Reagan was the only divorced president in our history. His wife left him for some loser actor.
Now we have another divorcee, McCain. Here's his story of how, unlike Reagan, he did not stand by the vows he made......
Excerpted (by me
) from an article written by Nicholas Kristof.
In his tiny cubicle in the Russell Senate Office Building, in the lowest foothills of political power, a frustrated Navy officer wrestled with friends over what to do with his life.
It was 1979, and it was becoming clear that he would never make admiral like his father and grandfather. He had always dreamed of doing something great, of imprinting his name on the history books, but at age 42 he found himself with a stuttering military career and no base from which to go into politics.
On top of that, his personal life was a mess: Although he was still living with his wife, he was aggressively courting a 25-year-old woman who was as beautiful as she was rich.
.......
For a candidate running on character and biography, it is also an awkward time to remember: Mr. McCain abandoned his wife, who had reared their three children while he was in Vietnamese prisons, and he then began his political career with the resources of his new wife's family.
........
His wife, Carol, a tall, slim woman who had once been a model, had nearly died in a car wreck in 1969. H. Ross Perot, the businessman and advocate of prisoners of war, had paid for her medical care, but the injuries left her four inches shorter and on crutches, and she had gained a good deal of weight.
.....
Mr. McCain has acknowledged running around with women and accepted responsibility for the breakup of the marriage, without going into details.
........
Over the next six months, Mr. McCain pursued Miss Hensley aggressively, flying around the country to see her, and he began to push to end his marriage. Friends say that Carol McCain was in shock.
Late that year, the McCains finally separated, and Mrs. McCain accepted a divorce the next February. Mr. McCain promptly married Miss Hensley, his present wife.
.......Mr. McCain's three children in the first marriage were less forgiving .... and none of them were in attendance when he married Cindy. No one blamed Cindy, however, for she seemed shy and it was clear that Mr. McCain had been the pursuer.
Maybe next week we'll do an expose of his involvement with the S&L scandal. This man makes Giuliani seems like a paragon of virtue.
