James Buchanan the 15th president was only president to never married, and maybe gay.
Do you think any modern day presidential candidate can win without being married?
QuestionI think a widow/widower is possible. There could be a large "sympathy vote" that would work out in their favor.
Yeah, especially if their kids were still in school.
There was a movie about that. The American President, I think? Annette Bening played the woman who started going out with the widower president after he was already in office.
It was a great movie! Although it’s hard seeing Jed Bartlett as chief of staff 😂
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Yeah. I'm thinking more single Dad type.
I've seen what ifs written where Jackie Kennedy is hit instead of JFK. He gets reelected in a landslide as a widower, then marries (woman) in his second term. In this scenario, LBJ probably does not run (by 68 his health was not great), RFK probably doesn't run, and thus lives, etc. No idea what the 68 campaigns would end up as
Vietnam still ends up being a dumpster fire because those circumstances reached far beyond one man's influence, so Nixon still manages to get elected in 1968 after JFK is term limited.
Probably, Nixon beats Humphrey or McGovern in 68. Bobby maybe runs in 72?
People would probably be saying it was a false flag to get them elected
And that you represent the “rational argument” wing of the false-flaggers.
Imagine if we get another bachelor president and we get a White House wedding? How fun. It would be our royal wedding.
A White House wedding is what got me to ask this question, it would such a a cool thing to happen and see.
I hope it would be considered a “state wedding” in the same way as presidential funerals are state funerals, imagine all the guests and heads of state? we need another bachelor president just for this alone lol.
I'm almost certain the president would still have to pay for it. The president gets free rent and security and that's about it. Though when you're making $400K with no time to spend it, you probably have some money to throw around. And most people elected to the presidency have been millionaires. So not out of reach for an ordinary president.
You probably wouldn't have to pay for the venue, but you would have to pay for all the food and entertainment like everyone else who has an ordinary wedding.
It would be pretty cool to see a presidential wedding. And I don't think most Americans would have a problem voting for a bachelor(ette) or someone who only has a "partner" (i.e., not married yet). I think we've been past that point for quite some time.
It would be pretty cool to see a presidential wedding. And I don't think most Americans would have a problem voting for a bachelor(ette) or someone who only has a "partner" (i.e., not married yet). I think we've been past that point for quite some time.
The wedding day can also be a public holiday or something, give Americans the day off lol.
"...I'm almost certain the president would still have to pay for it..."
Could a corporate "friend" pay for it? Asking for a friend...
I think most businesses and vendors would donate time and services simply because of the exposure it would give them.
I’m not sure if that is legal.
Volunteering to help the government isnt illegal. People do it all the time
It absolutely is legal. Back in the days of Coolidge, farms would send Turkeys and other livestock to the White House for free around Thanksgiving. Excessively so.
Laws have changed over the past 100 years, so I'm not sure that's good proof.
So says Bill Clinton to Theodore Roosevelt.
Sure it is lol
I wanna see a state bachalor party planned by Clinton
A state wedding would be too much like royalty for my tastes, personally. The president is supposed to be just another citizen who was elected to be the leader for 4 years, and a wedding is beyond the scope of that. I feel like there's a difference between a wedding and a funeral
No. Let us have fun. Make it a three day celebration.
Have you seen the inside of the White House, the presidents car, his personal plane/helicopter, his salary, etc? There’s no way that’s close to another citizen
I feel like a state wedding is different than the decor of the White House etc
No like have seen how nice it is? A state wedding could be fun
i dont, they are both places that embrace the end of a life lived prior to that point but now gone forever. The difference is one of them is supposed to be a dream come true, bringing great happiness and joy, and shows how beautiful the world can be. The other is marriage.
I think the most recent was Woodrow Wilson, his first wife died in 1914 and he married Edith a year later.
It would be a really interesting and light hearted media coverage of “Who Should be the next first lady”
Unlikely any time soon for US be young enough to be getting married.
Imagine if it was also between a 49 year old and a 21 year old who he raised from childhood after her father died in a buggy accident.
How unique was Grover Cleveland! He had a White House wedding, and was the only President to be elected to non-consecutive terms.
