The 2024 Presidential Election will be the 60th of its type in US history. For years, men (and women) have fought hard to be the nation’s leader. Unfortunately, these elections aren’t always squeaky clean. Here are some of the dirtiest and most controversial presidential elections of all time:
1796: Of Kings and Atheists
When George Washington stepped down after two terms as President, Vice President John Adams felt as though he was his spiritual successor. Thomas Jefferson, formerly Secretary of State, clearly disagreed. As it was considered ungentlemanly for presidential candidates to *gasp* actually campaign, surrogates were used. The press was also a popular means in which the rival campaigns used to attack one another.
Thomas Jefferson was accused of being the son of a ‘half-breed Indian and mulatto father,’ and that his administration would see innocent women be raped. One accusation that possibly be even more damaging was that Jefferson was an atheist- unthinkable at a deeply Christian time.
John Adams got off a little more lightly, but was still the product of cruel commentary. One newspaper called him ‘old, querulous, bald, blind, crippled, toothless Adams,’ whilst his weight saw him given the rude moniker ‘His Rotundity.’ Others accused him of wanting to create his own monarchy with his son taking over after his own presidency- interesting, since John Quincy Adams would become President in his own right over twenty years later.
One of the most infamous attacks against Jefferson was partially true. A writer using the pseudonym ‘Phocion’ accused Jefferson of having an affair with a slave, that he wanted to free them all, and that he ran away from action during the Revolution. Jefferson was in fact in France for most of the Revolution and wasn’t a fan of open abolitionism, but the slave bit was true. This was exposed years later, and history has come to know that Jefferson had a ‘relationship’ with an underage slave named Sally Hemings, the half-sister of his late wife Martha. Many historians believe that Phochion was actually Alexander Hamilton, a man who disliked Adams but despised Jefferson.
Adams received three more electoral votes than Jefferson, and one more than was needed for a clear majority. The rules of the time stated that Jefferson, as runner up, was Vice President. This wasn’t initially a problem between the two friendly men, but this changed by the next election.
1800: Lies and Mudslinging
Four years later, and it was rematch time. 1800 was perhaps one of the dirtiest elections in American history, second only to 1828.
Adams was steadily more unpopular, and even Hamilton had thrown his support to long time enemy Jefferson. One prominent journalist named James Callender, who had been screwed over by Adams’ controversial Alien and Sedition Laws, said that the president ‘behaved neither like a man nor like a woman but instead possessed a hideous hermaphroditical character.’ He also said that Adams wanted war with France, though that’s not quite as inflammatory as calling the president a hermaphrodite. Jefferson wasn’t safe from Callender’s quill. He’d used Callender to attack Adams- imagine outsourcing your hate- and when he didn’t help the journalist after his stint in prison, he became the enemy. Several years later, Callender would break the Sally Hemings story.
Jefferson was accused of stealing thousands from a widow and her children, hating the Constitution, and again, siring children with his slave. The accusations of atheism also came into play, with his role in the French Revolution apparently being a ploy to overthrow Christianity. Oh, and apparently he was a Francophile. The Americans wanted to be a republic, but no one wants to be French.
That’s not to mention what went down between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Whilst they weren’t quite as friends as Hamilton would have you believe, the 1800 election was a true turning point. In 1791, Burr had beaten Alexander Hamilton’s father-in-law, the influential Philip Schuyler, and taken his Senate seat. Hamilton got his revenge in 1800, when the election turned out to be a tie between Jefferson and Burr, by pushing for the House of Representatives to choose Burr. Relations soured, particularly when Hamilton’s letters against him were made public in the years after the election. On the 11th July 1804, Burr and Hamilton duelled. Hamilton was shot, and died the next day, whilst Burr went into hiding.
