US President Scandals of the Past

[withahip]

Just in case you haven't had your fill of scurrilous accusations in the current election cycle, here are some highlights from previous presidential elections.

1800, Jefferson beats Adams: The Federalists claimed that Jefferson had cheated his creditors and defrauded a widow out of her estate. He was the child of a "half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father," who fed young Tom bacon, hominy, and fricasseed bullfrog.

Republicans argued that President Adams had planned to marry one of his sons to the daughter of England's King George III, and start an American monarchy; Adams had supposedly abandoned the plan only after George Washington threatened to run him through with a sword.

1836 Van Buren's election: Congressman Davy Crockett repeated a common charge about Vice-President Van Buren: "He is laced up in corsets, such as women in a town wear, and, if possible, tighter than the best of them. It would be difficult to say, from his personal appearance, whether he was a man or woman, but for his large red and gray whiskers."

1852, Franklin Pierce elected: Pierce really did have a drinking problem, so his opponents gleefully dubbed him "a hero of many a well-fought bottle."

1884, Cleveland defeats James G. Blaine: A Buffalo newspaper correctly reported that Cleveland had fathered a child out wedlock. To retaliate, Democrats produced a story that James G. Blaine had premarital sex with his wife, gotten her pregnant, and only married her at the point of her father's shotgun. When Cleveland saw the story, he tore it bits and threw it into the fire. "The other side can have a monopoly of all the dirt in this campaign," he said.

http://www.nationalreview.com/weekend/h ... 93000.html

[withahip]

There was no Republican Party in 1800. Hhhmmm.