In class we have been talking a lot about how sex influences basically everything in history, but this doesn’t just apply to the colonial times. In the 1990s there was a HUGE sex scandal centered around the President of the United States that caused his impeached, this means that the second impeachment case ever of a United. States President happened because of sex.
A 22 year old intern, Monica Lewinsky, had sexual relations with President Bill Clinton 9 times from 1995 to 1997. During Clinton’s deposition for a case of sexual harassment (the Jones Case, a case against Clinton for sexual harassment…he was a pretty bad guy) Clinton claimed that he did not have sexual relations with Lewinsky. Later when it came to light that Clinton and Lewinsky had in fact had sexual relations, it was realized that Clinton lied under oath. This caused his impeachment trial to be conducted.
Monica Lewinsky
The Monica Lewinsky case created a lot of drama and was a huge deal in the scheme of things. Many people in the Democratic party believed that the case created a lack of excitement among the party and was a part of the reason that Gore lost the 2000 election. At the time of the impeachment trial there were more Republicans than Democrats in the Senate, so there was fear amongst the Democrats that he would be found guilty on the accusations of perjury and/or obstruction of justice. Ten Republicans acquitted him of perjury and five on the obstruction of justice, which was enough to acquit him of all charges and allow him to remain in office.
Clinton argued that he was not lying in court because they only ever participated in oral sex and he only ever received it, never gave it, which was not specified in the question of sexual relations. If you ask me, he just didn’t want to look bad for cheating on his wife, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and possibly end up divorced by the end of his presidency. Hillary never left him after the scandal.
If you think about it, one of the biggest scandals there has been in the past twenty five years, was completely based on sex. Why is it such a big deal that the President of the United States had oral sex with a woman he was not married to? Does this make him less fit to lead the nation? Does this change his policies? Or just his image?
If you ask me, the truth is that in politics your image is EVERYTHING, so if he was caught cheating on his wife, he would be seen as less wholesome and would not be seen in the same way by the world. And the crime he was impeached for was not cheating on his wife, which is wrong, but not illegal. The crime he was impeached for was lying under oath, by saying that he had not had sexual relations with Lewinsky, he created an opportunity for those who did not like the way in which he ran the nation to stop him. They took this opportunity and failed, but who knows, maybe this had some small form of influence on the recent election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
It is so strange how interested we are in our leaders’ sex lives and how it changes our views of them as a president.
Empire state of mind 