re: #237 SanFranciscoZionist

I’ll do the short version. They cheated on their wives, and they were Democrats. Ooga booga, you lose!!

My note: none of those presidents ever, to my knowledge, swanned around talking about sexual morality.

Now, let’s talk about Eisenhower.

The private morality of politicians just wasn’t much of an issue until religious right affiliated forces decided to make it one during the Clinton years.
Earlier attempts to make it an issue generally failed, with the public generally rejecting the revelations as tawdry and irrelevant.

This was true even in the 1880s. When Republicans tried to make an issue of Grover Cleveland’s illegitimate child during the 1884 election, the public was shocked: Shocked that anyone would stoop so low as to make a public issue of it, that is. They rallied around Cleveland and he won.
Earlier, President Chester Arthur, a widower, had regularly brought a high-priced call girl to the White House. He eventually moved her in. This was common knowledge among Washington reporters but they never said a word about it publicly. They figured the public would be incensed with them if they violated Arthur’s privacy.

In an interview in the 1990s, Barry Goldwater said that he had been well aware of JFK’s philandering at the time but it had not even crossed his mind to use this against JFK politically. One factor, of course, was that he and JFK were close friends personally. Even if they had not been, that kind of political tactic just would not have worked for Goldwater or anyone else in those days.