Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann (D), who, during his race for AG in 2006 named Eliot Spitzer as his role model, has refused twice to acquiesce to multiple calls to step down in the wake of admitting last week that he had a romantic relationship with his former scheduler (Dann is married with three children) and firing two of his top aides.
As a result of this refusal, the Ohio Democratic Party has made their intentions to force Dann out extremely clear. From the Columbus Dispatch:
The Ohio Democratic Party, which strongly backed Dann’s come-from-behind campaign in 2006, is preparing to sever its ties with Dann. Chairman Chris Redfern said he expects the party’s executive committee to rescind its 2006 endorsement of Dann when it meets Saturday, which Redfern said would make Dann an independent officeholder. Democrats also are prepared to lead the impeachment drive, Redfern said.
“Pending Saturday’s events, he’ll be holding office as an independent who was elected as a Democrat,” Redfern said. “We will distance ourselves both figuratively and literally from Marc Dann until he makes the right decision, which is to step down.”
Ohio Daily Blog reports that one of Dann’s hometown papers says that the Ohio House Democratic Caucus had a conference call this afternoon and will begin impeachment proceedings tomorrow if Dann doesn’t step down tonight.
Plunderbund writes about the removal of information about Dann from the ODP website and also has a video of Gov. Strickland in which he says that they’ll use “whatever action is necessary” to remove Dann.
Pho writes about the legal provisions related to replacing Dann.
This article from ePluribus Media includes most of the key information from today and last week, but the situation is developing minute by minute, as it has been all day today. And it’s been exhausting.
I’m somewhat restricted from saying too much (code words on my blog entries are “mmmumbble mummmble damn packing tape”) because my SO is in the same law firm as an attorney whom Dann has asked to help clean up the AG’s office. Although it’s a voluntary role, and I’ve been told my right to express myself is being respected, I don’t feel comfortable writing about this situation in as an unbridled manner as I might.
I can say that I’ve had off the record conversations with the Ohio Democratic Party stating my intense upsetment about the hostile work environment that came to exist in the AG’s office and my belief that it must not be tolerated, not only because of the women who were subordinates but for the sake of the entire 1400 person “law office” that is an AG’s office.
Obviously, I wasn’t and still am not the only one saying that this is an intolerable situation that demands dramatic and obvious attention.
But as a Democrat in Ohio, who wanted to believe in Marc Dann, even when I wasn’t the most certain, it’s also just a very very, as another Democrat expressed to me, profoundly sad experience.
If one wanted to know the difference between being an American and being a European, this article from France’s Le Figaro newspaper would be a very good place to start.
From Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky to client number nine Eliot Spitzer and ‘Kristan,’ Europeans have looked at the effect that sex has on American politics with a collective shake of the head. Read the rest of this entry »
March 28th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter reports that some Democrats seek to dangle the New York state governorship in front of Senator Hillary Clinton as a consolation prize in the hopes that she won’t battle front-runner Barack Obama all the way to the convention:
Some Democrats terrified that their bloody primary campaign will doom them in November are floating a consolation prize for Hillary Clinton: governor of New York.
The travails of New York Gov. David Paterson have opened up a new potential career path for Clinton, according to well-informed Democratic Party insiders who refused to allow their names to be used when discussing contingencies. They want her to consider the option if she concludes after the April 22 Pennsylvania primary that she cannot overtake Barack Obama for the party’s presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton, while fully committed to continuing her presidential campaign, was said to be open to discussing the idea, while Bill Clinton rejected it out of hand.
With former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani now reported by the New York Post to be weighing a race for governor, voters could see a Clinton-Giuliani matchup after all.
It would be the match-up many expected (a) when Clinton ran for Senator (squelched by Giuliani’s health problems) and (b) when Giuliani ran for President (the conventional wisdom — for a while — was that it would be Clinton versus Giuliani in the general election).
Paterson, a former state senator and lieutenant governor, succeeded Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign earlier this month when he was caught in a prostitution ring. A legally blind African-American with plenty of friends in Albany, Paterson has admitted to extensive drug use when he was young and to having had several extramarital affairs, including one with a New York state employee. The governor has denied using taxpayer money for the affairs, but new rumors are swirling around the scandal-weary state capital.
In the event that Paterson had to resign, the New York State Constitution calls for a gubernatorial election this November. Clinton would be the favorite in that contest if she were interested. Were a politically wounded Paterson to serve out Spitzer’s term, which ends in 2010, Clinton would no doubt be a strong potential candidate to succeed him.