And it should be out in the front yard. And the bride should have two kids from a previous marriage. That way more than half the country would relate.
We had that happen during Cleveland’s first term. He was a bachelor when he entered and married in the White House.
I just learn she was 21 and he was 49
lol the press all thought he was courting her mom
So did the mom.
He was also essentially raising her as a surrogate father as her dad was his business partner who passed away. Hell he even purchased her crib when she was a baby.
Yeah, it was kind of a grooming thing going on. Cleveland is hella problematic for this exact reason.
Groomer Cleveland
Groper Cleveland
What is Deshawn Watson doing here?
As a Steelers fan, so glad this nickname is spreading and that we're not the ones with the problematic QB anymore.
Wait, don't you have Russell Wilson
Wilson isn’t a good QB anymore, but he’s not a rapist
The thought at the time was that Cleveland was courting her mother.
Also: she didn’t finish high school but her “Uncle Cleve” was mayor of Buffalo and got her a certificate of completion so she could was able to go to college. Icky!
Cory Booker wants that so bad but it’s never gonna happen lol
I have an idea for the next reality TV show...
happy cake day
If he gets married I'm not voting for his re-election.
I don’t think so. I think people, much like we do with Buchanan now, would question why he’s not married and spread some rumor about his sexuality (gay) or his ability with women (incel). Whenever a candidate’s personal life is more talked about than their political platform, that’s usually a recipe for disaster (A few very famous exceptions of course.)
So the three closest bachelors to the nomination in the last few decades I can think of are Tim Scott, Lyndsey Graham and Corey Booker.
Scott and Graham both had issues with this but Corey Booker never did. Dating Rosario Dawson seemed to dispell those concerns.
Tim Scott is engaged rn
I am not one who buys the he is gay or bad with women line of questioning but it was a topic of conversation in the political class. It was a concern for his campaign, so much so they got engaged during the campaign.
And the the other commenter said you don't want the personal story on something like this to be the story.
Tim Scott had the mystery woman that nobody had met or could identify, in this internet age. She was always “out of town” or whatever. Then after the campaign ends, they get engaged “on camera”. Sounds like a photo opp. Something seems weird.
I read that as closet
Scott and Graham are Republicans, so their voters are more concerned about the gay rumors
Graham is just waiting for the right lady.
TIL that Graham and Booker aren’t married
I’m from NJ, and we’ve been waiting for Booker to come out.
He’s a senator; he doesn’t have the chops for Prez, so he could come out with no blowback.
But he thinks he can still be president, so he’ll never come out until he’s defeated
He could also just not be gay?
Don't you see, that's not an option!
I suppose someone being a widower would be potentially less of an issue for voters who would consider it an issue at all to begin with.
Especially if they have kids.
But only if they are still children.
If the candidate was a woman I think there would be less discussion and more assumption it was too difficult for woman to combine personal life and career (not that most don’t manage but some still don’t).
more assumption it was too difficult for woman to combine personal life and career
And the 'discussion' would be why she focused on her career instead of building callouses on her feet from all that barefoot walking from the kitchen to the dining room.
Except there is decent evidence that Buchanan might've been gay.
I think people, much like we do with Buchanan now, would question why he’s not married and spread some rumor about his sexuality (gay) or his ability with women (incel).
Bachelor is unelectable but America will pick a guy who's a serial cheater who divorced multiple times.
This country's morality is so fucked.
Nah(image unrelated)
This Franklin fella sounds like he was a smart guy, he should have run for president or something.
Yeah but would he have gotten reelected?
Probably not, the Depression sucked and there was no way the American public would continually put their trust into a man who couldn’t even stand
He is right about big scary monsters though so I think he has a good head on his shoulders. If it were up to me, I’d say he should have 4 terms
I agree, and knowing how tough he was I’m sure he’d survive all 4 of those terms in spite of his condition as well
This guy was on to something
Even today I think it'd be pretty tough.
If they weren't regularly being seen in public with women, people would assume they were gay or worse.
If they were, people would have reasonable concerns about how a romantic entrapment might fuck them over in office.
