The Impact of Marriages and Extramarital Affairs on Political Careers: a Selection of Roman Politicians and American Presidents
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Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2013 The mpI act of Marriages and Extramarital Affairs on Political Careers: A Selection of Roman Politicians and American Presidents Shelby Cuomo Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the American Politics Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, and the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Cuomo, Shelby, "The mpI act of Marriages and Extramarital Affairs on Political Careers: A Selection of Roman Politicians and American Presidents" (2013). Honors Theses. 654. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/654 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Impact of Marriages and Extramarital Affairs on Political Careers: A Selection of Roman Politicians and American Presidents By Shelby J. Cuomo * * * * * * * * * Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Departments of Classics and Political Science UNION COLLEGE June, 2013 i ABSTRACT CUOMO, SHELBY The Impact of Marriages and Extramarital Affairs on Political Careers: A Selection of Roman Politicians and American Presidents Departments of Classics and Political Science June 2013. ADVISORS: Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller and Professor Zoe Oxley This thesis explores four historical figures who engaged in extramarital affairs while holding political office. These figures include Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton. I assess the varied public responses to these men’s affairs by researching their relationships with women – that is, their wives and mistresses. In Ancient Rome, one politician was exiled from society and eventually killed in battle for his extramarital romance, whereas the other was – and still is – praised as one of the most successful politicians while he was sleeping with the wives of his allies and friends. Both presidents, on the other hand, are remembered as two of the most successful in American history, yet during their presidencies, one’s long-standing affair was overlooked and hidden by the media, while the infidelity of the other was splashed across tabloids and offered grounds for his impeachment. I found a number of factors in each case that contributed to the public perception of extramarital affairs. This includes the political and media environments of the time. In addition, the treatment of women in each case is shockingly similar. The faithful wives of these adulterous men were praised in all instances, whereas the reputations of the mistresses were in some ways badly affected. By examining these men and the factors surrounding their infidelities, theories about the affect these affairs had on their careers and overall legacies can be determined. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations iv Preface v Introduction 1 Relationships for Power: A Case Study of Julius Caesar 3 A Romanticized Political Affair: A Case Study of Marcus Antonius 33 Fostering A Legacy: A Case Study of Franklin D. Roosevelt 69 Adultery and Celebrity: A Case Study of Bill Clinton 91 Conclusion 126 Bibliography 138 iii ABBREVIATIONS DGRBM: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, ed. Smith, William, vol. I-vol. III (London: Spottiswoode and Co., 1873), Print. MRR: Broughton, T. Robert S., The Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Ed. Phillip H. De Lacy. vol. II. (New York: American Philological Association, 1952), Print. OCD: The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Ed. Hammond, N.G.L., and H.H. Scullard, 2nd ed. (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1970), Print. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Ed. Hornblower, Simon and Antony Spawforth, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), Print. s.v: sub verbo (entry for the word) Plut. Ant.: Plutarch, “Antony,” in Lives, ed. G.P. Goold, trans. Bernadotte Perrin, vol. IX (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920), Print. Plut. Caes.: Plutarch, “Caesar,” in Lives: Demosthenes and Cicero, Alexander and Caesar, trans. Bernadotte Perrin, vol. VII (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1919), Print. Suet. Div. Iul.: Suetonius, Tranquilli Gaius, Divus Julius, Ed. H. E. Butler and M. Cary. (London: Oxford University Press, 1962), Print. iv PREFACE I have always been intrigued by politics, but it was not until I came to Union College that I had the opportunity to really explore this interest in depth. It was also upon my arrival to Union that I had the opportunity to develop a new interest in classics. After taking a variety of classes, I was able to not only expand on these academic pursuits, but also to notice connections between the two disciplines. With this cross-disciplinary agenda in mind, I would like to first thank my two thesis advisors for helping me to successfully develop these two different academic areas of study into one combined thesis topic. It was Professor Zoe Oxley’s Public Opinion