Roosevelt successfully covered up affairs with Lucy Mercer and Missy Le Hand. And over time Roosevelt ended up using the same techniques to cover up affairs of state that he used to cover up affairs of the heart. Turner Catledge of the New York Times told friends that Roosevelt's first instinct was always to lie. However, sometimes in midsentence he would switch to accuracy because he could get away with the truth in that particular instance.
Roosevelt ran against Herbert Hoover in 1932, promising to reduce the size of government. When elected he turned around and launched the New Deal. And throughout his administration developed some of the same patterns of Woodrow Wilson who we discussed yesterday. In the end, Roosevelt mastered the art of doublespeak, a habit he developed in hiding his affairs from the press and the public.
And while we are talking about affairs, we shouldn't forget Warren Harding, who engaged in a sexual coverup of his affairs with Carrie Phillips and Nan Britton. One encounter apparently took place in a White House closet.
Dr. Olasky concludes that faithlessness in marriage apparently is an accurate predictor of trouble in a presidency. He says, "Small betrayals in marriage generally lead to larger betrayals, and leaders who break a large vow to one person find it easy to break relatively small vows to millions."
I'm Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, and that's my opinion.
© 1998 Probe Ministries International