Someone really charismatic might be able to thread the needle, but it's tough to see a major party taking a chance on them.
Could also be a sign of someone who is unstable with relationships, which isn't exactly a positive thing
Could you imagine how the world would respond to a president with a dating app?
Lindsey Graham and Corey Booker are both unmarried. It wasn’t an issue for either in the primaries.
It was a big issue for Lindsay. Huge amounts of gay innuendo among Republicans against him. Being named Lindsey and his voice didn't help either
Lindsey Graham ran for president? I don't seem to remember his candidacy.
He entered early in 2015 and dropped out before the primaries in 2016
Bear in mind they're both men. Fewer eyebrows are raised at an unmarried man than an unmarried woman. A common assumption about why a man is unmarried is that he must be too busy to find or keep a partner. A common assumption about why a woman is unmarried is that she must be too unpleasant to find or keep a partner. People are more open to someone who's seen as "hard-working" over someone who's seen as "bitchy."
Excellent point.
Yeah Corey… say, who won the primaries he ran in?
Because everyone knows he would've won if he was married
Sure. Get someone charismatic enough and the right set of circumstances, they can become president.
But, in a time of calm and slow prosperity, the people will focus too much on said candidate not being married.
I mean, they will still focus on that as a point why people shouldn't have them be in charge if the country was under crisis or decline as well. It's just not a good PR look
I’ll probably still be single when I’m 35 so I’ll run then and let you know
It’s more likely than say 50 years ago with people increasingly marrying late
I don't think so. There's a solid section of the electorate that expects everyone to be married with at least 1 child by 30.
An unmarried dude in his 50s is suspect to this crowd. Unless he plays the incel card, which means he's also lacking the social skills to hold any job for that matter.
I mean, you can argue that the man simply focused entirely on his career and rejected all distractions, but that just sounds depressing to admit honestly
Unless he plays the incel card, which means he's also lacking the social skills to hold any job for that matter.
Just because you can’t get a girlfriend doesn’t mean you’re incapable of holding a job…..
He looked so familiar to me and then it hit me…………
Not a presidential candidate but somebody in South Carolina keeps voting for the unmarried Lindsay Graham. 😆
It would be awesome if we could have a dude or lady dedicate themselves to public service without playing nonsensical games based on ancient social expectations.
Yeah if the other candidate is bad enough. I don’t think marriage is nearly the requirement it used to be in Buchanan or Cleveland’s (bachelor when entering the WH) time.
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Who did that
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For the last time, Tim Scott, we don't care that you aren't married and we don't care about your made-up Canadian girlfriend. We care that you suck.
Of course
I would hope so! Honestly you would think it would be more common, given the stresses of the job and how that effects family life. Not to mention all the dirt slinging families are subjected to during the campaign, often unfairly. Plus, it'd would be fun to see a White House romance come along during the single President's term like in a Hallmark movie haha.
I think someone like James Mattis could garner support under the “Warrior Monk” persona without it raising eyebrows in respect to living the single life. Yes I know he is married now but prior to that.
I think it’s at least far more likely now than back then, but we are still a young country and have not progressed as far past our grandparents as we’d like to think. I think a non married candidate, is still at a disadvantage due to political aesthetics. I don’t agree with that, I wish policy mattered more to people, but that doesn’t mean the aesthetics aren’t still a reality we have to contend with. Practically, you’d think people would prefer it since it means objectively the president could focus more on his or her incumbency, but I don’t think this argument has been put forth enough
If the president really was just seen as focusing on career if unmarried it would not be an issue. The issue with unmarried people (unless as old as some rule 3 presidents recently) is the assumption you are still interested in dating. And people have a dislike with the idea that the president would be using time on dating scene but want someone with a steady personal life with focus on work. The dating would also be big tabloid fodder and potential with power abuse. I think a woman might be able to sell better an idea of just being single and career focused.
But even still, it’s still now assumed that even career women want to date even if it’s not serious. So the candidate would need to be of certain age to properly sell the work focused image. Perhaps at least 70.
