Politicians Who Couldn't Keep it In Their Pants: George H. W. Bush's Affairs

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George Herbert Walker Bush (1924 – 2018) served as Ronald Reagan’s vice president, before he succeeded him in the Oval Office. He served a single term as America’s 41^st president. Before that, his public service life included stints as a Congressman, an ambassador, and as Director of the CIA. Bush’s campaign platform included a family values plank, he was endorsed by The Moral Majority. Throughout his public career, few knew that he had kept mistresses. Below are some lesser known facts about Bush’s affairs.

George H. W. Bush’s Affairs

Congressman George H. W. Bush in 1969. US House of Representatives

Unlike other presidents who could not keep it in their pants, George H. W. Bush was never a compulsive womanizer. He was certainly nowhere close to the indiscriminate skirt chasing levels of a JFK or LBJ. Instead, Bush maintained a few discrete relationships, which his wife Barbara tolerated because he was the soul of discretion. He did not humiliate her, and usually conducted his affairs out of town so as not to jeopardize his marriage. But he did conduct affairs – and Bush’s affairs tended to be long term ones.

One fairly long affair was with an Italian woman in the 1960s. Bush kept her far away from his wife, in a New York City apartment. However, the keeping mistresses far away routine changed when he came across Jennifer Fitzgerald. A 42-year-old short and pretty blond divorcee, she captivated Bush. Fitzgerald worked as a personal assistant to one of Gerald Ford’s aides, and Bush was smitten when he met her. When Bush was appointed ambassador to China in 1974, he arranged to have Fitzgerald join him there as his secretary.

Bush and Jennifer Fitzgerald

Bush's affairs - Bush, wife, and mistress — CIA Director George H. W. Bush addresses wife Barbara, while mistress Jennifer is seated, right, with arms crossed. Imgur

Bush told friends that he chose Fitzgerald to act as a buffer between him and Henry Kissinger’s State Department. Few bought it. As one embassy staffer put it: “I don’t know what skills she brought to the job. She certainly couldn’t type”. Whatever her office skills, Fitzgerald arrived in Beijing on December 5^th, 1974. The following day, Bush took her for a twelve-day “diplomatic conference” in Hawaii. Unlike his previous affairs, which Barbara Bush had turned a blind eye to, the situation with Fitzgerald was way more than a mere dalliance.

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As described by a close family friend: “It wasn’t just another woman. It was a woman who came to exert enormous influence over George for many, many years. … She became in essence his other wife … his office wife”. Barbara was so heartbroken, she burned her love letters with Bush, which she had treasured since World War II. She also went into a severe depression. Bush did not stay in Beijing for long, and the following year, President Ford asked him to become his CIA Director. Bush accepted, but only on condition that he bring Fitzgerald with him to the CIA as his confidential assistant.

Bush’s Affairs Went On for Years

Bush's affairs - president and mistress — President George H. W. Bush and longtime mistress Jennifer Fitzgerald in the White House. Pinterest

President Ford agreed to Bush’s request to bring Jennifer Fitzgerald along with him to the CIA. A memo in Ford’s Presidential Library, dated November 23^rd, 1975, states: “Please advise me as soon as you have completed office space arrangements for George Bush and Miss Fitzgerald”. Bush traveled around the world as head of the CIA, and Fitzgerald accompanied him wherever he went. In the meantime, Barbara Bush spiraled into a deep depression that brought her to suicide’s door on multiple occasions. The affair continued, even as Bush indulged in other dalliances. They included an intense but brief affair with a young photographer during the 1980 presidential campaign.

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When the Reagan-Bush ticket won in 1980, Fitzgerald was brought along as a member of the vice-presidential staff. Tongues wagged, but Bush was deaf to them. He defiantly kept his chief mistress by his side during his eight years as vice president. When he ran for president in 1988, Bush appointed Fitzgerald as his liaison to Congress. When he won the election, he made her his White House chief of protocol. The affair finally ended after The New York Post exposed it during Bush’s failed 1992 reelection campaign.

Bush’s White House and the Gay Prostitution Ring

Washington Times front page coverage of the Bush White House gay prostitution ring scandal. Pinterest

The scandal of Bush’s affairs with mistresses pales in comparison to the Bush White House’s gay prostitution ring scandal. The 2016 presidential election saw the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which alleged that Hillary Clinton and high ranking Democrats ran a child prostitution ring in the basement of a Washington, DC, pizzeria (which had not basement). However, a prostitution ring once actually did reach into the White House – that of George H. W. Bush. It came out on June 29^th, 1989, when Washington’s conservative newspaper, The Washington Times, dropped a bombshell. It ran a story about a gay prostitution ring that involved the White House.

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With a headline that took up the entire front page’s top, the Washington Times announced: “Homosexual Prostitution Inquiry Ensnares VIPS With Reagan, Bush: ‘Call Boys’ Took Tour of the White House”. The details were as salacious as the headline. They described a federal investigation into a gay prostitution ring whose clients included key Reagan and Bush administration officials. Various military officers were also involved. Some of the clients had the kind of access that enabled them to arrange 1 AM White House tours for their friends, including male prostitutes.

A Scandal That Disappeared as Quickly as it Appeared

In a nutshell, during Bush’s time in office in the 1980s, both as vice president and as president, male and female prostitutes were routinely waltzing in and out of the White House. There is no evidence that Bush himself partook – although the Washington Times dropped titillating hints that he actually might have. However, it is highly unlikely that he was unaware of what was going on: the man once headed the CIA. Pentagon officials told the Times that, throughout the 1980s, military and civilian intelligence were worried that “a nest of homosexuals” high in the Reagan and Bush administrations might have been penetrated by Soviet agents.

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The concern was that young male prostitutes were being used to compromise high-ranking officials, and render them vulnerable to blackmail. It was a huge story, and then… just like that, it disappeared. The US Attorney who ran the inquiry, and who had initially cooperated with The Washington Times, suddenly clammed up. Simultaneously, the newspaper’s access to details about the inquiry dried up. The investigation was allowed to quietly gather dust, before it was finally shelved, and just as quietly, dropped. It was an illustrative example of Washington, DC, effectively circling the wagons to snuff out a scandal that threatened to splatter mud far and wide.