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March 20, 2008

Spitzer, FDR and Lindbergh: What's the common thread?

MayflowerWhat do the following events have in common?

-- The Governor of New York's tryst with a pricey prostitute named Kristen

-- The assignation of President John F Kennedy with Angie Dickinson

-- J Edgar Hoover's consumption, every day for 20 years, of a lunch of chicken soup, cottage cheese and grapefruit

-- The Mayor of Washington, Marion Barry, smoking a crack pipe

-- The overnight stays of gangster's moll Judith Campbell Exner before sneaking off to the White House

-- The drafting of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's famous first inaugural address

-- The sessions in which members of the House of Representatives interviewed Monica Lewinsky as part of the attempt to impeach President Bill Clinton

-- Charles Lindbergh celebrating the first ever solo transatlantic flight

They all took place at Washington's Mayflower Hotel

Posted by Daniel Finkelstein on March 20, 2008 in Miscellaneous | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0) | Email this post

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Comments

I can't believe Marion Barry was again re-elected after being exposed as a 'crack-head'.

Sha-mone!

Posted by: Jez W | 20 Mar 2008 12:17:22

J. Edgar Hoover, who presided so imperiously over the FBI for so many years and who knew the secrets of so many politicians (they were very cautious in their dealings with him), had the same lunch every day in the same hotel for years-- and with the same male companion, who walked deferentially at a more than slight distance behind the Director. The companion came to work just for a few days after Hoover died and then resigned. What the nature of their relationship was is something of a mystery to careful biographers.

Posted by: Candadai Tirumalai | 20 Mar 2008 13:00:21

JFK had assignations, with Angie Dickinson and Judith Campbell?
Surely, you must mean 'alleged'?
At last, somebody, has brought the truth, out of the closet!

Posted by: prudence eely bond mcguire | 20 Mar 2008 13:24:57

"I can't believe Marion Barry was again re-elected after being exposed as a 'crack-head'."

59 million Americans voted for Dubya.

Americans seem to have a thing about coke heads.

Posted by: Tom Halpin | 21 Mar 2008 07:31:55

Ahh..if only a fly on the wall could have gotten a picture of J. Edgar doing a pirouette in his pink tutu.

Posted by: Charles Lewin | 21 Mar 2008 09:55:10

Sorry, but Marion Barry was arrested at the Vista International Hotel, not the Mayflower.

Posted by: Mike | 21 Mar 2008 19:20:47

What is your point? Could it be to encourage mediocrity or deviant lifestyles? Let's elevate our standards instead of what appears to be the decline of the West.

sensible jack

Posted by: jack | 22 Mar 2008 23:23:17

Mayflower represents the flowering of American culture?

Posted by: San Ying | 23 Mar 2008 05:34:20

Mike said "Sorry, but Marion Barry was arrested at the Vista International Hotel, not the Mayflower."

Danny doesn't say that Marion Barry was arrested at the Mayflower Hotel. At his trial it was proved that he had smoked crack cocaine at the Mayflower.

Posted by: Pedant | 23 Mar 2008 10:42:13

on having sex with President John Kennedy, Angie Dickenson commented:
it was the best 10 minutes of my life.

Posted by: Peter | 24 Mar 2008 05:15:20

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