This New Republic article is where I sourced my initial quotes regarding Thomas Jefferson and the United States political obsession with the presidential penis. There’s a lot more in here besides Jefferson.
On the episode, I briefly mentioned Thomas Jefferson’s sex life, but episode was meant to remain light. Because of that, we weren’t going to get into the assault on Sally Hemmings over a decade plus. This article will give you a lot of good background information and talk you through the current efforts to verify descendants.
Here let me put in a note about the word “hermaphrodite.” I used it in a quote during this episode as it came from a historic quote by Jefferson. In the context that he used it, it’s terrible, but in today’s world, it’s a complicated word. We don’t really use it for people anymore – now we use the much kinder and more accurate word Intersex – but the word still has valid uses in the medical and scientific communities. And some intersex people have reclaimed the word in the same way some lesbians have reclaimed butch, some gay men have reclaimed fairy, and many people all over the spectrum have reclaimed queer. So here’s an article from The Intersex Society of North America talking about the word. You can get some further reading from this site as well.
Here you can see a picture of the political cartoon called The Philosophical Cock that featured Jefferson. I won’t post it here in case others didn’t want to see it.
For this one, I don’t have anything to show you but a book you can buy or borrow from a library if you want a look at the picture we’re talking about. James Monroe, when he became president, got a nice little note in the mail from someone named Jeremiah Jinglebollock who included a lovely drawing of his penis. You can call James Monroe the first president to get a dick pic. To see it, you can check out the book Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles, and Scrawls from the Oval Office
Now we’re into the steamy stuff, and I mean it for real. Warren G. Harding wasn’t the most handsome president but the way he wrote could get into anyone’s pants. His part of the episode had less to do with Jerry, his penis, than it did with what he wanted to do with it. Here’s a link to the Library of Congress where you can read his released letters, see postcards he sent his mistress, read a list of the codewords he used, and much of it in his own handwriting!
And if you want a little easier time, this link will take you to a few choice selections already picked out for you and typed out rather than in his own handwriting.
While we’re here talking about books, I’ll start out the conversation about JFK with a book by Mimi Alford, the woman JFK took advantage of when she was just 19. Mimi hid her affair with him for a solid 50 years until a reporter outed her name to the press, and now she’s written her own book.
This article talks about Mimi and the struggle she had as a young, naïve woman having an affair with the president. Though she got into the relationship somewhat willingly, we still have to look at the power and age dynamics at play. I encourage you to give this a read.
This article is title How JFK Turned the White House Into the Playboy Mansion and the title tells you a lot about the content. This article talks about those sexy photos he took and his connects to the mafia.
And this one will tell you all about Inga, the woman who both spent a lot of time with Hitler and JFK.
This article focuses on Jackie and her sad marriage to JFK as well as some of the other women that he was associated with. To get past the paywall here, try a site like ( 12ft . io ) or ( archive . ph ).
Finally, here’s Lyndon Johnson and a few fast facts about him including a link to the phone call where he ordered those pants. It’s the full audio!
And I thought I’d add this link in at the end about average penis size around the world. Remember, we were making fun of the men because they were rich, white, and generally awful people who did gross things to the women (and men in LBJ’s case) around them. People with this much power and privilege can stand to take a few jabs.
What we are not making fun of was their penis size. I won’t make fun of anyone for the size of their penis, big or small. They didn’t choose it, and the average size is often less than people think thanks to the media. For instance, here in the US, average size is only about 5 inches. So here’s a link to those average sizes to put those numbers into your brain.
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