# Bad habits of US presidents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2004, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983 "2004-02-19T07:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CelraySoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@CelraySoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelraySoda)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/1 "2004-02-19T07:26:07Z")
Besides Bill Clinton loving fast food and fast women and G.W Bush loving his alcohol, what other habits did the past presidents have? Did any smoke cigarettes regularly, gamble or anything else in that manner? -M ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/2 "2004-02-19T08:03:09Z")
Cleveland was said to enjoy urinating out of the window of the Oval Office. Zach Taylor didn’t vote, not even for himself. Franklin Pierce was another drunk, as was Ulysses Grant (I think). Will they do? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/3 "2004-02-19T08:08:31Z")
U.S. Grant was a major alcoholic, but that’s not really a habit. GWB doesn’t drink anymore, but used to(though he says he was never an alcoholic). ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/4 "2004-02-19T13:24:28Z")
Grant smoked cigars, as did Cleveland (so much so that he had to have a portion of his jaw removed while in office due to cancer). Harding used tobacco in all forms, and pictures of FDR with his cigarette holder clamped between his teeth are very well known. Kennedy was a cigar smoker. Ford smoked a pipe while in office and Clinton was known to like a good cigar. He even smoked them on occassion, I believe 🆒 As to Grant’s alcoholism - IIRC the real story is that he couldn’t hold his liquor, not that he typically drank to excess. In other words, one drink was fine, but after two he was pretty much smashed. This site: [Medical History of American Presidents | DoctorZebra](http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/) discusses the medical histories of the Presidents and is a great read. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/5 "2004-02-19T13:42:48Z")
Lyndon Johnson was a 3-4 pack-a-day smoker until a minor heart attack; he had ‘quit’ before becoming President, but still occasionally indulged. Likewise, Eisenhower smoked until suffering serious health problems. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/6 "2004-02-19T17:36:10Z")
I may as well be the one to say it: George H. Bush has a bad habit of opening his mouth. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/7 "2004-02-19T18:25:13Z")
Most presidents had women problems. Some had several short terms affairs, some had long terms affairs and some did both (e.g., Bush I). Clinton is way down on the list compared to most in this department. Private cursing like a sailor is also extremely common. Truman was noted for this during his time, but most people were shocked to learn that Nixon swore. (I have no idea why this came as a shock to people.) LBJ was quite creative while Bush I and Bush II are considered “prissy” when it comes to cursing. There’s Texans and then there’s _Texans_. The only president with no notable bad habits over the last 70 years is Jimmy Carter and look what the voters did to him. Tea-totaller, clean cut, honest, goes to church. We can’t have someone like that running the goverment! ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/8 "2004-02-19T18:33:16Z")
I thought GWB stopped drinking before he became president? Not that there’s anything wrong with alcoholics running a country - Winston Churchill, the ginger haired alkie did a pretty good job for us a few decades ago. There’s hope for Charles Kennedy yet… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/9 "2004-02-19T19:02:15Z")
[QUOTE=ftg] The only president with no notable bad habits over the last 70 years is Jimmy Carter and look what the voters did to him. Tea-totaller, clean cut, honest, goes to church. [QUOTE] Maybe too honest. I remember being embarassed for him since he was apparently incapable of it when he shared with the nation his encounter with Montezuma’s Revenge and that lovely little “I have lusted in my heart” admission. What a treat. But yeah, other than that he was pretty desirable as far as presidential vices go. I saw a show recently that asserted Kennedy relied heavily on amphetamines at times to keep going. It claimed he used them to excess, including during the Cuban Missile Crisis. No cite and for all I know it could be History Channel sensationalism. ---
**Author:** ![lawboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c67d28/32.png) [@lawboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawboy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/10 "2004-02-19T19:07:59Z")
I heard that Harding was a fornicator of the worst kind from my AP US History teacher, but, alas, I have not cite for it. He also mentioned a rumor of his death being somewhat linked to his wife who wasn’t happy with all his philandering. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/11 "2004-02-19T19:11:09Z")