Under the scenario sketched out by the insiders, serving two years as governor would give Clinton the executive experience to become the prohibitive favorite for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton believes that Barack Obama may well lose this year to John McCain, who would be 75 in 2012 and a possible one-term president. Clinton would arguably be better positioned to replace McCain in the White House as a governor than as a senator.
The key to this story is: who sourced it? Did it come from someone sympathetic to the Clinton campaign or a Clinton associate? Or did it come from someone close to the Obama campaign, or Democrats who never really liked Clinton and want her out now ASAP both due the political train-wreck-in-Denver scenario that seems closer every day and the fact that they never really supported her anyway?
It’s not a small question. Because if the story is based on sources that didn’t like Clinton, then it should also be seen as part and parcel of the ongoing attempt to have her quit the race early. For the early part of the campaign the motif was Clinton’s “inevitability.” In this phase, in many quarters, it’s Obama’s “inevitability.”
Apart from that, this is a fascinating report since it again underscores the fears among many Democrats that while Clinton and Obama are battering each other John McCain has a big head start in unifying his party, doing image-enhancing photo-ops, campaigning for the general election, working to raise funds for his party, and blasting the Democratic Party and Obama and Clinton.
The story’s sourcing matters — but so does the political context. Earlier reports also suggested that perhaps she’d be on the fast-track to become Majority Leader — an interesting concept except there are no signs the present Majority Leader is planning to go anywhere. So what would be more beneficial to Clinton IF she cannot get the nomination? Stay in the Senate and, if Obama loses, run as a Senator? Or become governor and get real hands-on executive management experience?
It is very likely this rumour is being circulated by political foes of Mrs Clinton, hoping to expedite her departure from the primary contest. Would the governorship even make sense for her? She has lost a few friends in the Senate in recent months. And being governor would allow her to demonstrate that hands-on, problem-solving ability she likes to tout.
But there are plenty of downsides: Albany is known as a rough-and-tumble place, not necessarily welcoming to outsiders (as Eliot Spitzer learned). And being governor would seemingly eliminate the possibility for any more of those danger-filled international missions that Mrs Clinton likes to talk about. No, she’s a creature of Washington for now. We could see Rudy Giuliani in the governor’s seat though.
One thing conspicuously lacking in the recent public discussion about Eliot Spitzer’s political demise, is the draconian nature of many of America’s sex laws. Hélio Schwartsman writes for Brazil’s Folha newspaper, “In various nations including Brazil, the location a politician installs his annex is normally a topic that only concerns himself and those directly involved … The Americans, however, don’t only insist on scrutinizing the private lives of their public men and women, but they also cultivate what is likely the most absurd sexual legislation in the West.” After a bit of a history lesson on the sexual proclivities of Alexander Hamilton, Schwartsman goes on to warn his readers, “be very careful what you do in a motel along the highway in Idaho.”
By Hélio Schwartsman
Translated By Brandi Miller
March 20, 2008
Brazil - Folha - Original Article (Portuguese)
Politics, hypocrisy, sex and power. In a broader sense, all of these words are synonymous. As ex-Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer well-knows, after being forced to resign after being caught up with luxury prostitution ring.
There are two interpretations for Spitzer’s fall. In the first, he succumbed because Americans are a puritanical people who take pleasure in punishing their leaders caught in humanity’s “flagrante delicto [immoral acts].” In the second, his sin was to have been shown a hypocrite: secretly practicing what he condemned in public. The detail here is that the two interpretations are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they reinforce one another. Let’s look at them in greater length.
If there is something that Americans can’t resist, it’s a sex scandal. The first U.S. politician to get caught up in one was Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757-1804), who after a complaint was filed against him in 1791, was compelled to admit to his relationship with Maria Reynolds. Both were married - and not to one another, just to be clear. Although he insisted on not having violated any of his public duties, Hamilton had suffered a fatal blow to his career. Shortly afterward, he had to abandon his post as Treasury Secretary. In life, he never again enjoyed the prestige he had before, but – and here comes the first ambiguity – this peccadillo didn’t prevent him from assuming his historic place as a “founding father” of the North American Republic.
