The United States has produced more than its fair share of fascinating figures. Over the course of its storied history, it has produced a host of figures who have shaped the nation, the continent, and the world. Many of these have been its presidents and politicians, though others have been its inventors, its business leaders, or those who have in other ways shaped public morality. While each of these people has a public side, they also have a private side. And sometimes people who make a great impact publicly can live with great immorality privately.
In the late 1990s, the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal compelled Marvin Olasky to begin thinking about the effect private activities have on the lives of public leaders. In the context of that scandal, the White House insisted that Clinton’s private immorality had no bearing on his public role. The voting public seemed to agree that the two could remain neatly compartmentalized. “Many journalists at the time agreed with Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen that a president ‘conventionally immoral in his personal life’ can still be a wonderful ‘person in his public life.’ Can be, sure, because life is complicated.
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