Porn king writes of presidents' peccadilloes

Porn king or First Amendment champion?

Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler magazine and successful defendant in a landmark free speech case, has been both, and the lesson he has drawn from each is that sex carries a stigma in this country.

In typical Flynt fashion, he's trying to unsettle that, but with a new approach: The pornographer has turned historian.

In One Nation Under Sex (Palgrave MacMillan, $25) Flynt and coauthor David Eisenbach examine the, um, private lives of presidents.

Like much in Flynt's four-decade career, the book is unapologetic, assertive, and sure to be controversial. As Flynt and Eisenbach acknowledge in the introduction, they offer a version of the American past at odds with what appears in most history books.

The authors unravel tales of affairs, homosexuality, and crumbling marriages. The stories may seem to have a tabloid touch (Abe Lincoln slept with men! Eleanor Roosevelt had a lesbian lover!), but the book argues that the guarded, juicy sex lives of a few powerful people greatly shaped public policy and altered American history.

Flynt and Eisenbach will talk about the book Monday night at 7:30 at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Flynt, 68, said in a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles that the book's purpose is to counter historical portrayals of Thomas Jefferson and others as figures of "marble and stone."

"In reality he's just like all of us," with a sex drive, Flynt added. The president hypocritically slept with his slave Sally Hemings and fathered her children while he harped on rival Alexander Hamilton's sexual indiscretions, write Flynt and Eisenbach.

Eisenbach, who has a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, did most of the research, using a slew of sources, including the National Archives, the Woodrow Wilson papers at Princeton University, and presidential libraries, for instance.

(Flynt explained the collaboration: "Who wants to read a history book written by a pornographer? I needed to bring David in.")

Flynt said he and Eisenbach wrote the book together, making arguments meant to be both cautionary and revelatory.

Among their conclusions:

Benjamin Franklin's success in courting French women helped shore up French funding for the American Revolution, a key piece to winning the war.

President James Buchanan's gay love affair with a slave owner kept him from taking decisive action against Southern preparations for secession.

Republican partisanship turned the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair into a scandal that ultimately distracted the president from undermining al-Qaeda and killing Osama bin Laden years before Sept. 11.

These are history lessons that the public really hasn't heard before but needs to know, the authors write.

Flynt's foray into history is the latest chapter in a career largely spent at the intersection of sex and politics.

Most recently, Flynt offered a job, complete with a higher salary and health care benefits, to former Democratic U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned in disagrace after his lewd online behavior with women became public.

Flynt also has proudly paid for dirt on politicians who run on "family values" yet fail to live up to them. Flynt, who offered as much as $1 million for information about wayward Republicans during the Clinton impeachment proceedings, takes credit for digging up the dirt that led to the resignation in 1999 of Republican U.S. Rep. Robert L. Livingston, of Louisiana, who was in line to become speaker of the House.

"The biggest threat to democracy is hypocrisy," Flynt said. "I feel that I have a responsibility to speak out," he added. "Most people see me as a guy in the basement putting out pornography every day. I work harder than that."

Flynt may be best known for Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, a 1988 Supreme Court case in which Jerry Falwell sued Flynt, claiming libel and emotional distress.  The magazine had printed a fictional "interview" with the evangelical Christian preacher in which he described his first sexual experience - with his mother in an outhouse. The court ruled unanimously in Flynt's favor, arguing that public figures cannot be awarded damages for emotional distress unless publications acted with "actual malice." Many herald the case as protection for parody and satire. (The decision was depicted in the 1996 film The People vs. Larry Flynt.)

Flynt has been the publisher of Hustler since its first issue in 1974, in addition to distributing other pornographic material, operating a casino, and running strip clubs across the country.

In his gravelly voice, Flynt rattles off his opinions on privacy:

"Freedom is the right to be left alone. I really think that if people aren't violating the law, then you should leave them alone," he said, specifically criticizing the USA Patriot Act and even social media. "The price you pay for living in a free society is toleration. You need to tolerate things you don't necessarily like so you can live a free life."

The publisher said he wouldn't change anything he's done - except wear a bulletproof vest for public appearances. Flynt was wounded in a 1978 assassination attempt and has had to use a wheelchair ever since.

These days, Flynt said, "People don't want to speak up. They don't want to go to the microphone. They don't want to pick up a pen. They don't really want to do anything until it affects them personally. But you have to speak."