Finding Clinton's Place In History

As the Lewinsky scandal drags on, I continue to be mystified as to why the media is completely ignoring a little thing called "history." Are we so ignorant as to believe that our own Slick Willie is the first president with severe moral and ethical problems, and whose presidency was plagued by political scandal?

Let's look at a few examples of presidents known to have had extramarital affairs.

Thomas Jefferson: One of the most revered of the Founding Fathers, writer of the Declaration of Independence, immortalized in statues around the country, Jefferson had at least one documented extramarital affair, with speculation about others. But hey, I'm sure he told the truth to his family and the public, right?

John F. Kennedy '40: Known to have had not one but by some accounts several affairs while in the White House, Kennedy's affair with Marilyn Monroe would be analogous to Clinton having an affair with Madonna today.

Franklin D. Roosevelt '04: How many Americans know that he died not in the arms of Eleanor, but in the presence of his longtime mistress? Should have been run out of office, the immoral scoundrel!

Grover Cleveland: Fathered an illegitimate child and dated--and later married--the teenage daughter of a friend of his. During his second term he was plagued by accusations of wife-beating and child abuse (which turned out to be false).

Other Presidents and leaders are suspected of having had affairs, including--gasp!--Ronald Reagan (pre-White House), George Bush, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and dozens of other famous and, in many cases, wonderful leaders, including just about every President of France since World War II.

Can't we get just a little bit of perspective? Let's turn to history again for some help.

Richard Nixon: One cannot turn on the television or radio without hearing comparisons made between "Monicagate" and Watergate. Just how short is the American public's memory? Although technically Nixon faced impeachment for obstruction of justice, that was a technicality--like taking down Al Capone on charges of tax evasion. One has to look at the nature of Nixon's obstruction: the use of the FBI, the CIA and hush money payments to cover up charges of breaking and entering, burglary, forgery, illegal wiretapping and electronic surveillance, conspiracy, illegal use of the IRS to investigate opponents and destruction of evidence. All these charges have been proven true, and the recently released Nixon tapes confirm the president knew about these activities.

Clinton's "obstruction of justice"? He lied about an extramarital affair between two consenting adults. Let's drop the ridiculous comparison to Nixon.

Ronald Reagan: Remember the Irancontra Affair? Illegal shipments of arms to Iran (then a sworn enemy), illegal shipments of arms to the contras and drug smuggling by the CIA? Reagan pled innocence by ignorance and let John Poindexter and Oliver North take the fall. And we all know that Bush was telling the truth when he said that he, too, was "out of the loop." Yeah, right.

Andrew "The only good injun is a dead injun" Jackson: Directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent American Indians, Jackson was also personally charged with the murder of two British citizens (a charge not followed up by a pro-expansion Congress, prone to turning the other way if a morally unjust or even criminal act was perceived as good for the building of the American empire). Today Jackson could be tried for genocide, war crimes and double homicide.

Many Americans are asking: Where are the Abraham Lincolns of today? No doubt, we could sure use someone like him. But let's not forget that for Lincoln had a racist, pro-slavery vice president by the name of Andrew Johnson, who was also later impeached as President.

So, Rush Limbaugh and Bill Buckley, still claim that the Clinton affair is the greatest presidential scandal this country has ever seen?

Even today, many of the Republicans leading the attack against Clinton are living in their own glass houses. The same people who would eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts for giving a couple of thousand dollars to a gallery that exhibited Robert Mapplethorpe pictures gleefully rush to publish detailed, graphic accounts of 10 instances of oral sex, for any 10-year-old to read.

It's funny how history--which has the potential to be one of the greatest teachers--is most often ignored, and ignorance and double-standards instead rule the day. Lansing D. McLoskey is a graduate student in the Department of Music.