When power gets into the bed: US Presidents and their many sex scandals

As Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac”. The high from power has, time and again, resulted in sex scandals involving top leaders.

Kissinger’s homeland, the United States, is no exception.

The US President is considered to be the most powerful person on earth, and therefore, is most susceptible to the aphrodisiac of power.

That’s the reason why allegations of sexual misconduct and scandals have rocked the Oval Office, the seat of the United States presidency.

Donald Trump’s Stormy affair is hogging all the headlines. It reached a crescendo with the testimony of adult star Stormy Daniels, where she described her encounter with Trump vividly.

The sexual affair with Stormy Daniels was before Donald Trump became the President.

However, from Thomas Jefferson to Woodrow Wilson, from JFK and Bush to Bill Clinton, the White House has a long history of seduction, sex and satin.

It all started in the early days of the republic with the third American president, Thomas Jefferson.

From Thomas Jefferson to Woodrow Wilson, from John F Kennedy and Bush to Bill Clinton, the White House has regularly been embroiled in allegations of sex scandals.

In her book Sex with Presidents, Eleanor Herman explores the sex scandals of US presidents and what they reveal about male leadership in the White House.

Even fiction can’t imagine the White House without sex scandals. The House of Cards, a popular fictional TV series now streaming on Netflix, portrays this marriage of power and sex.

DONALD TRUMP’S SCANDALS (SO FAR)

Donald Trump, whose life and presidency has been marked by a barrage of controversies, has also been named in some of the most serious allegations of sexual misconduct and some salacious scandals, involving over a couple of dozen women.

At least 26 women have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct since the 1970s, said a Business Insider report.

Long before his political entry, heavy on a persona of wealth and machismo, Trump got himself surrounded by sexual harassment allegations, first by his former wife Ivana. Their divorce came after Donald Trump’s highly publicised affair with actress Marla Maples. Trump later married Maples.

Trump’s relationships with women and his conduct came under intense scrutiny during his time in office, after the victims opened up.

Jill Harth, a former business associate of Trump, alleged in a lawsuit filed in the 1990s that Trump had sexually harassed her, including unwanted advances and groping. Harth claimed these incidents occurred during their business dealings related to beauty pageants and a potential business venture.

The most infamous among them was the revelation of a decade-old recording in 2016, released by The Washington Post, wherein Trump boasted about groping and kissing women without their consent.

The row saw a firestorm of condemnations, which Trump vehemently denied. Much like his stand on the allegations of adult star Stormy Daniels, which Trump has denied.

Recalling her sexual encounter with Trump, the adult star testified that Trump was in satin pyjamas when he welcomed her.

Stormy Daniels went on to describe their encounter at a hotel during her testimony on May 8 in the hush money trial.

She said her clothes and shoes were off as they lay “in a missionary position”. Daniels also testified Trump was not wearing a condom, but she did not ask him to stop. Daniels maintained that there was consent, but said the encounter had left her disoriented.

TEXAS WOMAN CLAIMED GEORGE W BUSH RAPED HER

George W Bush, who had been married to his wife Laura since 1977, faced charges of rape by a woman.

A year after Bush became the president in 2001, a Texas woman named Margie Schoedinger claimed he raped her in 2000. A year later, Schoedinger died by suicide, according to a Newsweek report.

Bush was accused of “race-based harassment and individual sex crimes committed against her and her husband”, reported a local Texas newspaper.

The lawsuit she filed received minimal attention from the American media then.

A few years down the line, the case was dismissed.

BILL CLINTON, ‘LEWINSKYGATE’ AND MORE

The Monica Lewinsky scandal, which came to light in 1998, rocked the Clinton presidency, which later came to be known as the ‘Lewinskygate’.

Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky, the White House intern, became the subject of intense media scrutiny and legal proceedings, resulting in his impeachment by the House of Representatives.

Clinton had engaged in a sexual relationship with Lewinsky while she worked at the White House. “Clinton groped her in the Oval Office in 1993. Over the next two weeks, a flight attendant and a former Miss America also claimed they were groped by Clinton,” said a TIME report from 2018.