What does 1800 say about the characters of Adams and Jefferson? Both had their good points. Adams loved his wife Abigail beyond measure. Jefferson was a loving father who had agreed to his wife’s dying wish of never remarrying again. That being said, they were both flawed. Adams was pompous and argumentative, and his son would be the same. Jefferson was popular personally, but he had a ‘relationship’ with an underage slave who happened to be his wife’s illegitimate half-sister. Whilst Adams was less likely than Jefferson to start a fight in 1796, the gloves were off in 1800. Jefferson went further by actually hiring people to attack Adams, but his rival was no saint either.
Adams was a one-term president, remembered better for his actions during the American Revolution than his presidency. Meanwhile, Jefferson served two terms and is more admired as a figure. Their relationship improved over the years, though they never saw each other again. Incidentally, both died on the same day- 4th July 1826. Adams’ last words ‘Jefferson lives,’ betrayed the fact that his frenemy had passed hours earlier.
1824: A Corrupt Bargain
In 1824, several candidates ran for the top job. Andrew Jackson had the highest number of votes, but no majority in the Electoral College. As a result, the election would be decided by the House of Representatives. The final three candidates were Jackson, John Quincy Adams and William H. Crawford. Henry Clay had been eliminated, but still held the role of Speaker of the House. Clay disliked and distrusted Jackson. When it came to the election, the House of Representatives did not choose Jackson, but crowned Adams the winner.
Jackson was beside himself with anger. He and his supporters called this ‘A Corrupt Bargain,’as Clay had been given the valuable role of Secretary of State. Whilst he’d have his revenge four years later, Jackson eventually famously stated that his biggest regrets were that he didn’t ‘shoot Henry Clay and hang John C. Calhoun.’
1828: The Bigamist
Four years later and it was time for a rematch. 1828 saw one of the dirtiest elections of all time in terms of mudslinging, lies and slander.
Adams was accused of being a pimp during his time as Minister to Russia, said to have procured a young girl for the Tsar. A slightly less horrible, though also devastating rumour, said that he’d bought a gambling table using public money. It was actually a chess set and a pool table. Another story was that Adams had a black half-brother.
It was worse for Jackson. So-called ‘Coffin Handbills,’ were passed around. These pamphlets showed six black coffins that represented deserters that Jackson had allegedly killed. His violent temper, along with his treatment of Natives and slaves were brought up- like the Jefferson case, not exactly untrue. Like previous candidates, Jackson was accused of having black ancestry, with one paper saying ‘General Jackson’s mother was a common prostitute, brought to this country by the British soldiers! She afterward married a mulatto man, with whom she had several children, of which number General Jackson is one!’ Jackson’s parents were Irish immigrants.
Arguably the most innocent yet most aggrieved in this case was Rachel Jackson, the General’s beloved wife. Rachel had been married years before to a man named Lewis Robards, a drunkard who accused her of adultery whilst cheating himself. After Rachel believed that she had got a divorce from Robards, she married Jackson. Unfortunately, it turns out that the divorce was not valid, and Rachel was an accidental bigamist. Jackson and Rachel remarried after the divorce properly went through in 1794.
Adams supporters attacked Rachel as a bigamist, adulteress and whore. Rachel was by all accounts a kind, quiet woman with no interest in politics, and who was devastated by the hate campaign. Jackson finally waded in after Rachel was attacked, though Adams himself was disgusted by the vitriol. When Rachel unexpectedly died between the election and the inauguration, Jackson blamed his enemies and said that he would never forgive them for killing the woman he loved. He refused to meet the outgoing Adams as was tradition, stating ‘Any man who would permit a public journal, under his control, to assault the reputation of a respectable female, much less the wife of his rival and competitor for first office in the world was not entitled to the respect of any honorable man.’
What does this tell us about both men? Adams was more restrained and genuinely disgusted by the campaign, but he could be exceedingly arrogant, cold, and was not a particularly good husband like his dad was. Jackson was a temperamental man who had done some awful things, but sincerely loved his wife and was an extremely good friend. Many would have expected Jackson to get angry at the beginning of the vitriol, but he remained surprisingly restrained.
Adams was an average one-term President, but is lauded as one of the most brilliant Secretaries of State the country has ever seen. Jackson was a two-term President who is remembered well by historians, though his acts against Native Americans has seen his reputation slide.
