A Gay Prostitution Ring Reached Into George H.W. Bush’s White House
The scandal of George H. W. Bush’s mistresses pales in comparison to the Bush White House’s gay prostitution ring scandal. The recent Pizzagate conspiracy theory, alleging that Hillary Clinton and high ranking Democrats ran a child prostitution ring in the basement of a Washington, DC, pizzeria (which had no basement) is pretty batsh*t. However, there was a time when a prostitution ring actually did reach into the White House – that of George H. W. Bush.
On June 29th, 1989, Washington’s conservative newspaper, The Washington Times, dropped a bombshell by running a story describing a gay prostitution ring that reached into Bush Senior’s White House. With a headline taking 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 just as salacious as the headline, describing a federal investigation into a gay prostitution ring whose clients included key officials of the Reagan and Bush administration, and US military officers. 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.
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. Even if Bush himself had not partaken – and the Washington Times dropped titillating hints that he actually might have – it is highly unlikely that he was unaware of what was going on. Especially considering that Bush had 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. 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 running the inquiry, who had initially cooperated with The Washington Times, suddenly clammed up, and 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 dirt far and wide.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources & Further Reading
Cheat Sheet – Shocking Sex Scandals of Former US Presidents
Guardian, The, January 22nd, 2018 – Why Lyndon Johnson, a Truly Awful Man, is My Political Hero
Monticello – Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemming: A Brief Account
Your Tango, November 21, 2013 – 11 Things You Didn’t Know About JFK’s Love Life
Ranker – 16 Presidents You Never Knew Did Insanely Perverted Stuff
Rumpus, The, February 21st, 2011 – On This Presidents’ Day: A Brief History of Presidential Sex
Times, The, September 19th, 2004 – Mistress of Influence: Bush’s ‘Other Wife’
Washington Post, July 3rd, 2014 – The First Celebrity First Lady: Frances Cleveland
Wikimedia – Frances Folsom Cleveland Preston
History Collection – Scandals the US Founding Fathers Tried to Keep Secret
History Collection – 5 Political Scandals of the 1950s
History Channel – Historic Presidential Affairs That Never Made it To the Tabloids
History Collection – Conspiracy Theories About Our Founding Fathers