The Stuff Presidents Are Made Of

The Stuff Presidents Are Made Of

As presidential campaign rhetoric intensifies, it may be instructive to recall past episodes of mudslinging. Some of our greatest presidents have been dissed in the strongest terms by their opponents during campaigns. So have

some of our lousiest. Match the invective with the chief executive it was used to describe. –Andrew Santella

1 “A howling atheist.”

2 “Fool, hypocrite, criminal, and tyrant.”

3 “The best of the second raters.”

4 “A soaker behind the door and in the dark, drunk in the

public streets since the first of January.”

5 “Mad bomber.”

6 “Swindler, tyrant, fiend, butcher.”

7 “Paramour husband [of a] convicted adulteress.”

8 “Illiterate, sycophant, and politically corrupt.”

9 “Rake, libertine, moral leper, worse in moral quality than

a pickpocket.”

Answers: 1-F, 2-A, 3-C, 4-D, 5-G, 6-B, 7-H, 8-E, 9-I