Fail to the Chief: Top 7 Presidential Blunders

Frank Flanagan

People sure do like to rag on our current President, Barack Obama --  just as they did to his predecessor, George W. Bush. In fact, U.S. Presidents are often the subject of public criticism or ridicule, even if it's undeserved.  On the other hand, some of our Chief Executives have engaged in such ridiculous behavior, that their criticism has been quite just. 

See the 7 biggest Presidential Blunders below

Should’ve Brought a Jacket
William Henry Harrison

We have all heard it: “Put your coat on, its cold out there.” I am certain you, like me, and many others out there have blown this advice right off. Well so did the ninth President William Henry Harrison. Our 9th President was advised to wear a coat during his outdoor inauguration on March 4, 1841, but chose not to, which led him to contract pneumonia and condemn his own health. President Harrison died just 32 days into his term on April 4, 1841. Harrison left behind the shortest legacy as President of the United States as well as a wife, Anna Symmes, and ten children.

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Have You Seen the China?
Warren G. Harding

“If you or a loved one suffers from a gambling addiction…” The twenty-ninth president, Ohio native Warren G. Harding was a hardnosed man. He was known for his smoking, and chewing, and drinking. The man lived. He also had a bit of a gambling problem. Legend has it, Harding once gambled the entirety of the White House china away in a single game of poker. These must have been some seriously high stakes games. 

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Not What She Signed Up For
William Jefferson Clinton

How many historic White House interns can you name? Just one? Is it by chance Monica Lewinsky? Yeah, I thought so. During President Bill Clinton’s first term as president, the 49-year-old engaged in what he himself has since deemed an “inappropriate relationship” with then 22-year-old Monica Lewinsky. The exact nature of their relationship is unknown based on conflicting stories, but anyone with a brain can figure out that big Bill “Bubba” Clinton was swinging for the fences. Lewinsky is slated to do a Ted Talk next month, while former first lady Hillary Clinton is now a promising hopeful for president in 2016. Bill still just kind of hangs out and messes around. 

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Rub-a-Dub-Dub
William Howard Taft

Coming in at 6-feet tall, weighing a whopping 316 pounds, your twenty-seventh and largest president, William Howard Taft. Notorious big man, President William Taft passed the Mann Elkin’s Act during his single term presidency. The act strengthened the interstate commerce commission, repositioning the commission’s ability to affect railroad rates, a major accomplishment. He also got his fat ass stuck in a bathtub. While no one knows the whole truth behind the incident, legend holds that several men had to pull Taft from the tub, as he couldn’t free himself. To Taft’s defense, fitness had not really been a fad in the 1910’s. 

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Monster-in-Chief
Grover Cleveland

Probably the most nefarious of the blunders on this list is the tale of Grover Cleveland’s secret lovechild. Cleveland, the only president to serve two non consecutive terms, is also one of the worst humans to grace God’s green earth. After dinner with Maria Halpin, a Buffalo woman, Cleveland forced himself on the young lady, raping her and consequently getting her pregnant. Determined to keep the story out of history books, upon the child’s birth, Cleveland had Maria locked up in a mental asylum and the child orphaned. Simply brutal. The story remained unpopular for many years before it was finally unearthed to reveal the monster Cleveland really was.

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Water Over the Gate
Richard M. Nixon

“I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow,” are the famous concluding words of President Nixon’s presidency and the Watergate scandal. During his shortened second term as President of the United States, Nixon and his administration abused power and political privileges to seek information, and further its agenda. Though the Watergate scandal is built of many pieces of treachery, the most famous of the illegal activities took place at the Watergate Hotel, where members of a Nixon support organization intrusively and illegally sought information and files on an opposition, by rummaging through the opposition’s room. Though Nixon originally claimed no involvement investigators saw through the lies. Had Nixon not resigned, he certainly would have been impeached.  

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Hogging the Spotlight
John F. Kennedy

In a haphazard attempt to end the Castro-led Cuban Dictatorship, the United States launched an operation that would live infamously unsuccessful. The Bay of Pigs Invasion which lasted three days in April of 1961, barely a month into John F. Kennedy’s presidency, was quickly thwarted by the Cuban soldiers. Hoping to keep the operation on the down low, Kennedy denied any upcoming US involvement in Cuba prior to the invasion. After what some would consider an ass-kicking, the failed U.S. operation was poorly hidden, and the young President was to blame. Though Kennedy played a major role in the blunder, false information regarding the operation, provided by the CIA certainly didn’t help. 

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