Sex with Presidents

June 29, 2020
Historian Herman (The Royal Art of Poison) examines the love lives of U.S. politicians in this gossip-fueled account. “The same compulsions that send a man hurtling toward the White House,” Herman writes, “can also send him into a foolhardy tryst with a woman.” She draws on tell-all memoirs, letters, court records, and media reports to document political sex scandals, including Treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton’s affair with Maria Reynolds, and Maria Halpin’s rape accusations against Grover Cleveland. According to Herman, Woodrow Wilson had a “raging libido.” She also claims that Dwight Eisenhower dropped his wartime lover, Kay Summersby, because divorcing his wife, Mamie, would have cost him the presidency in 1952, and that Lyndon Johnson had a buzzer system installed after Lady Bird caught him and one of his secretaries “in flagrante delicto” on an Oval Office couch. Self-admitted philanderer Bill Clinton learned from Gary Hart’s downfall in the 1988 campaign to ”address the issue right off the bat” in the 1992 campaign, according to Herman. Packed with colorful character sketches and bawdy puns, Herman’s mélange of facts, rumors, and innuendo is more salacious than scrupulous. Still, this ribald and richly detailed history entertains. Agent: Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management.

July 1, 2020
Herman, who has written about the sex lives of royalty, turns to politicians in a brisk, gossipy history of extramarital affairs from Alexander Hamilton to Donald Trump. What, asks the author, is the connection of sex drive to political success or failure? "Does rampant adultery show a lack of character, the stamina needed to run the country, or a bit of both?" Most of the men she profiles were/are narcissistic risk-takers, with traits that include "impulsivity, restlessness, recklessness, contempt for the advice of others, and overweening pride"; the world, as they see it, is "an arena in which to wield power and seek glory....No matter what horrors occur on their watch, they believe that history will vindicate them." The nation's first sex scandal involved the married Hamilton and an attractive young woman who sought his financial help. Their affair eventually led to Hamilton's being blackmailed, but it did not end his marriage; his wife, Herman concludes, never knew. Grover Cleveland was the first president accused of rape, an assault that resulted in the woman's pregnancy. Woodrow Wilson fell hard for Mary Peck, a flirtatious woman he met while in Bermuda for his health. "Back in the 1912 election," Herman writes, "journalists were well aware of Wilson's relationship with Mary Peck--among themselves they called Wilson 'Peck's bad boy'--but didn't print a word about it." Journalists had no such scruples covering Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, and Trump. Rounding out the author's group portrait are Warren Harding and his "rotating buffet of delectable young woman"; Eisenhower and his driver and aide; Franklin Roosevelt and his long affair with Lucy Rutherfurd; Kennedy's "three-whore a day habit"; and Lyndon Johnson, who named his penis "Jumbo." Drawing on letters, memoirs, and biographies, Herman considers not just the men, but also their wives' sometimes puzzling responses, and she offers a quick overview of Europeans' attitudes to adultery. A racy, revealing look at illicit sex involving the country's highest office.

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July 24, 2020

In this latest work, Herman (Sex with Kings) embraces the salacious details of some of the more well-known sex scandals of specific presidents: Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as sprinkling in less well-known affairs and some long-forgotten ones (such as Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson). Herman adroitly exhibits her storytelling prowess in blending the documented gossip of the time with personal details from interviews and memoirs to write a book that is both historical and wildly entertaining. At times, the narrative seems to glory in the lascivious details of the often-lurid sex lives of the presidents, which may attract or repel depending on the reader; however, there is a fair balance of historical background to counterbalance it. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the work also notes a concerning trend in the frequency of affairs between presidents and interns, and the power dynamics between men and the women who report to them. VERDICT Written much like a tell-all, this historical yet approachable look at the sex lives and scandals of several U.S. presidents will appeal to history buffs as well as a large general audience.--Stacy Shaw, Denver

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2020
The sex lives of American presidents and presidential candidates constitute a mixed bag, which television host Herman (The Royal Art of Poison, 2018) breezily revisits in this history of the extramarital affairs of presidents and would-be presidents and their influence on American history. Herman touches on some big-picture questions, including public attitudes and the evolving role of the press in concealing or exposing presidential scandals, but she emphasizes the stories of individual straying presidents. Their histories range from the star-crossed WWII affair between future president Eisenhower and his British aide and driver to presidents whose extramarital activities had little impact on their job performance (Wilson, FDR, LBJ) to those whose philandering undermined their effectiveness as leaders (Harding, JFK, Clinton, 1988 candidate Gary Hart) and, finally, to those who, inside or outside of office, engaged in coercion or rape (JFK and Clinton again, Cleveland, and Trump). At a moment when presidential sex scandals have few immediate consequences, this book will remind readers of the moral and political complexity of the topic while providing an entertaining introduction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)