[It turned out the Hamilton had paid Maria Reynold’s husband, James Reynolds, a total of $1000 over several years in order to continue bedding Maria unimpeded. Rather than challenging Hamilton to a duel - which was the custom, Reynolds decided to blackmail the well-heeled Hamilton instead. Eventually, Reynolds tried to implicate Hamilton in a scheme to bilk Revolutionary War veterans, and rather than get caught up in that, Hamilton spilled the beans of his affair to Congressional inquirers, one of which was future President, James Monroe . Ironically, Hamilton was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr a number of years later].
Hamilton’s was decidedly not an isolated case. The Web site politicker.com has a list of the 53 biggest U.S. sex scandals. Bill Clinton, of course, occupies the number one position after his rumored “affair” with Monica Lewinsky - which almost cost him the presidency. That’s not to mention Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones, his alleged lovers while he was governor of Arkansas. But the list is much broader and touches on representatives of various States and all parties during all eras. It involves heterosexual cases, homosexuals, prostitutes, married women and minors. There’s even a homicide.
A good number of these scandals would be “dispensed with” in other Western countries, which better-separate (or, at least with more clarity) the public sphere from the private sector. In several nations, including Brazil, where a politician installs his annex is normally a topic that only concerns himself and those directly involved. The issue only gains a public dimension if one of the parties complains about the behavior of “said party” (the politician - not the annex) or reveals a correlated fault. Otherwise, officials tend to be left in peace with their lovers, even by the press.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the United States.
Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has gone into therapy in the wake of the hooker scandal that swept him out of office, a Spitzer insider told The Post yesterday.
As part of the therapy, Spitzer will explore whether he has an addiction to sex, the source said.
…
…it has emerged he has had a jones for pricey professional girls going back as far as a decade, and hooked up with “Kristen” - the nom-de-sack of 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre - several times prior to getting nabbed on tape, sources have said.
Experts say this type of behavior exhibits classic signs of sexual addiction.
“If it becomes an overwhelming urge to the detriment of your professional and familial relationships - if it starts to screw up your life - that is addictive behavior,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gardere, a clinical psychologist.
“Someone who displays this sort of behavior could be classified as having a sexual addiction.”
I would agree with this: “…an overwhelming urge to the detriment of your professional and familial relationships - if it starts to screw up your life - that is addictive behavior…”.
Well, if you know anything about addictive personalities and addictions, the issue is often around risk, taking risk, self-destruction, narcissism and the presence of other addictive behaviors.
Here’s a good primer on addictive personalities, especially sex addiction, with a podcast and links to other resources.
Of course the unasked question is, if Ms. Dupre has been engaged in the exposure of her body for money or other gratification since at least the age of 17, accompanied by the drinking of alcohol, does she too have some addictions that should but probably won’t get attention? Is that right, wrong, unimportant?
Yeah. Remember, there’s nothing victimless about prostitution or infidelity.
The New York Daily News is reporting that,“In a stunning revelation, both [New York Governor David] Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago.”
In the course of several interviews in the past few days, Paterson said he maintained a relationship for two or three years with “a woman other than my wife,” beginning in 1999.
…
“This was a marriage that appeared to be going sour at one point,” Paterson conceded in his first interview Saturday. “But I went to counseling and we decided we wanted to make it work. Michelle is well aware of what went on.”
The name of Eliot Ness, that iconic crime fighter if the early 20th century - has reverberated down through history as the definition of justice and incorruptibility. In writing about his namesake Eliot Spitzer, Serge Truffaut of Canada’s French-language Le Devior writes in part, ‘You cannot make this up. … The first name of Governor Spitzer of New York is Eliot. The same as that other Eliot - Eliot Ness - the patron saint of the incorruptible who hunt down criminals, both white collar and blue … This image - fashioned with his [Spitzer’s] own bare hands on a canvas of moral rectitude - evaporated instantly at the end of an act of contrition … the spectacle was appalling.’
By Serge Truffaut
Translated By Kate Davis
March 12, 2008
Canada - Le Devior - Original Article (French)
You cannot make this up. The first name of Governor Spitzer of New York is Eliot. The same as that other Eliot - Eliot Ness - the patron saint of the incorruptible who hunt down criminals, both white collar and blue. It is in making life harder for fashionable crooks in neck-ties on the floor of the stock exchange that he built a reputation for himself as a “new incorruptible,” or even a “tireless crusader,” to borrow nicknames that the media gave him during scandals at WorldCom, Tyco, Enron and others we have forgotten. He proclaimed himself the “Sheriff of Wall Street.”