1876: The Compromise
The 1876 election campaign was nothing to write home about, but the results remain the stuff of history. It’s the 8th of November. Samuel J. Tilden of the Democratic Party has 184 electoral votes to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes’ 166. Nineteen voters were left to decide and all roads seemed to lead to a Tilden victory. South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana, however, were having trouble with returns. In Oregon, a Republican elector had to resign as he was a federal employee, but the Democratic governor chose a Tilden supporter. This election was heating up.
The Democratic House and the Republican Senate fought. A fifteen-man Electoral Commission was created in an attempt to find an answer. Soon, something called the Compromise of 1877 occurred. Behind the scenes, power brokers from each party held talks. Eventually, it was decided that Hayes would be declared the winner if the Democrats received some concessions. The exact nature of these concessions is not known and is still debated, but Reconstruction ended in the South.
What of Hayes and Tilden? Hayes was by all accounts a good, honourable man and when he promised to only serve one term, he did. Tilden returned to private life and died a decade later.
1884: Ma, Ma, Where’s My Pa?
The 1884 election placed Democrat Grover Cleveland against Republican James G. Blaine. Whilst there were a few controversies during the campaign, it was a story from a decade before that really got things going.
It’s the 14th September 1874. A widow named Maria Halpin, already a mother of two, gave birth to an illegitimate son named Oscar. The boy was taken from his mother, who was placed in an asylum. After five days, doctors realised there was no reason for Halpin to be there, and she was released. Halpin desperately tried to get Oscar back, but was apparently paid to leave him alone. Oscar was adopted by the head of the asylum, Dr. King. His mother would never see him again.
Flash forward to 1884 and a newspaper breaks a story that candidate Mrs. Halpin had given birth to a baby with the surname of Cleveland, had been committed to a mental asylum and had the baby taken from her bosom.
This is where the stories diverge.
Grover Cleveland claimed that Maria Halpin was a woman of loose morals and had relations with someone in his friendship group. It’s said he believed that the true father was Oscar Folsom, his best friend whom he had the boy named after. As Cleveland was the only unmarried man in the group, he took responsibility for the mother and child. He said that Halpin was an irresponsible, wanton woman who was free with her affections and that the baby was not safe with her. Cleveland had Halpin committed and had the baby adopted by Dr. King, though he paid her handsomely.
Maria Halpin disagreed.
She said that Cleveland had pursued her doggedly and that she’d agreed to dinner with him. After dinner, Cleveland had escorted her back to her boarding house, where he pushed into her room and raped her. A horrified Halpin planned never to see him again- until it turned out that she was pregnant. When Halpin gave birth, Cleveland had her committed and took the baby away. She planned to have him charged, but he was a very powerful sheriff, and threatened her life. When asked about Oscar Folsom and others, Halpin said that she’d never met the man and that Cleveland was undoubtedly the father.
Now, the country was divided. Some said that Cleveland was an honourable and honest man, and his only ‘crime’ was assisting this drunkard Ms. Halpin. Others, including Pastor Henry W. Crabbe of the United Presbyterian church of Buffalo, said that the unmarried Cleveland was well-known for being a promiscuous womaniser.
Eventually, Cleveland managed to persuade the public that he was simply an honourable man doing right but a dishonourable woman. Oscar Folsom had died years ago and was unable to defend himself. Mistakes by the Blaine campaign made them forget Cleveland’s folly.
Grover Cleveland won the election. Questions still remain as to whether he was an honourable man or a rapist, though the fact he put Halpin in an asylum wasn’t great. His marriage to the much younger Frances, daughter of Oscar Folsom, came after years of what we might charitably call ‘grooming.’ For his part, James G. Blaine was widely believed to have been corrupt.
‘Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha.’
1928: Anti-Catholicism
With Calvin Coolidge having stated his intention to stand down, the Republican Party fielded Hebert Hoover. The Democrats chose the Catholic Al Smith as their candidate.