course that opened my eyes to the lack of political engagement in American society. I find this fascinating, particularly given the media focus on the personal lives of politicians today, which seems to draw more public attention than their political decisions. After approaching Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller with this topic, he guided me in furthering my research, opening my eyes to the classical period, which also has its fair share of scandalous extramarital affairs. With his generous offer of a research post, I was able to extend this topic to the ancient Roman period. In addition to my advisors, I would like to thank, as promised, my friends and housemates at 1063 University Place, especially Meredith, Meridith, Madison and Julia, all of us sharing the same pains and achievements that come with writing a thesis. Also, thank you Jaclyn, for listening to the five of us complain. I know this topic is a very unusual choice. I hope what I have uncovered in the pages to come, however, will make clear why this was an interesting and exciting task for me to pursue. v INTRODUCTION The federal government of twenty-first century America can be justifiably characterized as one filled with more publicized scandalous sex stories than this country has seen before. First was Senator Gary Hart’s extramarital relationship with model Donna Rice that pushed him to step out of the presidential race in the late eighties. Not long after was President Bill Clinton’s relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky that was splashed across national newspapers in the late nineties and used as grounds for his impeachment. These two examples illustrate that we have entered the new millennium with an almost prioritized focus on the sex lives of American politicians. Some of the most notable sex scandals of this century include New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s involvement in a prostitution ring, Anthony Weiner’s X-rated social media advances, and, most recently, General David Petraeus’s less-than classified relationship with a female journalist, archived in his C.I.A. emails. In these three cases, all of the careers of these men came to an abrupt end. Some wonder, however, why this is the case? Journalist Thomas Powers shares this sentiment, stating, “The recent end of Petreaus’s public career … came so abruptly last fall, for reasons so entirely irrelevant to any issue of substance, that one is almost embarrassed to cite the details.”1 Why is it, then, that today, what the public finds most interesting about our politicians is arguably not the policy decisions they make or even their day-to-day lives? Rather, it is the stories of the deceivers, liars, and cheaters who make the headlines, and in turn those stories are what grab the attention of the public. In these most recent 1 Powers, Thomas, “Warrior Petraeus,” The New York Review of Books, vol. LX, number 4, 7 March 2013, 40. 1 examples, such revelations served to derail the unfaithful politician’s career. But how are some, such as Clinton, able to not only salvage his career, but in some respects benefit from his extramarital relationship? His popularity was certainly helped somehow as a result, for, as Emily Sohn indicates, “Clinton’s popularity soared after the scandal was exposed.”2 Furthermore, is this public focus on the personal infidelities of politicians a worldwide phenomenon, or is it something reserved for the tech-savvy and prudish generations in America today? Although this short introduction points to the variety of affairs that could be explored to find answers to these questions, I have limited my study to four cases. These cases assess and analyze four politicians at the peak of their careers from two different time periods: two from the ancient Roman Republic, and two from mid to late twentieth century America. I explored these two time periods for two reasons: I am most familiar with the governments of these two societies, and both offered many examples of scandalous political sex stories for me to choose from. The Roman politicians are Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, both of whom were linked to extramarital affairs during the time they held the consulship, the most powerful position in Roman politics at the time. The American politicians are Franklin D. Roosevelt and Bill Clinton, both men who were also linked to extramarital affairs during the time they held the American presidency. These men were chosen in particular for the publicized nature of their extramarital relationships, the different consequences each faced as a result of these relationships, and the few parallels that we may trace throughout the four cases all together. 2 Sohn, Emily, “Presidents and Their Mistresses: Who Cares?,” U.S. History: Discovery News, 8 February 2012. Web. <http://news.discovery.com/history/us-history/presidential-mistresses-history-politics-120208.htm> 2 RELATIONSHIPS FOR POWER: A CASE STUDY OF JULIUS CAESAR Introduction: The society of the late Roman Republic provides an excellent laboratory for examining the adulterous affairs of politicians.