This image - fashioned with his own bare hands on a canvas of moral rectitude - evaporated instantly at the end of an act of contrition by the former New York Attorney General WATCH . This sheriff acknowledged paying a heavy price for his history of peccadilloes. He spent more than $4,000 to enjoy the favors of strumpets in chic hotels of the capital city. QED [It has been demonstrated - quod erat demonstrandum]: This prostitution network procured the services of the so-called call girls especially for high-flying politicians.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Aside from any moral judgment, this affair is particularly distressing since it seriously cripples the work of the current attorney general and his staff - notably the investigations initiated while Spitzer was still the boss of the patrons of justice. One this is certain; when the news hit the presses, traders on Wall Street… Applauded!
Because this man, when he was hunting down crooked millionaires, had opted at all times and in his words - for a strategy of “aggressiveness.” He was at times so hard and his methods so brutal that even people in his camp now say that they considered Spitzer reckless or irresponsible. This inclination, or rather his certainty that he was always right - led him to demolish without proof, individuals who appeared on his prosecutor’s radar screen. An example? He started a rumor that the secretary of New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso had been Grasso’s mistress. In short, he brandished a little poison, even if only an allegation, to reduce the reputation of another to a briny bouillon.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with many other translated foreign-press reactions to Spitzer’s downfall.
Was there something beyond Eliot Spitzer’s ungoverned libido behind his breathtaking downfall? Andrei Fedyashin writes for Russia’s Novosti news service, ‘Spitzer had his career and family life taken down by the forces of political retribution … Only the naive can doubt that this was a pre-arranged “sex scandal.”‘ Pointing out that most of his Wall Street enemies were Republican, Fedyashin asks, ‘Who better to bring down, if not a Democrat and personal friend of Hillary Clinton, who had formally pledged to support her at the upcoming Democratic convention? As a governor, Spitzer is among one of about 800 so-called super-delegates, who may well decide which candidate will lead the party’s fight for the White House - Clinton or Barack Obama … Perhaps the explanation is that Hillary frightens Republicans far more than her party-comrade, Barack Obama?’
By Political Columnist Andrei Fedyashin
Translated By Igor Medvedev
March 14, 2008
Russia - Novosti - Original Article (Russian)
MOSCOW: Less than a week after a “sex scandal” erupted around the Governor of the State of New York on March 13, Democrat Eliot Spitzer announced his resignation on March 17.
Unofficially, on the day that The New York Times published the spicy details of his phone order for a “short brunette,” it was clear that Spitzer, who two years ago was thought to have a promising future as a likely Democratic candidate for the White House - had destroyed his political career and probably his family. She [the brunette] was “delivered” to the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, where the 48-year-old Spitzer spent the night before testifying to Congress. How badly everything turned out! Bad from a purely moral point of view and doubly bad in a U.S. presidential election year.
It later transpired that Spitzer had used the services of this brunette and other call girls through a certain company called the Emperor’s Club VIP, and over the last ten years had paid it over $80,000. And considering that he allegedly paid $1,000 for this one brunette, one concludes that he must have had 80 of them during this time. This is quite a propensity for variety - even in ten years.
In a nutshell, this is the tale of the downfall of the now-former governor of America’s third-largest state. And now, apart from having to completely quit politics, he stands accused of the “illegal promotion of prostitution,” since the call girl was dispatched from New York to Metropolitan Washington D.C. According to the laws of the United States, transporting someone across state lines to procure sex is an even greater offense than prostitution itself. Moreover, he may also be deprived of his right to practice law. Simply put, when it rains it pours.
If you are unfamiliar with Spitzer’s record and fail to take account of his backround, you might get the impression that these charges of “illegal sex” came like a bolt from the blue. Sex scandals in America, of course, are nothing new: Almost every second U.S. President has committed adultery, with John F. Kennedy - given his record of such transgressions - mastering his White House rivals. That’s to say nothing of Senators, House members and other governors.
But these scandals do differ. Some are more moderate while others hit like a thunder-clap. The Spitzer story is of the latter category. Since this is a presidential year it couldn’t have been otherwise. It’s embarrassing again to speak here of political hypocrisy in the United States. It’s so unfortunate to devalue this meaningful notion through such frequent repetition.