Whilst not as overt as the mistreatment of African-Americans and others, anti-Catholicism had long been part of American culture. Catholic immigrants from Europe were widely distrusted, though a famed anti-Catholic speech by a pro-Blaine pastor in 1884 is believed to have been the reason that he lost New York.
The choice of Smith ignited a firestorm, particularly in the deeply Protestant South, an area that was usually strictly Democrat. Voters genuinely believed that a Catholic would be beholden to the Pope and to Rome over the country. Pastors told their flock that they’d be in danger under a Catholic president. The Republicans ran on this campaign. Meanwhile; Herbert Hoover did not publicly or privately attack Smith. That being said, he didn’t exactly speak out against it either.
Smith’s wife Catherine was attacked for her Irish ancestry, which opponents said made her uncouth. When it came down to it, Smith lost several normally blue states such as Texas and Tennessee. It’s likely that his Catholicism was the reason.
Hoover was known to be a kind man, but a little incompetent in high office, so it’s not surprising he didn’t personally partake in the muckraking. Smith did not live to see John F. Kennedy become the first Catholic elected to the presidency, as he died in 1944.
1964: The Goldwater Rule
The tragic assassination of John F. Kennedy left a hole in the nation’s hearts, and left Lyndon B. Johnson as leader. He was the Democratic candidate for 1964, whilst Senator Barry Goldwater was the Republican pick.
It was an article in a newspaper that was particularly controversial. Fast published an article ‘The Unconscious of a Conservative: A Special Issue on the Mind of Barry Goldwater.’ The magazine had sent out a questionnaire to 12,356 psychiatrists. Only around 2,000 responded. Half said they had no issues with Goldwater’s health. 1,189 said that Goldwater was not mentally and psychologically able to act as President. One psychiatrist dramatically declared ‘I believe Goldwater has the same pathological make-up as Hitler, Castro, Stalin and other known schizophrenic leaders.’
The Johnson campaign ran with the idea that Goldwater was ‘mad.’ In the infamous ‘Daisy’ advert, it was implied that if Goldwater became president, he would ensure a nuclear holocaust. After all, ‘in your gut, you know he’s nuts.’
Johnson won the election in a landslide. He was known for his skill as a politician, and he was definitely ruthless enough to portray Goldwater as mentally unstable. Goldwater, for his part, despised Johnson and had actually looked forward to running against his friend John Kennedy.
The Fast issue was so controversial that Goldwater sued them into oblivion. Years later, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) made it a rule that psychiatrists should not comment upon or diagnose public figures whom they had not personally examined. This rule seems to be forgotten by more than a few people *cough* Trump and Biden *cough.*
1972: Watergate
Richard Nixon was riding high as he entered the 1972 election campaign. His opponent was Senator George McGovern. Nixon’s team was not taking any chances, and an elicit nighttime raid would end up sending him packing.
In the early morning of the 17th June 1972, five men were arrested after a security guard noticed some unusual activity at the Watergate Complex in Washington D.C. These ‘plumbers’ had been tasked with breaking into the Democratic National Headquarters to plant bugs and wiretap phones. A coverup was ordered at the highest level. In the meantime, Nixon won forty-nine out of fifty states in a huge landslide.
It was the Washington Post that first broke the story. Legendary reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, with the help of the then-anonymous FBI ‘Deep Throat,’ other sources and their editor Ben Bradlee, brought the story to national attention. Unfortunately for them, they were disbelieved and even mocked. It was not until the end of the plumbers’ trial that the Nixon Administration began to panic. The trail was starting to lead to them, leading to firings, cover ups and even hush money. By early 1974, the pressure was on the President. The transcripts from the Oval Office tapes horrified the nation, sending both Congress and the Supreme Court into action.
The Supreme Court ruled that the tapes had to be released, and they were on the 30th July. Nixon maintained his innocence and planned to stay on until the so-called ‘smoking gun tape’ was released on the 5th August. On the 7th, leading congressional Republicans told Nixon they wouldn’t support him. He announced his resignation on the 8th August, effective noon the next day. The Nixons left the White House on the 9th.