The scandal, which became national news, not only tarnished Clinton’s personal reputation but also tarnished his administration’s achievements. He faced an impeachment following the blow-up.

Regardless, Clinton weathered the storm and remained in office after being acquitted by the US Senate.

In an earlier allegation, nurse-turned-Republican leader Juanita Broaddrick accused Bill Clinton of raping her in 1978. That was way back, during his ‘Arkansas attorney general’ days.

In 1999, Broaddrick first made her accusations public and told the Washington Post that the incident occurred when she invited Clinton to her hotel room for coffee.

BUSH SENIORS’ AFFAIRS IN HIS 73 YEARS OF MARRIAGE

While not as widely publicised as some of his successors, even President George HW Bush’s presidency was not without a sex scandal.

During his time in the White House, rumours spread about extramarital affairs, including allegations of a long-term relationship with his assistant, Jennifer Fitzgerald.

Bush Senior even managed to invite Fitzgerald to George and Laura Bush’s wedding reception, said a 2021 piece in The Washington Post. He was not sure if his wife, Barbara Bush, ever confronted him.

Barbara was suicidal in the 1970s after George HW Bush was accused of having an affair with Jennifer Fitzgerald, according to Susan Page’s ‘The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty’.

George HW Bush was married to Barbara for 73 long years. She remained his only wife and George HW died eight months after her passing.

DID GERALD FORD SLEEP WITH A SPY?

Gerald Ford was implicated in allegations of involvement with an East German spy named Ellen Rometsch. These claims were made by former Senate staffer Bobby Baker, who had close ties to Johnson, as reported by The Washington Post.

In an interview with Politico, Baker asserted that he introduced Rometsch to Kennedy, who reportedly expressed gratitude for what Baker described as the “best head-job he’d ever had.”

Baker further claimed that Rometsch engaged in sexual encounters with Ford during his time as a Congressman, alleging the existence of an FBI recording featuring Ford engaging in oral sex with Rometsch. Rometsch was later deported to East Germany, as reported by the New York Daily News.

David Horrocks, former chief archivist of the Gerald R Ford Presidential Library and Museum, expressed scepticism about these allegations, stating they were “difficult to accept” and “inconsistent with the Ford I knew.”

Ford served as president from 1974 to 1977 and enjoyed a long-standing marriage with Betty Ford.

RICHARD NIXON ALSO HAD A SPY ENCOUNTER

Former Senate staffer Bobby Bakerord alleged that President Richard Nixon was involved with an East German spy named Ellen Rometsch at the height of the Cold War, reported The Washington Post.

In an interview with Politico, Baker asserted that he introduced Rometsch to Kennedy, who reportedly expressed gratitude for what Baker described as the “best head-job he’d ever had.”

Baker later claimed that Rometsch engaged sexually with Ford, even during his time as a Congressman. He also claimed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had a recording featuring Ford engaging in oral sex with Rometsch, according to the New York Daily News.

MARILYN MONROE AND OTHER AFFAIRS OF JOHN F KENNEDY

From being linked to a journalist, Inga Arvad, to Hollywood actress Gene Tierney during his initial days in politics, a lot more scandals and controversies came the way of John F Kennedy.

These include Hellen Rometsch, a model-turned East German spy, who claimed Kennedy contemplated leaving his wife for her.

Kennedy was also rumoured to be having relationships with Marilyn Monroe, Judith Campbell, Mary Pinchot Meyer, Marlene Dietrich, White House intern Mimi Alford, and his wife’s press secretary, Pamela Turnure, according to People Magazine.

However, on his 45th birthday, JF Kennedy was famously seen with Marilyn Monroe, which prompted widespread rumours, according to Glamour.

The extent of his involvement with Monroe remains unclear, though they reportedly spent time together in 1962.

While many of these White House affairs remain just speculation, several have been documented as sex scandals. It is said power gets into people’s heads. The encounters of US Presidents show what happens when power gets into beds.