The people who have held the highest offices in the United States come from a variety of backgrounds and have campaigned on a myriad of different issues over the centuries.
But behind closed doors, many of them shared the scandalous trait of cheating on their wives both in and out of the office.
Some, like Bill Clinton's, became history-defining scandals, while others remained largely secret. Below is a list of eight presidents who (allegedly) cheated on their spouses.
donald trump
Donald Trump is said to have had multiple affairs, but none of them occurred while he was president.
Reuters/Marco Bello
No president is more relevant today than the allegations against Donald Trump. Donald Trump is currently on trial in New York City on charges that he committed business fraud by concealing hush money he paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. The $130,000 payment, which prosecutors deny Mr. Trump made, came after Mr. Daniels had an affair with former supermodel Melania Trump in 2006, just a year after he married her. He claims it was to keep him quiet. The former president denied having an affair for years, but in a post on Truth Social in January 2023, he seemed to admit it had happened, saying, “It was a long time ago.” I wrote. Trump has also been accused of sexual assault by 26 women, including the author E., who was ordered to pay tens of millions of dollars in damages after Trump defamed him with sexual assault allegations. -Includes Gene Carroll.
warren harding
Warren G. Harding poses for a portrait in 1920.
Getty Images
Warren G. Harding, who served as president just two years before his term was cut short by a fatal heart attack in 1923, is accused of some of the strangest extramarital affairs in the White House. These include an alleged affair with her mistress Nan Britton, who is 31 years her junior and who has a special coat closet in the White House where she secretly goes with him. In her revealing book, she revealed that she liked it. Britton also revealed that he had secretly given birth to Harding's daughter Elizabeth Ann, whom he suspected was conceived on the couch in his Senate office. Decades later, DNA testing confirmed that Anne was indeed Harding's child. Harding was also known for writing racy letters to his lovers, including Carrie Fulton Phillips. In these writings, Harding used the code name “Jerry” for his penis, a detail his family tried to keep secret for decades. This all happened from 1891, when Harding was married to his wife Florence Harding, until his death.
Gerald R. Ford
German spies were involved in Gerald R. Ford's alleged affair.
Reuters
Gerald R. Ford, who served as president from 1974 to 1977, was accused of having an affair with East German spy Ellen Romech. This same woman was involved in other relationships with John F. Kennedy and others around Washington. In an interview, he claimed that former Senate staffer Bobby Baker had accused Ford of having an affair. politiko “While Ford was married to Betty Ford, he engaged in oral sex with Ellen Rometsch.” Romech was later exposed as a spy who had private meetings with top US politicians and was deported to East Germany.
George H.W. Bush
George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush at the 2008 Republican National Convention.
Reuters
George H.W. Bush was married to his wife, Barbara Bush, from 1945 until her death in 2018, a relationship often hailed as the longest and strongest in Washington history. However, Barbara revealed in her biography that she had suicidal thoughts in the 1970s when rumors of an alleged affair between her husband and Congressional aide Jennifer Fitzgerald spread. Their 70-year relationship was not without its challenges. Much of the alleged affair remains secret, but biographer Randy Taraborrelli writes in his biography of Bush that it was “a long affair spanning 18 years.”
George W. Bush
George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush on the field before an NFL game in 2018.
Reuters
George W. Bush was accused of sexual assault in 2002 by Margie Schedinger, a Texas woman who claimed the then-president raped her two years earlier. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, when President Bush's public approval ratings were at an all-time high, the case did not receive intense scrutiny from the U.S. media and was ultimately dismissed. Ms. Schedinger took her own life in 2003, before her case could play out in court, and Mr. Bush's lawyers successfully filed a motion to dismiss the case. Another woman, Tammy Phillips, also claimed to have had an affair with Bush in the early 2000s, but she had no evidence to back it up, and multiple media outlets reported: texas monthly, which she deemed untrue. Mr. Bush and his wife Laura were married in 1977.
bill clinton
Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton attend a candle lighting ceremony in 1998.
Reuters
Perhaps the most infamous White House incident involving a president is that of Bill Clinton. The scandal with West Wing intern Monica Lewinsky dominated American political news in the late 1990s and was a central driving force behind the impeachment trial. In addition to Lewinsky, who Clinton admitted accused her of in the Oval Office, many other women have accused him of sexual assault and rape. These include allegations of infidelity and assault against Juanita Broadrick, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and Leslie Milwe, all of whom were married to Hillary Clinton in 1975.・It is said that this happened during her marriage to Mr. Clinton. Despite the doubts, Clinton survived the impeachment trial and never did. He faced criminal charges.
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy at their 1953 wedding.
Reuters
John F. Kennedy was known as a womanizer in Washington long before he stepped into the Oval Office in 1961, and rumors of extramarital affairs continued even after he became president. After Kennedy's assassination in 1963, several women, ranging from college students to White House staffers, publicly said they had affairs with Kennedy. These rumors were repeatedly addressed by his wife, Jacqueline “Jackie” Kennedy Onassis. That included admitting that she knew her ex-husband was going on a slim date with White House secretaries. President Kennedy was famously serenaded by Marilyn Monroe on his 45th birthday, and there were rumors that he hit it off with the era's greatest movie star and sex symbol. These rumors never materialized further, and those close to Monroe, including her biographer Donald Spoto, say the two met only a few times.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird pose for a photographer in 1955.
Getty Images
Like his predecessor, President Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson had numerous affairs before and during his presidency, and his wife Lady Bird Johnson is said to have known about them. During his presidency, Johnson is said to have had an affair with White House staffer Helen Gahagan Douglas and another unnamed woman, and has paid child support to her because he claimed her child was his. There have been times. Oklahoman Citing a reporter's interview with Lady Bird, the paper reported that Johnson “ralized” the women and “felt entitled to their services.” The article also called Johnson a “sexual gorilla” and added that his treatment of White House staff would have been considered sexual harassment by the 1990s.
