One Nation Under Sex: How the Private Lives of Presidents, First Ladies and Their Lovers Changed the Course of American History
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Ben Franklin saved the American Revolution by seducing French Women. A gay love affair between President James Buchanan and Senator William King aided the secession movement. Woodrow Wilson’s girlfriend dictated his letters to the German Kaiser. And lesbian relationships inspired Eleanor Roosevelt to become a crusader for equal rights. The colorful sex lives of America’s most powerful leaders have influenced social movements, government policies, elections and even wars, yet they are whitewashed by historians.
In One Nation Under Sex, free speech activist and notorious Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt teams up with Columbia University history professor David Eisenbach to peek behind the White House bedroom curtains and document how hidden passions have shaped public life. They unpack salacious rumors and outright scandals, showing how private affairs have driven pivotal decisions—often with horrific consequences. Along the way, they explore the origins of America’s fascination with sex scandals and explain how we can put aside our political moralism and begin focusing on the real problems that threaten our nation.
“You don’t have to agree with all of Larry Flynt’s and David Eisenbach’s readings of history to enjoy this sex-filled tour through more than 200 years of scandal.” —David Greenberg, author of Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency
“Well reasoned, well written, and well documented.” —Booklist
“Those looking for salacious details will find them, but Flynt and Eisenbach favor analysis over sensationalism, providing a new perspective of the men and women who have shaped our nation.” —Publishers Weekly
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Larry Flynt (1942-2021) was the legendary publisher of Hustler magazine and a famous crusader for First Amendment and privacy rights for more than four decades. His landmark Supreme Court case, Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, is taught in law schools throughout the United States.
A former political candidate for president in 1984, he was the subject of Miloš Forman’s critically-acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated film The People vs. Larry Flynt starring Woody Harrelson as Flynt, where he appeared in a couple of cameos.
Flynt was the author of the autobiography An Unseemly Man and co-author of One Nation Under Sex.
David Eisenbach,Ph.D., is an award-winning historian who teaches American political history at Columbia University. He was the creator and host of the two-hour History Channel special, The Beltway Unbuckled, about how presidential sex shaped American history. He lives in New York City.