Nixon remains a fascinating figure. Some say he was the devil incarnate. Others say he was the victim of his own paranoia. It’s widely believed that Nixon didn’t know about the break-in until after it happened, but he was known to have helped to cover it up. Ford’s controversial pardon kept Nixon out of prison, and after several years, he became somewhat of an elder statesman. Nixon died in 1994. The sad thing is, he could have won that landslide without Watergate.
McGovern was the victim of the Nixon machine, and was constantly attacked for his liberal views. He remained in the Senate after the election.
1988: Willie Horton
With the popular Ronald Reagan term-limited, Vice President George H. W. Bush was taking up the Republican mantle. His opponent was Governor Michael Dukakis.
The Bush campaign was run by the controversial Lee Atwater, known for his ruthless nature. A product of his mind was the infamous ‘Willie Horton’ ad.
William ‘Willie’ Horton was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after a teenager was killed in 1974. In 1986, Horton was permitted to leave prison briefly on a ‘weekend pass,’ a furlough scheme found in all fifty states. He ended up absconding. A year later, Horton broke into a Maryland home. He tied up the homeowner and slashed him, before raping the man’s fiancée multiple times. Horton was re-arrested after escaping in the man’s car and arraigned in Maryland.
The Bush campaign soon learned about the Horton incident after a local paper started printing stories about it. George H. W. Bush decided to use it as a campaign point, mentioning it frequently in speeches. A company affiliated with, but not part of, the campaign, created an ad about the weekend passes, featuring Horton prominently.
Though the Horton ad was barely shown on television, it became a controversial subject. The use of Horton was a particular sticking point, as some believed it was a dog-whistle, using a ‘scary’ black man to scare white voters. Famous Civil Rights activist Jesse Jackson called the ad racist, as did VP candidate Lloyd Bentsen. The Bush campaign defended their choice.
As he left office, Dukakis eventually agreed to sign a bill that banned the furlough scheme for those with life sentences. He was portrayed as weak-willed and cold, the latter not helped by his infamous answer to the death penalty question. Horton would later apologise to Dukakis for losing him the election, but the ad was barely a scratch in the record. Atwater, who was dying of cancer in 1991, apologised for his dirty campaigning.
What about Bush? Bush denied any involvement in the ad, though he’d joined many others in talking about Horton. He’s seen as a kind figure, but he was also a seasoned politician.
2000: Florida
The story of 2000 starts before the general election campaign. It’s February and everyone is gearing up for the South Carolina primary. Governor George W. Bush, son of the former President, has won several states, but to the surprise of many, Senator John McCain took New Hampshire. Bush lost a fifty-point lead in the state. It was all to play for.
In South Carolina, voters started getting telephone polls. They started asking how they would feel about McCain if he had fathered a black illegitimate child. There were also rumours that McCain was a traitor who had been driven mad by his captivity in Vietnam, and that his wife Cindy was a drug addict. The McCains had actually adopted a Bangladeshi daughter some years before. Bush swore that his campaign was not involved, but McCain did not believe him. McCain lost South Carolina, and would lose the nomination to Bush.
An even bigger controversy emerged on election night. After changing their mind several times, networks called Florida for Bush. Al Gore then called Bush with his concession. Then, things changed again. After finding out that Florida was actually very close, Gore took back his concession. As morning broke, nobody knew the results. Under Florida’s election rules, there was an automatic recount because the difference was under 0.5%.
Both campaigns fought regarding the recount. Gore wanted hand recounts in four counties, including Miami-Dade. Bush wanted the recount stopped. As they counted, controversy arose regarding the so-called ‘hanging chad’ ballots, and people apparently accidentally voting for the wrong candidate. Bush’s brother was Governor, and the woman in charge of his campaign was overseeing the election. Governor Bush recused himself.
In early December, the Florida Supreme Court called for a manual recount. Midway through, the United States Supreme Court ordered the recount stopped, thus declaring Bush the winner of the state and the election.
