off.
Not necessarily unusual as in those days it was socially acceptable for rich and powerful men to have long standing affairs since most marriages were arrangements and not necessarily something the couple approved of or even wanted. It was a different time.
A misunderstood, downtrodden, blue collar, working-class girl trying to make it in the elitist world of figure skating. She was a fighter and I appreciate her "let's do whatever it takes to get it done" attitude. A real competitor.Hmmmm... My first guess would have been "Tanya"
Nancy the darling who felt it appropriate to marry a guy close in age to her father? Let's just file Tanya and Nancy as screwed up figure skating chicks.
The jury is still in recess regarding Oksana Baiul. Please don't flag me. I just googled recent pictures and they aren't particularly complimentary. Apparently she likes tanning booths......to the detriment of her detritus.
About him being a horrible President you will get no argument from me. The only defense one can make for him is that really no one could have kept us out of that war.
I had heard the Pierce story before. If true, they are funny. Interestingly, very early in Grant's military career he was almost derailed by the bottle. One of the reasons it took Lincoln so long to hand him overall command of the Union forces is because of the rumors of his battles with alcohol. War is a dirty business. I can see why some people take to drinking to cope with the horrors.
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