My only counter argument would be the advent of the Kennedy presidency. I don't think people really care if the President is seeing or dating other people, they just care how it makes the President look, and how it makes other people talk about the president (especially depending on the political bias). I think the dating thing is less of a concern, and more of an old-school belief of "If you can't run a family, how can you run a country", even though deciding upon import taxes for steel and going on a date with your wife are very different things practically.
It is entirely possible he was our first gay president. However, given the morals of the time that will ever be admitted to.
In the tragic event where he or she lost their spouse to an untimely death, and it happened w/in 10 years or so of running for POTUS, and this candidate has kids, then yes, I think they could.
We Americans tend to be very kindhearted, and would deeply sympathize w/ widows and widowers.
Yes
About as much of a chance as an atheist, which would be nearly zero.
Bob Kerry wasn’t married when he ran. He’d been married before but only four years before getting divorced. I don’t think that would have stopped him from winning the White House; had he beaten Clinton in the Primaries, I believe he would have won the presidency.
Anything is possible.
Andrew Shepard, American President
Yes. The left of center doesn’t care and the right of center elected an unabashedly racist serial cheater who paid hush money to a porn star and was caught on tape openly bragging about grabbing women by their genitalia just weeks before the election. Marriage isn’t the bedrock qualifier or disqualifier it once was in American national politics.
Not getting into politics but I think if he got the nomination Lindsey Graham could win.
Maybe a pre-2016 Lindsey Graham could win he is toot flip floppy for anyone’s taste these days
Would be pretty cool to see. Sadly, in this political climate, I could see widowing from natural causes harming a person’s chance of re-election.
I think a widow/widower over a divorcee never remarried or a single man.
Yes of course. Why not?
I don’t see why not
Yes
Absolutely, if the candidate is a man. Sadly, I'm sure a woman candidate would have her marital status (or in this case lack thereof) held against her.
Why couldn't it be a single woman President? Like Tina Fey said: "Bitches get shit done"
Yes
I really don't think that's it's a prerequisite.
The fact that this question needs to be asked is so dumb. I personally don’t give a damn if they’re married gay has orgies or whatever
At least a person who had orgies is probably under 80 years old.
Might be hard in normal time. Not so much in times of crisis or emergency when the usual considerations mught not count as much.
Tim Scott sure seems to think the answer is “no.” (Although his engagement didn’t seem to help him much.)
It won’t be an issue soon given the demographic changes. Many Gen Xers never got married and the trend is continuing more with millennials and Gen Z
Matt Gaetz is reasonably popular and isn’t married. Lindsey Graham too, but I see that being a lot less likely he’d be elected
Matt Gaetz is popular with who? Even his fellow Republican congressmen can't stand him.
Corey Booker, Lindsay Graham, Tim Scott
After all the norms that have been broken of late (not trying to get deleted here) how can anyone say no?
Only if said candidate survives and successfully runs past the boomer chokehold on voting
I think a widower could win.
Someone like Lindsay Graham?
Nope.
FDR won several times without being ‘married.’
John Cleese?
No. Just like I don't think an openly gay president could be elected president.
In these times no would be too polarising married people are a huge % of America not being married would probably be a red flag for alot of them
Yes. If our last few presidents can be officially voted for by a majority of people (but really a majority of the electoral college...), then yes, it is certainly possible.
I have to say, this doesn’t answer your question but it’s making me laugh how many people are just not even considering female candidates as a possibility in the comments. Automatic he/him and “ability with women.” Is this common in this sub?
Have you seen the competition?
Well they certainly can’t go to prison or face consequences as we’ve learned
Preferably just not a pleb
Not sure about a bachelor president. Maybe a widower.
If he ran today, I think it’s impossible that Buchanan wouldn’t be outed if he was still in the closet. Sadly, I think that might torpedo his chances. The left would feel like it was a betrayal that someone could be in the closet in this day and age and the right would just be their typical selves. Possibly he could spin it as a positive but it would be really challenging.
As to the question itself, yes I absolutely think an unmarried candidate could go all the way today. Specifically if it was a younger candidate who was unmarried or an older one who had already been widowed.