When I first saw this thread I thought that the OP was publicist trolling for a mention of [Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents, by Cormac O’Brien](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1931686572/qid=1077217655//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-0423308-9117463?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). But since nobody else has mentioned it, I guess I’ll have to do so. > [@](#): > > Your high school history teachers never gave you a book like this one! Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents features outrageous and uncensored profiles of the men in the White House - complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright wacko facts. You’ll discover that: - George Washington spent a whopping 7% of his salary on booze - John Quincy Adams loved to skinny-dip in the Potomac River - Warren G. Harding gambled with White House china when he ran low on cash - Jimmy Carter reported a UFO sighting in Georgia - And Richard Nixon . . . sheesh, don’t get us started on Nixon! With chapters on everyone from George Washington to G. W. Bush, Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents tackles all the tough questions that other history books are afraid to answer: Are there really secret tunnels underneath the White House? How many presidential daughters have bared their all for Playboy? And what was Nancy Reagan thinking when she appeared on Diff’rent Strokes? American history was never this much fun in school! ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/12 "2004-02-19T19:32:22Z")
Didn’t most people who swam in the 1820s do so in the nude? There weren’t bathing suits as yet. So I don’t think JQ Adams was really all that peculiar. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/13 "2004-02-19T20:03:27Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > . Some had several short terms affairs, some had long terms affairs and some did both (e.g., Bush I). I didn’t know about this. Is there any reputable citation for it? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/14 "2004-02-19T20:22:26Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I didn’t know about this. Is there any reputable citation for it? I believe it has been established that Kennedy had several short-term affairs after winning the White House, and Harding was carrying on a longer-term relationship with a woman named Nan something. I believe he even impregnated her. Harding was also a drinker, although not to excess, and a big-time poker player. FDR was boinking his secretary, Lucy Mercer, and she was with him when he died rather than Eleanor. Many Presidents have been accused of adultery, the most notable recent example being Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Ike was supposed to have attempted an affair with his driver, but was impotent. No credible evidence has ever been produced of adultery by either Bush. Or Nixon or Carter, for that matter. It depends on what is a bad habit. Taft and Clinton were obese, although not to the same degree. Kennedy was dosed with a large variety of semi-legal drugs, and was accused of smoking marijuana in the White House. It is difficult to separate the accusations of their opponents from the truth, although many have tried. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![tomyoung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@tomyoung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomyoung)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/15 "2004-02-19T21:23:37Z")
You know, I just picked up Robert Caro’s _Master of the Senate_ bio of LBJ, and I’m loving the details of Johnson’s personal habits, like how he would scratch “deeply” into his ass and pick his nose, the way he would piss in a sink in his office in front of secretaries, how he’d show “Jumbo” to fellow congressmen in the Capitol bathroom and ask them if they’d ever seen anything so big, or the time he took out and lifted up his scrotum to show a recent hernia operation to a group of men and women. And he had lots of affairs, one with a congresswoman that he barely tried to conceal. Of course, this volume doesn’t cover the presidential years, when Johnson would bring speechwriters into the White House bathroom with him while on the toilet, speaking softly so they’d have to approach as closely as possible. Simply amazing. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/16 "2004-02-19T21:29:25Z")
> [@dutchboy208](#): > > Cleveland was said to enjoy urinating out of the window of the Oval Office. Teensy-weensy nitpick here: The Oval Office did not exist in Cleveland’s day. He may have pissed out the window of his White House office, but that office had flat walls and four corners. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/17 "2004-02-19T22:04:10Z")
If you don’t know about [Bush I and Jennifer Fitzgerald](http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/2/12/55616.shtml), where have you been hiding? So Bush I keeps his personal mistress (who he cheated on numerous times) on the US Govt. payroll for years. She travels with him while he’s VP and President. Staying in hotel suites with connecting rooms. The press covers it up as best the can. Clinton gets to third base with an _intern_ a couple times and media goes ape-s\*\*t. This is what is known as “fair and balanced reporting.” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/18 "2004-02-19T22:16:44Z")
If you tire of reading that [NewsMax.com](http://NewsMax.com) “report”, you can click into their store and buy a mug or a T-shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/19 "2004-02-19T22:49:02Z")
I think it was Coolidge who dug holes in the White House grounds for exercise. Bad habit, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983/20 "2004-02-19T22:52:41Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The only president with no notable bad habits over the last 70 years is Jimmy Carter… Not true! Jimmy Carter lusted in his heart! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-habits-of-us-presidents/229983.md?page=2)