# Is Reagan the only divorced President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 4, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449 "2003-11-04T23:47:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/1 "2003-11-04T23:47:47Z")
Just curious. I know there was a time when divorce was scandal-scandal-scandal. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/2 "2003-11-04T23:57:35Z")
I’m sure I should go out and double check this, but my memory tells me that, as you say, there used to be a huge black mark against you if you were divorced and some thought this would also be true for Reagan. Not so, of course. He became our first divorced president. But I also certainly remember that Nelson Rockefeller was said to have lost all chance of becoming president when he divorced Happy, and that was less than two decades before Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/3 "2003-11-05T00:17:14Z")
One difference being Ron’s divorce happened quite far back, so that his entire _political_ career happened after marrying Nancy. And the marriage to Jane was not _that_ long (by the general standards of the time). It’s almost as if Middle America has this subconscious thing along the lines of that a showbiz marriage is not quite as real. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/4 "2003-11-05T00:26:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Exapno Mapcase \* > \*\*But I also certainly remember that Nelson Rockefeller was said to have lost all chance of becoming president when he divorced Happy, and that was less than two decades before Reagan. \*\* Maybe Democrats really are more open-minded; they nominated divorcee Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and again in 1956. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/5 "2003-11-05T00:33:36Z")
To answer the OP, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/6 "2003-11-05T01:22:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Exapno Mapcase \* > **But I also certainly remember that Nelson Rockefeller was said to have lost all chance of becoming president when he divorced Happy . . .** Nelson Rockefeller didn’t divorce Happy; he divorced his first wife so that he could _marry_ Happy. Of course, had he lived much longer, that marriage might have ended in divorce also. Nelson died during a late-night “business meeting” with a comely 25-year-old assistant whom he had hired to “help him write a book on his art holdings”. The old rascal. ---
**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:** [November 5, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/7 "2003-11-05T02:17:59Z")
Right. Told you I should have looked it up first. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/8 "2003-11-05T02:39:22Z")
If I recall correctly, the furor over Rockefeller’s divorce and remarriage had pretty much died down by the '64 (?) presidential campaign. Then Happy (his second wife) gave birth just before a significant primary, and the whole thing all boiled up again. Rockefeller lost the primary, and with it pretty much any chance of gaining the nomination. A couple of weeks later he was introducing some friends to his new son, and told them that “if he’d been born two days later, he’d be the son of the President of the United States.” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/9 "2003-11-05T04:39:25Z")
I see. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Frame\_Dragging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/53a042/32.png) [@Frame\_Dragging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frame_Dragging)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/10 "2003-11-05T04:53:50Z")
Warren Harding was elected president in 1920 having fathered an illegitimate child born in 1919. He was married at the time of the child’s birth. Not sure if the 1920 electorate knew of the little bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/11 "2003-11-05T05:46:49Z")
Florence Kling Harding eloped with a neighbor at age 19, and then divorced him two years later, before marrying Warren Harding in 1891. Her ex-husband was long dead by the time Warren Harding was elected U.S. president in 1920. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/12 "2003-11-05T05:48:15Z")
I should add that Betty Ford had been married and divorced before she met Gerald Ford. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/13 "2003-11-05T12:27:35Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s almost as if Middle America has this subconscious thing along the lines of that a showbiz marriage is not quite as real. Heh. As near as I can tell they ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/14 "2003-11-05T12:39:55Z")
Going back a bit further on First Ladies – Rachel Jackson was also divorced before marrying Andrew Jackson. She thought. Turns out the divorce didn’t go through and she and Andrew weren’t legally married. After a couple of years, the first husband popped up again and sued for divorce on the grounds that Rachel was living with another man. Andrew and Rachel were legally remarried as soon as possible. Still, this was pretty scandelous and came back to haunt them years later when Jackson entered politics. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/15 "2003-11-05T13:00:05Z")
The fact is, too, that Jane Wyman left Ronald Reagan, and not the other way around. Such things do make a difference, especially for the time period we’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-reagan-the-only-divorced-president/211449/16 "2003-11-05T16:40:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by a1997xf11 \* > \*\*Warren Harding was elected president in 1920 having fathered an illegitimate child born in 1919. He was married at the time of the child’s birth. Not sure if the 1920 electorate knew of the little bastard. \*\* Grover Cleveland (I think) fathered a child out of wedlock, causing the other party to exclaim **"Ma! Ma! Where’s my Pa?"** After the election, Cleveland supporters responded **"Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!"** God, the things I remember…