Controversy remains to this day about the Supreme Court’s decision in Florida. Was Bush the rightful winner or was Gore robbed of the presidency? Meanwhile, did Bush really not know about the McCain polling equations in South Carolina? Some may question both nominees in this election, but at least Gore got to do his climate change movies.
2008: Birther
In 1991, a promotional book regarding Barack Obama accidentally stated that he was born in Kenya. Years later, when Obama was running for president, queries about his birthplace and nationality were brought up. If Obama was born in Kenya, he’d only be eligible for the presidency if one or both of his parents were American. There was no precedent for this, however. Soon, rumours spread that Obama was not a natural-born citizen, nor was he eligible to run for president. He’d receive questions from both the right and some on the left on this matter.
Some believed that as he was born in Kenya, it didn’t matter if his mother was American. Some contend that he wasn’t even born in Hawaii, or that he’d revoked citizenship when he lived in Indonesia.
Rumours also swirled that Obama was a Muslim, perhaps as a result of his middle name ‘Hussein.’ In one famous case, a woman approached McCain at a rally in October 2008 and said that she’d heard Obama was an Arab. McCain responded ‘No, ma’am. He’s a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign’s all about. He’s not [an Arab].’
Obama won the election, though the birther rumours have not been totally put to rest. Meanwhile, McCain never put any stock in the allegations.
2016: Insider v Outsider
With Obama term-limited in 2016, the torch was passed to Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, businessman Donald Trump shocked everyone by winning the Republican nomination. It was going to be a bumpy ride.
Hillary Clinton was the darling of the Democratic Party, and two events damaged both her and the leadership. In July 2016, Wikileaks released tens of thousands of emails they got from the Democratic National Committee. Some of the emails leaked indicated that the DNC were pushing for a Clinton candidacy at the expense of fellow Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. In one case, DNC Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall wrote:
‘It may make no difference but for KY and WA can we get someone to ask his belief. He had skated on having a Jewish heritage. I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.’
Sanders’ name is not mentioned, but it’s pretty easy to guess. Other emails suggest pushing the idea that the Sanders campaign was a mess and a reporter offering up an article before it was published. The scandal forced Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign as DNC Chair.
Another scandal involved campaign interference. Donna Brazile was acting DNC Chair following Schultz’s resignation, and was also a CNN contributor. Wikileaks emails revealed that Brazile told the Clinton campaign that a woman with a rash would be asking about lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan at a primary debate- which then happened. In a later email, Brazile talked about death penalty questions- one that Clinton later received.
Brazile vehemently denied the accusations, but CNN dropped her soon after. In her later book, Brazile blamed Clinton and her campaign.
These weren’t the only emails that caused problems for Clinton. As Secretary of State, Clinton used a private email server to send official communications. In July 2016, FBI Director James Comey announced that no charges would be filed against Clinton. On the 28th October, however, a new investigation was being opened up. Clinton allies charge that this would affect her campaign, and that it indeed lost her the election.
It would be remiss not to mention Donald Trump. He was controversial for his remarks and ideas, such as the so-called ‘Muslim ban’ and the leaked Access Hollywood tape. A more prominent issue with the campaign were the allegations of collusion with the Russians. The intelligence community said that the Russians had used a cyber campaign, including hacking and the use of bots, to encourage the candidacy of Donald Trump and to discredit Hillary Clinton. Trump denied collusion. The Mueller Report, released in 2019, stated that the Russians had indeed interfered with the election, but that there was no indication that Trump had any involvement whatsoever.
Trump won the election. Supporters praise his brazen nature, brutal honesty and populist rhetoric, but critics believe that Trump waged a dirty campaign. Meanwhile, Clinton critics contend that the DNC was predisposed to her and against Sanders- and the ‘basket of deplorables’ comment didn’t help.
These aren’t the only controversial elections, but there are some of the most notable. Neither 2020 or 2024 were or are peaceful, calm campaigns, with allegations of election rigging and questions over Kamala Harris becoming the nominee being the order of the day. America will continue to see mudslinging, lies and slander, that’s for sure.