a bunch of perverted fawkers paying $2 for sex

If anyone could spice up the tale of our nation's birth, it would be Larry Flynt.
Flynt endeavored to set straight the record – which is, well, actually pretty gay, according to him – in his entertaining new book, "One Nation Under Sex: How the Private Lives of Presidents, First Ladies and Their Lovers Changed the Course of American History." With the help of coauthor David Eisenbach, a professor of American political history at Columbia University, he argues that Benjamin Franklin's womanizing ways helped win him favor with the French and gain the country's military support during the Revolutionary War. He claims that James Buchanan's intimate same-sex relationship with a slave owner might have influenced his secessionist support on the brink of the Civil War.

These aren't just sex scandals; they're history-changing sex scandals. As Publishers Weekly puts it: "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."

Flynt also offers fascinating and well-sourced explorations of Thomas Jefferson's relationship with a 14-year-old slave and Eleanor Roosevelt's intense relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok. Then there are the more salacious tidbits, the merits of which are questionable – like the allegation that Jackie O miscarried because of a venereal disease given to her by JFK.

So much was shocking. For too many years, we never would believe – and historians were a part of this – that Thomas Jefferson, this great man who wrote the Declaration of Independence, fathered six children by his slave girl Sally Hemings.

But in 1729, 40-some years before the revolution even started, Benjamin Franklin was publishing a tabloid newspaper that had the first-ever sex advice column. He was really a fascinating character with a reputation for seducing women, and that actually helped him in getting France's support for the war.

He was the ambassador to France at the time. So even the Founding Fathers were a rowdy bunch of guys.There were some women that were notorious in the early years too. Dolley Madison was without a doubt the most colorful first lady we ever had. She had a couple of her sisters live with her in the White House, and they were really pretty wild girls. They used to throw parties there, and they would invite members of the Continental Army. One of President James Madison's Cabinet members said to him, "I know you don't want to hear this, but your wife has single-handedly turned the White House into a brothel."


The first sex scandal investigated by congress involved Alexander Hamilton, who was the secretary of the treasury. He was having this affair with a woman and was giving her money because, I think, he felt sorry for her more than anything else. She was married. And all of a sudden this guy named James Reynolds, who was her husband, tried to start blackmailing Hamilton. He paid the blackmail for some time, and when the word finally got out and reached Congress, there was an investigation and the Congress found that he had not used state money to give to her and that he was pretty much entrapped in the situation. They didn't find him guilty of any wrongdoing or crime.

 Which president would you say was the biggest playboy?
I would say it was a tie between Harding and Jack Kennedy. 'Course Wilson was in the mix too. It was often said about Wilson and Harding that Wilson preferred the brothels of Paris and Harding preferred the whorehouses of Columbus, Ohio. Those guys' entire presidencies were just tattered by affairs and relationships.


When did gay sex scandals pop up in American politics?
The first was when James Buchanan was elected president. He was the first gay president we ever had. From the time he was first elected, Senator William Rufus King said he was having an affair with him and moved into the White House with him. Everybody knew it – they would call them "Aunt Fancy" and "Miss Nancy" [common slang for gay men]. Everybody knew, and it was somewhat accepted.