What is it about Eliot Spitzer’s downfall that has attracted the attention of people around the world? Is it the power, the sex, the hypocrisy? According to the editorial board of Switzerland’s Nachrichten newspaper, the tale of Eliot Spitzer follows a pattern that never really goes out of style. According to Nachrichten, ‘American politics without sex scandals is almost unthinkable. The fallen sinners are almost equally divided between the two major parties. … Elmer Gantry, the amoral preacher of morality depicted by Sinclair Lewis, is the pattern of a story that never really gets old.’
EDITORIAL
Translated By James Jacobson
March 11, 2008
Switzerland - Nachrichten - Home Page (German)
The rise and fall of Eliot Spitzer is an American success story of a very particular kind. The Democratic governor of New York State was a fierce dog, who as a public prosecutor walked on the dead to expose all kinds of corruption, organized crime and prostitution. He destroyed the reputations of many well-known and lesser-known business and political opponents in a way that left behind many enemies.
The fact that he now had to admit to being involved in a prostitution ring is not in itself unusual for an American politician. American politics without sex scandals is almost unthinkable. The fallen sinners are almost equally divided between the two major parties.
Older students recall the case Wilbur Mills, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who in 1974 was brought down due to his involvement with a stripper named Fanne Foxe. When a policeman stopped the politician’s car, this beautiful woman in the dead of night jumped into the freezing water of the Washington Tidal Basin, next to the Jefferson Memorial, thereby setting his fall in motion. Before that, these things only went on under the table, the escapades of President John F. Kennedy being the most well-known example.
Now those attracted by the Mills story have something even bigger. Since then a lot has happened, and many politicians have fallen from their pedestals. But the way Spitzer of all people has fallen into the clutches of law enforcement authorities has almost a literary quality. Elmer Gantry , the amoral preacher of morality depicted by Sinclair Lewis, is the pattern of a story that never really gets old.
In one of those telling front page-back page juxtapositions, the headline news about Eliot Spitzer overwhelms a government study showing that one out of every four American teenage girls is infected with a sexually transmitted disease.
After seven years of a federal government promoting abstinence only, both stories are reminders that the gap between what Americans say in public and do in private has morphed into a chasm of hypocrisy.
As righteous Republicans enjoy the spectacle of a Democratic governor joining the ranks of Larry Craig, David Vitter et al, little attention is being paid to the alarming news about teenagers who don’t know or don’t care enough to protect themselves from infections that can lead to serious disease.
Read the rest of this entry.
March 12th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
Could the resignation New York Governor Eliot Spitzer hurt Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign? There is one school of thought that feels it could.
The Washington Post notes that the scandal is drowning out much of Clinton’s presidential campaign message and worse: the scandal is leading to upsummer paragraphs in news stories about the Monica Lewinsky scandal, usage of old stock footage about the Lewinsky scandal — even late night comedian jokes using the Spitzer and Lewinsky scandal as headlines.
In other words, it’s pushing forth in the media (and electorate) images of parts of the Clinton administration that aren’t helpful to Clinton’s campaign…as it drowns out her present messages.
The Post:
For a supporter, New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer (D) sure hasn’t done Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) any favors lately.
After all, it was Spitzer who, in the view of her advisers, caused the slide that put her where she is today, fighting from behind for the Democratic presidential nomination. A question about his proposal to let illegal immigrants get driver’s licenses tripped her up in a debate in late October and ended 10 months of unquestioned dominance in the race for the nomination.
Now, his apparent involvement with a prostitution ring has not only distracted attention from her efforts to take down the front-runner, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), it has also brought back unhelpful memories of her own husband’s dalliances in office. There on cable television again were pictures of Bill Clinton hugging Monica S. Lewinsky. And the image of Spitzer’s wife standing painfully by his side while he acknowledged unspecified wrongdoing could not help but remind some of Hillary Clinton’s own stand-by-her-man moment.
Never underestimate the power of images — and images within a political context — in American political life. It also underscores how campaigns — and perceptions — are shaped by forces beyond the control of political operatives, campaign ads, even huge campaign bankrolls. The “unforeseen events” can often influence a campaign. And it’s hard to see how this will help Clinton.
This certainly is not the way Clinton’s strategists would have mapped out this week on the campaign trail. They want voters to be thinking about that 3 a.m. phone call in terms of who is ready to handle a crisis in the White House, not in terms of where an unfaithful husband might be catting around town. And, sure enough, the late-night comedians wasted little time linking the Spitzer case to the Clintons. Jay Leno joked Monday night that Spitzer’s scandal “means Hillary Clinton is now only the second angriest woman in the state of New York.” David Letterman offered a Top 10 List of excuses Spitzer might cite, including the No. 1 excuse: “I thought Bill Clinton legalized this years ago.”
