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10 U.S. Presidents With Dark Secrets

If you go snooping around the White House, you'll find skeletons in quite a few of the closets. Our country's leaders through the decades may seem flawless, but you'll shocked by these 10 presidents with dark secrets!

Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding

President Warren G. Harding had an ongoing affair with Nan Britton, a woman who was 30 years younger than him, and gave birth to his illegitimate child in a closet at the White House.

There were even rumors that Harding’s wife, in a fit of jealousy, may have been the one to end his life.

Edmund Hodgson Smart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Harry Truman

Harry Truman

President Harry Truman is said to have been a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. Though we was labeled inactive and he most likely joined out of social obligation, his involvement in the organization is a blemish on his reputation.

Truman, however, would go on to desegregate the nation’s army.

National Archives at College Park, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

President Andrew Jackson had a treasure trove of secrets that he would have preferred not to be discussed. He removed approximately 100,000 Native Americans from their homeland, married his wife while she was still married to someone else, and was also the only president to kill someone while in office.

He shot and killed Charles Dickinson after the rival horse breeder insulted Jackson's wife and accused him of cheating on a horse race bet.

Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

President Thomas Jefferson had many extramarital affairs, most famously with a slave he owned named Sally Hemings. According to many historians, Jefferson likely fathered children as a result of their relationship. 

Perhaps this is why he always seemed so nervous speaking in public; he only delivered two speeches during his eight-year presidency.

(Rembrandt Peale, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

President Lyndon B. Johnson was very fond of his reproductive organs, which he referred to as “Jumbo.”

It is said that when he was asked why the U.S. was sending troops into Vietnam during a cabinet meeting, he revealed his lower region and yelled, “This is why!”

Arnold Newman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams

There have been many men of questionable sanity serve as leader of the free world, but President John Quincy Adams gives them all a run for their money.

Adams legitimately believed that the Earth was hollow and home to mole people, even going so far as to send an expedition underground to sign a trade agreement with them.

National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson

President Andrew Johnson, a notorious drunk, showed up noticeably intoxicated to his own inauguration, claiming that it was due to treatment for his typhoid fever.

While he was swearing in his new cabinet members, Johnson was so drunk that he had to leave the ceremony altogether.

Mathew Brady, Retouched by Mmxx, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison

Though his administration was the first to see electric lights installed in the White House, President Benjamin Harrison was deathly afraid of using electricity.

So they wouldn’t be electrocuted, he and his wife refused to turn on any light switches, instead having White House staff do it for them.

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland

Shop clerk Maria Halpin accused Grover Cleveland of assaulting her when the two were out on a date about a decade before he became president. She claimed she bore a child as a result of that night.

Still, paternity was never proven, and President Cleveland didn’t publicly acknowledge the child as being his.

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Until he was five years old, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s mother dressed him up as a girl. She would put him in dresses and grow his hair to shoulder length.

To be fair, in the 1880s, when FDR was growing up, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for children to be clad in clothing of the opposite gender before they were six or seven years old.

Elias Goldensky (1868–1943), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons