Scandals are nothing new

(from home page)

 
   Of course, the most publicized scandals deal with national leaders. Presidents, congressmen, judges, and high-placed government appointees are a veritable media feast. The reputations of prominent national figures often are brought into question by men and women who make their living exposing the shortcomings of those who rule the nation.
    The most noted scandals emanate from two categories: illicit sex and greed. These two weaknesses have brought down more politicians than any other causes. A great deal of scandal mongering is successful simply because the individuals in question are guilty of the accusations made against them. Nevertheless, some impugned wrongdoings have failed to affect the careers of those accused.
    At the beginning of the nation’s history, leaders of the United States fell prey to the politically motivated attacks of their opponents. Even the venerated George Washington, the “Father of His Country,” did not go unscathed from scandalous attacks on his character. During his two terms as president (1789-1797), his enemies accused him of sexual misconduct and of fathering a number of illegitimate children. The truth of the matter is very simple. Washington did not father any children. His conduct toward women other than his wife remained without reproach. The devotion of Washington to his wife Martha, and she to him, set a standard for marital fidelity.
    Thomas Jefferson, known as the author of one of the greatest documents of all time, the Declaration of Independence, did not escape the accusation of sexual misconduct. While he endured attacks against his character stemming from a reported affair with his slave, Sally Hemings, few people know that he tried to seduce Betsey Walker, the wife of one of his acquaintances. In 1805, a political enemy published an article stating Jefferson has “cuckolded” John Walker. In a letter to attorney general Levi Lincoln, the president admitted that while young and single he had “offered love to a handsome lady.” Neither the Walker nor Heming affair cost him much political capital. Today, he is considered one of the great presidents, and his image graces Mt. Rushmore, along with those of Washington, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
    Washington and Jefferson had some illustrious company as scandal-touched presidents. Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachael suffered for a scandal in which they had no control. Jackson fell in love with a recently divorced Rachel Robards of Harrodsburg, Ky. She and Jackson married, but word arrived that the divorce had not been completed and she had committed bigamy. This “scandal” marred an otherwise happy marriage. The political damage cost Jackson dearly, but it cost Rachel more. The attacks against her character helped bring about her untimely death, and caused her husband eventually to use some of his powers as president against those whom he felt had offended his late wife.
    James Buchanan also felt the sting of scandal. The only bachelor president in the nation’s history had his reputation questioned as being somewhat effeminate and perhaps a homosexual. While no proof has been found of the latter accusation, some of his contemporaries often referred to him in the female form.
    Buchanan’s successor, Abraham Lincoln, also became the target of the scandalmongers. As with Buchanan, some individuals have questioned Lincoln’s sexual preference. Modern historians have discussed a possible homosexual relationship between Lincoln and a male friend because they shared the same bed. There is absolutely no proof of any such affair. The 16th president did not have a black mistress, nor did he have any affairs that ever have been proven. True, marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln could not have been easy, but as far as the record shows, Lincoln remained a devoted family man until his death in 1865.
    Sex scandals may have affected, but did not destroy the political careers of Presidents James A. Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton. In the 1990s, Clinton’s presidency could have ended with his impeachment over a clumsy attempt to hide a liaison with a female volunteer.
    In the 1830s, Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson, of Kentucky, survived the scandal of keeping a black mistress by whom he fathered two daughters. In the late 19th century, another famous Kentuckian, W.C.P. Breckinridge, who had served in Congress, and had much influence in the Democratic Party, did not survive a scandal involving a teenage girl.   
    Washington’s brilliant secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, had a brief affair with a married woman. Mary Reynolds had approached him to ask for some financial assistance. Instead of monetary repayment, Mrs. Reynolds became Hamilton’s lover. Her husband, James Reynolds who had an unsavory reputation as an opportunist, tried to blackmail Hamilton. The secretary did not give in to Reynolds’ demands, and instead, admitted his affair and retained his position in the government. A much wiser Hamilton said, “I have paid a pretty price for the (extramarital) folly, and can never recollect it without disgust.”
