Which Presidents did, and didn't cheat on their wives?

[Higgins]

Not sure if this is the right section, but I'm just curious: Do we have a list of Presidents who did, and didn't cheat on their wives?

AFAIK:

Did Cheat:
JFK
LBJ
FDR
GHW Bush
Clinton
Eisenhower
Reagan (didn't he cheat on Jane Wyman with Nancy?)
Harding

Didn't:
Obama
TR
Taft (?)
Wilson
Truman (?)
Ford (?)
Coolidge (?)

It's not a big deal. I'm just curious.

[SingingAnalyst]

I'm pretty sure Nixon is in the "did not" category.

[Tartarus Sauce]

I highly doubt Carter, Obama, or Ford cheated on their wives, they don't seem to be the personality types that respond to that type of temptation as readily as some of the other figures to hold that office. Carter even gave a Playboy interview once about how guilty he felt just for looking at other women.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Based on your list, I'm assuming you are including any and all cheating, not just while in the White House?  If so, Trump has already admitted to cheating on his 1st wife with his 2nd wife.  Cleveland was not married at the time, but he acknowledged having an illegitimate child.  Coolidge and J.Q. Adams were both known for being abnormally shy for political leaders.  It would surprise me a great deal if either of them cheated.

According to one of my college history professors, who specialized in early 20th Century America, the Coolidges were very devoted to each other.  It seems unlikely that he would have cheated on her.

[Technocracy Timmy]

I was gonna say Thomas Jefferson but his relationship with his slave Sally Hemmings happened years after his wife had passed.

[Indy Texas]

Who did GHWB cheat on his wife with?!

[7,052,770]

Obama seems really unlikely just because it would have been really hard to keep secret and it would have turned into a major schedule. Really the same is true about GWB.

[KingSweden]

Who did GHWB cheat on his wife with?!

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That's the first I've ever heard of this

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Woodrow Wilson is known to have had an affair on his first wife, Ellen.  The affair extended into his first term in office.

James Garfield apparently had multiple affairs, possibly including seeing prostitutes.

While he was engaged to Martha, George Washington sent a letter to a married woman confessing that he had feelings for her, but there is no evidence that they ever got involved beyond that.

Who has and doesn't have an affair doesn't seem to be correlated at all with their political views. It is interesting to note that this is one of the only areas where society is more socially conservative today than 40-80 years ago, so I would expect a gradual decline in the frequency of presidential affairs going forward.

It was much easier to keep them secret from the general public then compared to now.

[Crumpets]

I've never heard that Eisenhower was a cheater. What's the story there?

[Skunk]

Well we know Buchanan didn't cheat on his wife, considering he was unmarried.

[Mr. Smith]

Pretty sure Grant was faithful, ya' know given how bashful he was about his body.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Who did GHWB cheat on his wife with?!

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That's the first I've ever heard of this

I'm pretty sure the hit ABC show "Scandal" is based on HW's affair with Fitzgerald. She's an EP on the show.

[Higgins]

I've never heard that Eisenhower was a cheater. What's the story there?

Well-kept secret. Ike's marriage to Mamie wasn't the happiest and during the War he began affair with Kay Summersby.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I'm pretty sure Nixon is in the "did not" category.

I remember reading Pat Nixon told her doctor their last sexual intercourse was in the early 60s.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I'm pretty sure Nixon is in the "did not" category.

My high school principal (who was subbbing for our then-deceased government teacher) once remarked that Nixon had been faithful "'cause he was too ugly." That apparently didn't get in Johnson's way, however...

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Garfield was notorious for having a very dysfunctional sexuality (i.e. he couldn't share his libido with his religious views,and chose his wife deliberately because he wasn't attracted to her) and he had several affairs throughout his career, including visiting a brothel in New Orleans which caused a major stir in his political career.

There is also the notorious case of Cleveland.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Nixon deeply loved Pat. Look at how he wept at her funeral. He was crying so profusely that if you study the tape, Reagan and George and Barbara Bush are all kinda looking at one another trying to figure out how to react.

Obama definitely never cheated, and he could probably get himself any mistress he wanted. I think he's a good enough guy on that front. W. has never had an affair but I wouldn't be surprised if in his younger days he had a one night stand here or there. HW. definitely had a long term mistress (possibly still does) in Jennifer Fitzgerald. Everyone I've heard speak publicly or privately about Clinton confirms he's been with a woman since 2005. Our exterminator (who interestingly enough does Mar-A-Lago and is the brother in law of the Chappequa police chief-pretty ironic) told me that, so obviously it's literally a baseless rumor but one that is very prevalent. Dan Bongino mentioned that an event once too, but we all know his agenda.

[The Mikado]

I've never heard that Eisenhower was a cheater. What's the story there?

As Higgins said above, there is a long-standing story that Eisenhower had an affair with his chauffeur Kay Summersby while he was in Europe for the war, and Summersby herself claimed that it happened, but many people who knew both of them said that they thought it was unlikely. It's never really been totally proven one way or another if they actually had sex, although they were effectively living together for years and were very close.

[brucejoel99]

Apparently, Gerald Ford did indeed have an affair w/ Ellen Rometsch, the wife of a West German army officer based in D.C. (who Bobby Kennedy feared was an East German spy who'd reveal her separate affair w/ JFK), & said affair allegedly took place during Ford's time on the Warren Commission where he was tasked w/ investigating JFK's assassination. The affair was supposedly used against him by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who was frustrated that the Warren Commission wasn't sharing their findings.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Ike's affair was an emotional, not physical one.

[Crumpets]

TIL Harding's mistress Nan Britton only died in 1991.

[Kingpoleon]

Not sure if this is the right section, but I'm just curious: Do we have a list of Presidents who did, and didn't cheat on their wives?

AFAIK:

Did Cheat:
JFK
LBJ
FDR
GHW Bush
Clinton
Eisenhower
Reagan (didn't he cheat on Jane Wyman with Nancy?)
Harding

Didn't:
Obama
TR
Truman (?)
Ford (?)
Coolidge (?)

It's not a big deal. I'm just curious.

No, but he did smash Liz Taylor while he was with Jane Wyman:

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Who did GHWB cheat on his wife with?!

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Interesting note: I have never heard of this before. Did Fitzgerald herself claim this?

Pretty sure Grant was faithful, ya' know given how bashful he was about his body.

... I did not know this. Link?




My favorite Coolidge story is the one about the rooster at the farm.

[Sir Mohamed]

Cheaters:

Washington
Jefferson
Tyler
Cleveland
Harding
F. Roosevelt
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Johnson
Clinton


No cheaters:

Jackson
Lincoln
T. Roosevelt
Taft
Wilson
Coolidge
Hoover
Truman
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
Bush I
Bush II ?
Obama

I don't know about the rest.

[Senator-elect Spark]

Cheated:

JFK
LBJ
FDR
GHW Bush
Clinton
Eisenhower
Reagan (didn't he cheat on Jane Wyman with Nancy?)
Harding
Ford
Garfield
Wilson

Didn't cheat:

Jackson
Lincoln
T. Roosevelt
Taft
Coolidge
Hoover
Truman
Nixon
Carter
W Bush
Obama