Men society esteems as great or as leaders seem incapable of maintaining fidelity to their wives. Thanks to Katie Dunne for sharing this article on FDR's sexual exploits entitled, "The Women the President Loved":

The charming, pretty Lucy was employed by Eleanor Roosevelt as her social secretary in 1913. Five years later, a stricken Eleanor discovered a bundle of love letters from Lucy to her husband—at which point, Eleanor wrote, "the bottom dropped out of my particular world." She offered Franklin a divorce, but his mother threatened to disinherit him, and his political adviser cautioned that accepting it would destroy his chances of becoming president. FDR returned to his wife, promising that he would never again share the marital bed—or see his lover, who married a man 29 years her senior.

Other adulterous historical figures of purported greatness include: Any Kennedy Man, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Clinton, Nelson Rockefeller, Michael Jordan, Frank Gifford, Eddie Murphy, Mike Bowers, François Mitterrand, Eliot Spitzer, etc. I encourage you all to add to this list.

How would society judge a powerful woman if she were to cheat on her husband? Does adultery say something about a person's overall character that would be a legitimate assessment of their ability to be a leader? Why does society seem to give these men a free moral pass? Can anyone famous resist the waves of people who want to have sex with them or are the temptations simply too many and too great for anyone? Is there a nexus between the ego necessary to achieve a position of power and the likelihood of adultery, in other words, perhaps it is the nature of people who become famous rather than the affect the position has on their morality? Why do these men get married at all if they wish to spread their seed across the continents like cream cheese on a bagel?

Some men want everything. Springsteen once sang, "Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king and a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything." Men who have the egos necessary to reach levels of public power tend to be like modern Genghis Khans, simply wishing to conquer as much territory as possible, including as many women as possible. It is awful and sad and disgusting. FDR's story made me particularly sad because of Eleanor's pain, which is easy to feel even today. Why couldn't he feel it? Why are some men never satisfied?

P.S. Side note about adultery laws in the U.S.:

Is a single person in an adulterous relationship guilty of adultery? All but seven states punish both people involved. Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Utah only punish the married person. In the District of Columbia and in Michigan, when a married man sleeps with an unmarried woman, only the man is guilty, but when a married woman sleeps with an unmarried man, they're both guilty. Most laws make no exceptions for couples who are separated or in the process of obtaining a divorce. Punishments also vary. Adultery is a felony in Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Idaho, and a misdemeanor everywhere else.

In practice, adultery laws matter little: Only one case--against an Alabama man--has been prosecuted in the last five years. Most states have not enforced their adultery laws since World War II.

Labels: adultery, Billy Joe Mills, greatness

Once again, the eternally admirable Dr. Paglia has her monthly column up at Salon.

Tom

Labels: greatness, Tet, Woo-hoo

LBJ is becoming my favorite President a little more every day. Kennedy may have sold us on progressive reform, but Johnson did the heavy lifting. I also miss White House wit. LBJ was hillarious, whether or not he meant to be. I'd like to urge the wikischolars among you to give President Johnson's memory at least a few minutes worth of research. I was reading a collection of Johnson quotes this morning, and I wanted to share a few with the rest of you:

On Women:
I have learned that only two things are necessary to keep one's wife happy. First, let her think she's having her own way. And second, let her have it.

I want to make a policy statement. I am unabashedly in favor of women.

On Loyalty:
I don’t want loyalty. I want loyalty. I want him to kiss my ass in Macy’s window at high noon and tell me it smell like roses. I want his pecker in my pocket. (on hiring a potential assistant)

LBJ's Political Wisdom:
While you're saving your face, you're losing your ass.

You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.

If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: "President Can't Swim."

Jack was out kissing babies while I was out passing bills. Someone had to tend the store.

Jerry Ford is so dumb that he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.

Why Brenda should love LBJ:
The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.

LBJ says Tet is doubly worth a damn:
No member of our generation who wasn't a Communist or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn.

On the American Spirit:
For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground.

Labels: Augur, God, greatness, history, politics, quotes