    Perhaps it is the power of elective office that tempts some politicians to risk their careers and their reputations in a scandal that would surely put an end to everything they had worked to obtain.
    U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy lost his chance for the presidency with the tragic Chappaquiddick incident. The drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne haunted Kennedy’s aspirations for the highest office in the land. His failure to report the accident that took Kopechne’s life led many people to believe he did not have the fortitude to be president.
    Greed has also brought down its share of politicians. It is all too easy to be tempted to profit at the public’s expense. One of the worst of all American presidencies occurred during Ulysses S. Grant’s tenure in office. While a very honest man himself, Grant did not choose his friends wisely. From 1869 until he left office in 1877, the scandals of his administration rocked the foundations of government. One dishonest financial deal after the other marked the eight years of his presidency so badly that his very name became synonymous with corruption. “Grantism” denoted the low depth that American government had fallen.
    Warren G. Harding not only had a mistress while he was president, like Grant he had dubious friends. The infamous Teapot Dome oil scandal that involved the sale of military oil reserves to private companies more than likely led to Harding’s death. He did not profit from the sale, but he did not keep a watchful enough eye on one of his cronies, Albert Fall, who made the corrupt deal.
    In all of American political history, one scandal stands out not from sexual misconduct or from greed. This scandal dealt with the one thing that all politicians have in them, the quest for power. Most politicians use their power to help their constituents, but the temptation to become more and more powerful is a constant threat. The individual becomes bigger than his office, and thus takes on a persona that could, in the long run, become dangerous to the very Constitution they have sworn to defend and protect – case in point, Richard M. Nixon.
  Nixon has the onus of being the only U.S. president to resign his office due to unconstitutional machinations. Watergate is, and will remain, a benchmark of American politics gone terribly wrong. The anguish he brought upon himself and upon his family, friends and supporters is worthy of a Greek tragedy.
    Born in humble circumstances, yet much better than many others, Nixon always had to prove himself to others, but more so to himself. Feelings of inadequacy haunted him throughout his life. Although he became a competent attorney, and a successful congressman and senator, he retained a sense of insecurity that bordered on paranoia. Becoming vice president of the nation did not assuage these feelings, and perhaps only heightened them.
  Nixon’s lack of self-worth became exacerbated when his opponent, John F. Kennedy, seemingly had all the advantages of a wealthy family, youthful appearance, and polished manners. The famous television debates that pitted a tired, ill-looking Nixon in contrast to a tanned, healthy Kennedy shook Nixon’s paranoia to its core. In reality, Kennedy was in much worse shape than Nixon. In a day when the press did not deeply delve into the private lives of candidates, few outside Kennedy’s immediate circle could have known he was ill with a back injury that could kill him. Also, the senator from Massachusetts’s extramarital escapades would have no doubt so shocked voters that he would not have had a chance of winning.
    The loss of the 1960 election by such a miniscule margin made Nixon all the more bitter. His loss of the gubernatorial election in California also made him all the more paranoid and secretive. When at last he did win the 1968 presidential election, he decided that he would never again be “robbed” of what he felt to be rightfully his. He would make sure that the election of 1972 would be an unparalleled triumph.     Ironically, Nixon easily would have won the 1972 election without the blundering of the Watergate burglars. He had as his opponent George McGovern, a man so liberal as to be to the left of many liberals. Again, Nixon felt too insecure to leave any chance that he might be defeated.
    After the Watergate debacle became public knowledge, he used the powers of his office to hinder the course of justice. It is at this point that Nixon made his greatest mistake. The lies, the cover-ups, the sacrifice of some of his staunchest supporters, all led to his eventual resignation of the office of president in August 1974.
    Sex, greed and a lust for power are not good ingredients to make a statesman. The loss of some of the brightest men and women in public life stems from the hubris that is within all of us. The need to be bigger than life, to do as one pleases and not suffer the consequences, remains the Achilles’ heel of so many public servants.

  
    Bryant’s Political Quote

    The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself. 
                                                                                      Winston Churchill (1874-1965)


Ron Bryant is a noted Kentucky historian, lecturer and author. He may be reached at ron.bryant@ky.gov.

Read more about Kentucky's vivid history at Friends of Kentucky History.