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A Brief History of Presidential Profanity
From Lincoln to LBJ, dirty words are nothing new in the White House
Clinton shot back: "I don't think I should take any shit from anybody on that, do you?"
"This is a big fucking deal," said Biden.
Obama famously called Kanye West a "jackass," and on the audiobook version of his autobiography, Dreams From My Father, you can hear the future president mimicking an old high-school friend who evidently knew his Richard Pryor: "You know that guy ain't shit. Sorry-ass motherfucker ain't got nothing on me."
Lyndon Johnson Few if any presidents have been quite as coarse as Johnson, who famously consulted with cabinet members while he sat on the crapper with the door open. His language was salted with profanity. "I do know the difference between chicken shit and chicken salad," he once said.
Jack Kennedy When word leaked that the Air Force had spent $5000 to furnish a maternity suite for Jackie Kennedy at Otis Air Force Base, the president knew the expenditure would be used as a political football. "This is obviously a fuck-up," he fumed to a hapless general over the phone.
Harry Truman In Truman's eyes, General Douglas MacArthur was a "dumb son of a bitch," and Nixon was "a shifty-eyed goddamned liar."
A Brief History of Presidential Profanity
From Lincoln to LBJ, dirty words are nothing new in the White House
Clinton shot back: "I don't think I should take any shit from anybody on that, do you?"
"This is a big fucking deal," said Biden.
Obama famously called Kanye West a "jackass," and on the audiobook version of his autobiography, Dreams From My Father, you can hear the future president mimicking an old high-school friend who evidently knew his Richard Pryor: "You know that guy ain't shit. Sorry-ass motherfucker ain't got nothing on me."
Lyndon Johnson Few if any presidents have been quite as coarse as Johnson, who famously consulted with cabinet members while he sat on the crapper with the door open. His language was salted with profanity. "I do know the difference between chicken shit and chicken salad," he once said.
Jack Kennedy When word leaked that the Air Force had spent $5000 to furnish a maternity suite for Jackie Kennedy at Otis Air Force Base, the president knew the expenditure would be used as a political football. "This is obviously a fuck-up," he fumed to a hapless general over the phone.
Harry Truman In Truman's eyes, General Douglas MacArthur was a "dumb son of a bitch," and Nixon was "a shifty-eyed goddamned liar."
A Brief History of Presidential Profanity