Best case for Hillary Clinton: it just means her campaign can’t get her imagery and message through as much as it hoped. Worst case: It revives anew references to the Monica Lewinsky scandal which makes Bill a tad less of a plus on the campaign trail then he was before the Spitzer story broke.
The New York Times: Spitzer Resigns, Citing Personal Failings - Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson Set to Succeed Him
Gov. Eliot Spitzer, reeling from revelations that he had been a client of a prostitution ring, announced his resignation today at his headquarters in Manhattan.
The case of Eliot Spitzer - as is often the case when an American politician is charged with a lack of moral rectitude - leaves many Europeans scratching their collective heads. According to this editorial from Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland, ‘From a Central European perspective, the Spitzer Affair has a rather outlandish aspect to it. New York’s once dreaded “Mister Clean” is facing ruin because in most U.S. states, prostitution and visiting a prostitute is not just a matter of moral misconduct - it’s an indictable offense.’
EDITORIAL
Translated Bu Ulf Behncke
March 12, 2009
Germany - Financial Times Deutschland - Original Article (German)
Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays virtue. But Eliot Spitzer made so many bitter enemies during the course of his career that now, some even refuse to call the Governor of New York State a hypocrite: To them, Spitzer never even pretended to respect virtue.
Spitzer, who in his previous post as Attorney General was the terror of Wall Street and many major American corporations, simply imagined himself above the law.
What Spitzer was actually thinking, nobody knows. What’s clear is that this classic drama of a smug Mister Goody-Two-Shoes whose meetings with high-class hookers proved to be his undoing, will provide ample material for psychologists and future scriptwriters alike.
Since Spitzer violated the very laws that as Governor and former Attorney General he was ultimately responsible for upholding, he is left no way out other than resignation.
From a Central European perspective, the Spitzer Affair has a rather outlandish aspect to it. New York’s once dreaded “Mister Clean” is facing ruin because in most U.S. states, prostitution and visiting a prostitute is not just a matter of moral misconduct - it’s an indictable offense.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing foreign press reaction to the the downfall of Eliot Spitzer.
With the Mann Act in the news courtesy of now former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, it seems appropriate to reprise the story of Jack Johnson and one of the most pernicious political prosecutions in American history.
Johnson, nicknamed the “Galveston Giant” for his Texas hometown and imposing size, arguably was the best heavyweight boxer of his generation.
As the first black heavyweight champion of the world, a title he held from 1908-1915, Johnson became the most famous and became the most notorious African-American on earth.
You will have to ask Geraldine Ferraro whether Johnson was fortunate to be a black man, but he did win 124 fights and lost only 14 through a then-distinctive defensive approach to boxing where he would wait for his opponent to make a mistake and the capitalize on it, and he sought to punish his foes rather than knock them out.
The white press characterized this effective approach as cowardly and devious, and he already was a polarizing figure when he beat formerly undefeated white heavyweight champion James L. Jeffries in the “Fight of the Century,” a July 4, 1910 bout before 22,000 fans in Reno, Nevada.
White fans felt humiliated when Jeffries was twice knocked down in the 15th round and refused to continue for fear of being knocked out. The outcome of the fight triggered race riots in 25 cities across the U.S. after blacks began celebrating in the streets, and at least 23 blacks and two white died and hundreds were injured.
As a black man, Johnson broke the powerful taboo in consorting with white women, and would verbally taunt men — both white and black — inside and outside the ring.
In July 1920, he surrendered to federal agents for allegedly violating the Mann Act against “transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes” by sending his white girlfriend, Belle Schreiber, a railroad ticket to travel from Pittsburgh to Chicago. It was widely viewed as a misuse of the act, which was intended to stop interstate traffic in prostitutes.
Johnson was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he served a one-year sentence. While imprisoned, he invented a tool to help tighten fastening devices and later was granted a U.S. patent.
He died in a car crash near Raleigh, North Carolina at age 68 in 1946, just one year before Jackie Robinson broke the color line in Major League Baseball.
There have been recurring proposals to grant Johnson a posthumous presidential pardon. Perhaps that can be one of Barack Obama’s first acts, no?
With the 
