Affairs who cares! Throughout history famous people have had affairs that became public eventually. I do think though a lot was covered up by the press out of respect for the famous people or just because they were more discrete. Now everything is up front immediately and plastered on the nightly news.

There was a time when all the kids wanted to be President when they grew up. Clinton was a great role model. He had the last balanced budget, he took care of the terrorism problem and we weren’t in a war. Then came the affairs and the semen stained dress and the impeachment. Boy, did I have a lot of explaining to do to my 12 year old.

One of the most recent public love affairs was between our General Petraeus who had a love affair with the woman who was writing a authorized biography of his life for a book. She was given editorial control and wrote a very praising biography of the man. We are missing a big bit of information in that when did the affair exactly take place? There always seems to be some kind of cover up in matters.

Was the affair during the time both were in the military? Then that would be a criminal offence under the military code. Rumor has it that they were in bed together in Afghanistan but who knows? The author Kitty Kelley has made a small fortune throughout the years writing unauthorized biography’s on famous people and disclosed many affairs of famous people to the public.

She wrote a book about Jackie Onassis that brings into public view the Kennedy family and the reputation’s of the men and the many affairs they have been known to have. Their actions prove that marriage is a sacred institution but affairs are a way of life. At that time, no one even knew about the men’s affairs. Now people exchange e-mails and telephone records that are all printable for all to see.

Today there is shock value in affairs, Why did General Petraeus have to retire? The Kennedy’s never lost any political office for a woman. The general is the head of the CIA and could be giving classified information during their pillow talk. People all of a sudden find it outrageous when a general in the United States Army goes out and lies about his sexual affair? No one said anything about President Eisenhower when he was General Eisenhower and had a very close relationship with his driver.

There used to be a line between someone’s public life and one’s private life and the Kennedy’s are a great example of that. In those days none of the women talked to the press either. George Herbert Walker Bush according to Kitty Kelley’s book had a mistress, Jennifer Fitzgerald. It was well known among his friends but never put out to the press. Barbara Bush tolerated it and wanted to still have out there that he was a great family man.

Coincidentally, when Kitty wrote her book on Bush, she just happened to loose her job as a Contributing Editor for the Washingtonian Magazine which she held for 30 years. Ironically the owner of the magazine was an appointee from the Bush Administration. Cronyism is alive and well. However, if you are going to write about the most powerful people in the land, people who really control their public image and their public image is terribly important to them, then retaliation will happen from powerful people.

Kitty has been sued many times for slander but she has never lost a case because she always had her evidence meticulously documented with tapes, notes and photographs. She wrote about three generations of famous Bush men that went back to Prescott Bush. Even the Republican National Committee went after Kitty and her reporting of scandal.

Over the years Kitty Kelley has revealed that Nancy Regan did everything Ronald in her book Nancy. Her new book is about the Kennedy’s called “Capturing Camelot.” Kitty discloses that Nancy Regan had an affair with Frank Sinatra.

In her book about Sinatra she reveals that he had affairs with Ava Gardner and Elizabeth Taylor and both actresses had abortions. They were both the most beautiful women of their era. To terminate a pregnancy in those days was probably very dangerous since it was way before Roe Vs. Wade that gave women the safe choice to go ahead with an unwanted pregnancy.

Jackie looked the other way when it came to her husband’s affairs. Rose Kennedy also looked away from Joseph Kennedy’s love affairs with Gloria Swanson and Claire Booth Loose ( yes that is her real name) who ironically became the first American woman appointed to a major ambassadorial post abroad. Talk about sleeping your way to a top job in America.

Rose Kennedy looked the other way because it was known that her father was having sexual relations with a cigarette girl called Tootles. Yes, affairs go way back in contemporary history. All these men were very charismatic and loved their children deeply. Kitty Kelley has researched powerful men and their daily lives for over 50 years.