This past Monday was President’s Day! I know that most of us are frustrated (for good reason) with the current POTUS, and part of that may be tied to his multiple extramarital affairs (Stormy Daniels, for example). In light of this, I wanted to shed some light on some of the other 44 presidents, because wow, there have been a lot of affairs in the White House.
-Of course we all know about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, so we don’t even have to get into that. We also all know about JFK and Marilyn Monroe, so we don’t have to get into that either. Great.
-Thomas Jefferson. President from 1801-1809.
Jefferson married Martha Jefferson in 1772. His affair–is it an affair if it’s rape?–was with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves at his Monticello home. Jefferson fathered 6 kids with Sally, and while he never freed Sally, he did free the 6 kids (he didn’t free any other family). Friends of Jefferson noted how Sally’s kids looked an awful lot like Jefferson, since they were very light-skinned and bore some of his facial features. In 1998, DNA evidence proved that descendants of Sally Hemings had Jefferson’s DNA.
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt. President from 1933-1945.
FDR married Eleanor Roosevelt in 1905. His affair was with Lucy Mercer, who was also married from 1920-1944. Lucy was hired as Eleanor’s secretary, and the affair probably started in 1916. In 1918. Eleanor found love letters between them, and of course she was mad but the affair continued anyway. It basically went on until FDR died in 1945–Lucy was with him when he died, but Eleanor was not. Interestingly, Eleanor had an affair as well. (As discussed in one of my previous articles LGBTQ History Month Part 2 ), Eleanor Roosevelt had a love affair with the journalist Lorena Hickok. Based on the letters that still exist, it was most intense from 1932 to 1941, but would continue in some form until 1968, when Hickok died. Remember how Eleanor was not with FDR when he died? Yeah, she was with Hickok when she died.
(Lucy, Franklin, and Eleanor)
-James Buchanan. President from 1857-1861.
Buchanan is the only president who never married, and that is probably because he was super gay (discussed in my article LGBTQ History Month Part 1) . Now, before he was president, he lived with his “friend” William King from 1840 – 1853. Unfortunately, King died in in 1953, which was devastating for Buchanan. Technically, this is not really an affair since neither of them were married to anyone, but if we count having sex outside of marriage, then this definitely counts. (By the way, Abraham Lincoln might have also had an affair with a guy, but that one is a little bit harder to prove.)
-Warren G Harding. President from 1921-1923.
Harding married Florence Harding in 1891. But before that, and before becoming president, he fathered a daughter, Elizabeth, to Nan Britton, who was his secretary. Harding was a jerk, but he did at least regularly send Britton money for child support.
(Nan Britton and her daughter Elizabeth)
-Dwight Eisenhower. President from 1953-1961.
Ike was married to Mamie Eisenhower from 1916-1969. In the 1940s, he was off in Europe being a WWII hero, where he met Kay Summersby. She began as his driver during the war, but would later come on as his personal secretary. Luckily, the affair ended once the war was over and Eisenhower went back to the United States.
-Lyndon B Johnson. President from 1963-1969.
Johnson was married to Lady Bird Johnson from 1934-1973. His affair was with Madeleine Brown from 1948-1967. He fathered a kid with her in 1950. The interesting thing about Brown is that in 1988 she claimed that Johnson was responsible for orchestrating the Kennedy assassination (which had been way earlier in 1963). She maybe was a little bit crazy.
-Woodrow Wilson. President from 1913-1921.
Wilson was married to Ellen Wilson from 1885-1914. In the later years of their marriage, apparently Ellen suffered from depression and was having a rough time. So, obviously, Wilson figured that he would have to get it somewhere else (instead of, you know, trying to help his wife or something). So from 1907 to 1915, he got it on with Mary Hulbert, who was also married. Basically, once he became president he found it too difficult to manage all of his affairs, so Hulbert had to go. (Wilson with Hulbert)
-James Garfield. President from March 1881-September 1881 (he was assassinated).
Garfield married Lucretia Garfield in 1858. But just 4 years later, he began an affair with Lucia Calhoun, which lasted from 1862-1868. She was a reporter for the New York Times and was assigned to Washington, D.C., where Garfield was working (also, she was 18 and he was 31). Garfield actually told Lucretia about the affair, and she said that he had to either end it with Lucia or she would divorce him. Not surprisingly, Garfield chose to stay with his wife.
-George H. W. Bush. President from 1989-1993.
Daddy Bush married Barbara Bush in 1945. But from roughly 1974 through 1992, he had an affair with Jennifer Fitzgerald, who served him as an aide, assistant, advisor, and basically anything else he needed. They would go on trips during his presidency and stay together–by themselves. Allegations about the affair started in 1992, and Jennifer had a nervous breakdown, which effectively ended the affair.
-Grover Cleveland. President from 1885-1889 and again from 1893-1897.
Cleveland got married to Frances Cleveland in 1886 (the only wedding to take place with the current president in the White House, by the way). But before their marriage, Cleveland had an affair with Maria Halpin, a sales clerk in Buffalo, New York. Actually, it was not really an affair–basically, in 1873, Cleveland and Halpin went on a date, and then he raped her. Six weeks later, Halpin realized she was pregnant, and had Cleveland’s son in 1874. It got worse from there: Cleveland had the child removed from Halpin and placed her in an insane asylum so that she could not cause trouble when he ran for president. But when the press got word of his illegitimate son, Cleveland’s campaign smeared Halpin’s name and accused her of being a whore. Halpin died in 1902.
Bonus: Alexander Hamilton, who was the Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington, had an affair with Maria Reynolds from 1791 to 1792, despite marrying Elizabeth Hamilton in 1780. Things got messy when Maria’s husband found out about the affair and blackmailed Hamilton for $1000 (which would be about $25,000 now). For more info on that story, check out Lin-Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece Hamilton.