As I was reading Chernow’s biography of Grant, I was struck by the tragi-comedy (OK, more tragedy than comedy but still, with the passage of time we can acknowledge that there were comedic elements to it) of Grant’s brother Orvil. That got me to thinking about other Presidents and the challenges that they’ve had with their own siblings. It does seem to be kind of a pattern. Of the 46 Presidents, at least 10 have had issues, at one time or another, with a brother. For those lucky Presidents, there must be times when they look forward more to the slings and arrows of their avowed enemies than the stunts that some of their brothers pulled. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Orvil Grant
In the latter part of the 19th century, running a trading post for Native American tribes trapped on reservations was big business. Despite all kinds of promises to provide for them, the usual practice was to buy extremely shoddy food and material for the tribes and then overcharge the government for it.
This was bad enough, but then a Secretary of War, William Belknap, got the exclusive rights to grant licenses to trading posts. He immediately started a kickback scheme for all licensees so that he could get a taste of their profits. Of course, the traders just passed this cost on to the government as the price of doing business.
Grants’ brother, Orvil, got in on the action. He had some ownership of three of the trading posts. Eventually the so-called Indian Ring was discovered and there were investigations. Glibly and happily, Orvil confessed all to the somewhat bemused inquisitors.
Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story for Orvil. Having a mania for get rich schemes, he later descended into madness. He was found wandering around lost in Chicago shortly before the 1880 Republican convention where Grant was hoping to be nominated for a third term. Ultimately, he was committed to an asylum and died there.
Donald Nixon
When Richard Nixon was running for President in 1960, it was disclosed that his brother Donald had received a large loan from Howard Hughes. In case you’re wondering why you’ve probably never heard of Donald, it’s because he’s not a public figure. He ran a chain of restaurants.
You might legitimately ask yourself the question of why a defense contractor billionaire would want to lend $205,000 to a guy that runs restaurants. Did he really like the burgers there? Were the shakes extra thick? Or maybe, just maybe, Hughes did it as a I scratch your back, you scratch my back favor to big brother Richard.
Shockingly, the chain of restaurants went bankrupt a year later and Hughes was never repaid. Evidence of this was fodder for the whole Slippery Dick reputation that Nixon never lived down.
In case this story wasn’t Nixonian enough, when Nixon was elected he ordered taps installed on Donald’s phone to be kept aware of any other shenanigans that he might be thinking about pulling.
Neil Bush
Neil gets a special award. He managed to cause embarrassment not only in his brother’s Presidency but also his father’s.
When father George H W Bush was President, the biggest financial crisis was the Savings and Loan collapse. To that point in history, the Savings and Loan bailout was the largest ever. Savings and Loans were these little institutions that were dedicated essentially to building middle class homes. During the height of the deregulation of the 1980s, their rules were loosened up. Opportunists swooped in and this quiet little market became the Wild West. After the dust settled, some 1/3 of all Saving and Loan associations failed. Over $100 billion was spent bailing them out (I know, $100 billion seems almost quaint now).
Must to H W’s embarrassment, Neil Bush served on the board of the Silverado Savings and Loan, which failed to the tune of one billion dollars. He was sued by the FDIC and paid a $50,000 penalty.
Before W’s term started, Neil got involved with some suspicious insider trading. During W’s term, Neil got divorced. Nothing too shocking there, except for the accusations during the divorce proceeding by his wife that Neil engaged with multiple high class escorts in Thailand and Hong Kong. Neil admitted that he had sex with these women but claimed that they just showed up at his door one night and that no money exchanged hands. So, you see, nothing to look at here!
Roger Clinton
Here we have a half brother making an appearance. Before Bill was President, Roger had spent a year in prison for cocaine possession. When Bill was President, Roger spent a good chunk of time trying to convince Bill to pardon his former drug dealing friends. Bill pardoned Roger. A month later, Roger got a DUI.
Billy Carter
Billy is probably the winner in the WTF brother of the President sweepstakes. While Jimmy was working on nuclear submarines, Governor of Georgia, and finally President, Billy was a good ole beer drinking, T-shirt wearing Southern boy that operated a gas station.
He never missed an opportunity to cash in on being Jimmy’s little brother. This can be as innocuous as being the face of Billy Beer. A brewery took a look at Billy, saw opportunity, and started a new brand of beer. It lasted about a year.
And then of course there was Libya. Remember that this was the time when COL Muammar Ghaddifi was running Libya and it was considered a terrorist nation. Billy made three trips to Libya and received loans (variously reported as being either $200,000 or $2,000,000). It was unclear what services a small town gas station owner could offer up to the Libyan government. As is done now, all scandals must end with -gate, hence Billygate.
In the stay classy department, one time he got so drunk that he urinated in public in front of the press.
In case you think that thankfully we’re long past ethical challenges such as these, the law firm that Joe Biden’s brother Frank is associated with has been releasing ads extolling the Biden family relationship.
Brothers gotta bro.
dorkenstein 