President Clinton may seem like the biggest hound to ever occupy the White House, but there is actually a long line of presidents who have had scandalous love affairs. Of course, there was Kennedy (who was probably Clinton’s idol), but there are many scandals that you may not know about. Some even date way back to 1784 with Thomas Jefferson.

The widowed Jefferson had a couple of affairs. The first was with a married women, and the second was with his slave. The affair with his slave was the more scandalous of the two because she was the half-sister of Jefferson’s wife. Even more scandalous than that, it was rumored that the two produced several illegitimate children. Well, let’s look on the bright side, at least Clinton and Monica didn’t have kids.

Next in line is Andrew Jackson. His nefarious affair was actually not even his fault. He married Rachel Donelson Robards before her divorce from her first husband was final. When Mr. Robards learned the truth, he sued Rachel for divorce on the grounds of adultery.

There is a relatively happy ending, though. Jackson and Rachel later remarried, but the Scandal lived on until her sudden death in 1828. Jackson couldn’t help but blame her accusers.

The sex scandals ended for awhile after that until James Garfield committed “lawless passion,” in the words of his wife. After four years of marriage, Garfield had a brief love affair, and … that was it. Wow, a brief affair — Garfield doesn’t seem too bad of a guy, either.

Grover Cleveland wasn’t that bad a guy either, but an old affair nearly destroyed his bid for presidency.

Fifteen years prior to his election, Cleveland became involved with Maria Haplin. She ended up giving birth to a son and, even though Cleveland wasn’t sure if the child was his, he agreed to pay child support.

Eventually Haplin became an alcoholic, so Cleveland temporarily placed her in an asylum, and he put Grover Jr. in an orphanage. Luckily, Haplin cleaned up her act and everything worked out. Except Cleveland’s rivals, who mocked his campaign with, “Ma! Ma! Where’s my Pa?”

Woodrow Wilson had a squeaky clean image until he was widowed after just two years in the White House. Following a brief period of mourning, Wilson began to date a widow. The public didn’t like the new woman in Wilson’s life. Rumors flew that they both had poisoned Mrs. Wilson, but the scandal calmed downed once the two were married.

Warren G. Harding is more up to Clinton’s speed. His first extra-marital affair was with his wife’s confidant, Mrs. Carrie Phillips. He and Phillips continued their liaison for 15 years. He also had an affair with 21-year-old Nan Britton for six years. This affair produced a daughter. Rumor has it, Harding paid quite a chunk of change for child support.

In 1913, Franklin D. Roosevelt had an affair with Lucy Page Mercer. She was hired as a social secretary by Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor. Five years later, Eleanor discovered the affair and, unlike Hillary, threatened a divorce. Roosevelt agreed to end the affair, but Mercer later reentered his life.

Dwight D. Eisenhower’s affair is questionable, merely because the only one to confirm it is the supposed other woman, Kay Sommersby. Her autobiography, “Past Forgetting,” described her affair with Ike in detail. Probably not as much detail as the Starr report, though.

Of course, John F. Kennedy has to be mentioned. His many women included: Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Angie Dickinson, stripper Blaze Starr, Judith Campbell Exner and numerous hookers. Eat your heart out, Clinton.

Lyndon Johnson helped to keep the Kennedy tradition alive with several extra-marital affairs of his own. One was a 30-year liaison with society hostess Alice Glass. There are many more, and his wife even knew about half of them. Hmm, do you see any similarities between Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Clinton? Denial or political savvy?

So Clinton is not the only one to be caught with his pants down.

Many of these others probably would not have been elected or made it through their term with Starr on the loose, especially if they were democrats.

In essence, the only thing that Clinton did wrong was get caught. If no one had found out about Gennifer, Paula or Monica (at least until after his presidency), Clinton would have been just one of many.

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Jessica Bittner is a freshman in journalism and mass communication from Council Bluffs.