It could even be a huge bonus actually. I appreciate it’s been a while since we had one, but White House weddings used to be hugely popular and were described as “Americas Royal Weddings”. I think I’m right in saying Cleveland was the only president to get married while a sitting president, but it used to be very common for presidents kids or nieces and nephews to get married at the White House and these were huge national events.
Can you just imagine a sitting president (male or female) getting married at the White House today? Considering how much we eat up British royal weddings, I just don’t see any way that the whole country doesn’t go absolutely bananas for it and the president in question doesn’t get a huge boost in the polls.
Absolutely
The right man with the right surrogate first lady could do it.
Under no circumstances or conditions could an unmarried woman win office in today's world. Coming from the south and a culture that is overwhelmingly conservative a single woman would not be looked on kindly.
The double standards would absolutely plaster her as someone that's abandoned traditional values and roles for her own selfishness.
Not my belief by any means but I've lived around conservatives long enough. Women have an uphill battle in general but with that bunch it's climbing up a mountain that's undergoing an avalanche.
Why would marriage matter?
No, know a days you have to have the perfect American family
This actually got me thinking about another question: would it be a good idea to be president without being married?
Don't get me wrong, I think presidents should be elected on merit and I don't think there should a rule requiring a presidential candidate to be married. But think about it: when you're President of the United States, you are one of the most powerful people in the world, and it's lonely at the top. You do have advisors, friends and family still, but all your relationship dynamics are affected by the power differential. Plus, you have to be very careful about what you say and to whom: showing any kind of vulnerability is risky, and the things on your mind may be confidential, or at least unwise to share with those who don't "need to know." In that situation, your spouse is your only equal, the only person you can go to with all of your anxieties, frustrations, doubts, and other emotional burdens. And that spouse can offer insights and suggestions that might not be as well received coming from someone else.
Again, not saying we should require (or expect) a president to be married, but running the most powerful country in the world is really fucking hard, and numerous presidents have brought up how their spouses "kept them going." It would be hard to go into that job without that kind of steadfast, undying support and love.
Possibly in a relationship not too dissimilar to Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom except without the weird age gap
Yes
We’ve elected at least a few that were barely married or maybe loosely committed…
I doubt it, society as ingrained that some social norms must be followed to be loved, and marriage is (unjustly) one of those. Maybe it would be different if he/she were on the younger and, but then people wouldn’t vote due to “lack of experience”. Can never win lol
probably
it would show that they don't make bad decisions
I don’t think so. It begs too many questions unfortunately.
Are we talking in a relationship but not married or 100% single?
Both have their own problems (lets assume the candidate is heterosexual). The "presidents girlfriend" doesn't sound professional - and if they've had kids before marriage you can strike off a solid portion of the religious voting bloc. It might work better than being totally single but there would be an expectation of marriage very soon afterwards.
A bachelor or bachelorette candidate would raise a lot of questions. Are they homosexual? Asexual? What qualities would make someone charismatic enough to be president of the United States but still unable to find a partner? Could a president even go on a normal first date with someone? What if there's a breakup?
Strongly disagreeing with you here. Nowadays I can't see Dems or repubs caring about children from prior relationships. It hasn't stopped them before. If anything a prior kid would help get rid of gay rumors which sadly would be a bigger deal
I meant more two people having a child together but not being married.
Only if she's gay
“Our dearest Ann was at the time overcome with revulsion when she came upon Mister Buchanan lying nude in a guestroom aloft with Kelvin Osford who was at the time a massive strongman with a traveling carnival. Both men were in a state of tumescence and James was busying his mouth on the manhood of the vulgar and sweaty behemoth. I will go to my grave knowing that the sight of this horrific depravity led Ann to betray her truest Faith and she preferred instead to leave the Earth with the greatest of expedience.” [Anastasia Hemphill (beloved friend) 1821.]
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Hill and Bill aren't really married
Im sorry and downvote me all you want but without the experience of mutual deep romantic love one cannot fully empathize or understand the emotions of another human who has.
Im not talking about sex, and it doesn’t have to be heterosexual, but deep romantic SHARED love must have been experienced even if not currently, for any adult that has experienced these things to be taken seriously.
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