The Political Side of Divorce

From the nation’s first political breakup in 1776 to gossip about the personal lives of some of the 2008 presidential candidates, divorce is part of the fabric of American history.

Consider presidential candidate and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose 2003 marriage to pharmaceutical sales manager Judith Nathan is still stirring up news. Though they’ve shied away from the discussion, questions about their relationship — and when it began — have plagued his campaign. His children from his second marriage to TV personality Donna Hanover aren’t even backing their father’s presidential efforts. His daughter recently took down her page on a social networking site backing presidential opponent Barack Obama.

But it’s not Giuliani’s two divorces — including one from first wife and second cousin Regina Peruggi — that may cost him votes. A 2007 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, nearly 9 of 10 potential voters said a divorce made no difference to them. “It’s safe to say that divorce is no longer a major factor in presidential politics,” said Joe Pika, a political science professor at the University of Delaware.

The poll suggested, however, that voters would be swayed if a presidential candidate cheated on a spouse — an allegation Giuliani has faced several times in his personal life. About 56 percent said a candidate’s adultery would make a difference when they voted.

The poll results may be helpful to other political candidates with a personal history of divorce like potential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who also is twice divorced and three times married. Not to mention candidate Sen. John McCain and actor-turned-politician Fred Thompson, who have divorced and remarried as well.

HISTORY OF DIVORCE

Given the statistics, it’s a wonder divorce wasn’t a presidential issue long ago. Well, it was. “It was a major problem for Nelson Rockefeller in 1964, though not his only problem,” Pika said. Rockefeller was a moderate Republican, and the nomination was controlled by conservatives, who pushed for fellow conservative Barry Goldwater. “But one of the major problems Rockefeller had been his recent, very public divorce,” Pika said.

Although the National Center for Health Statistics reports that for the past 40 years the ratio of marriages to divorces has been nearly 2 to 1, only one president, Ronald Reagan, has been divorced.Just for the record, in 2005 there were 7.5 new marriages per 1,000 and 3.6 divorces per 1,000.

The rest of the world has considered American divorce rates high as far back as the American Revolution. That’s not surprising for a country that got its start through a divorce — a political one from King George III. The founding fathers had a grievance list of the kind that would have shamed any vengeful spouse.

But long before the country gained its freedom, the first American couple divorced in a Puritan court in Massachusetts in 1639. In England, it took an Act of Parliament to get a divorce until 1857. Why was divorce available under the religiously restrictive Puritans and not in England? “Any country that abandoned Catholicism had to abandon marriage as a sacrament,” said Rick Wunderli, a medieval history professor at the University of Colorado.

He’s alluding to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century when many northern European countries –like England — broke from the Catholic Church. “That meant that marriage became a civil affair,” an affair of state, untied from Catholic doctrine, which prohibited divorce altogether at that time.

The Puritans became a center of that revolt by the following century. For them, “A contract was only valid as long as both parties agreed to it,” Wunderli said. “If one party no longer agrees, the contract ends.”

A bad marriage, the Puritans reasoned, was bad for the community — perhaps the root of the American no-fault divorce. English poet and Puritan John Milton argued that a valid marriage contained true companionship. Since their goal was communal harmony, forcing two people who didn’t love each other to stay together wasn’t good, the Puritans reasoned. Thomas Jefferson, perhaps echoing Milton, used a similar argument when preparing documents in a divorce case four years before writing the Declaration of Independence.

He wrote that it was cruel “to chain a man to misery until death,” that “liberty of divorce prevents and cures domestic quarrels,” and that a marriage, like any other contract, was unenforceable without both parties agreement.

DIVORCE IN AMERICA

U.S. divorce rates never exceeded more than three per 100 marriages until 1900. The rate accelerated when several states made it easy to divorce. Garnering a reputation as “divorce mills,” Indiana, North and South Dakota and California made divorce easy with short residency requirements.

Why? Women often were left behind as their husbands moved west to homestead. Or women simply refused to go at all, said Kathy Sturdevant, an expert in American western and women’s history. “In the late 1800s, western states and territories were redefining ‘mental cruelty’ as a legitimate cause for a woman to obtain a divorce,” she said.

Such situations didn’t always lead to divorce, however. There was a stigma, which could be avoided by living apart — a solution for wealthy couples who could afford two households. According to 19th-century records, women divorced for desertion, followed by cruelty, adultery, drunkenness and neglect. Divorce rights for women went hand-in-hand with voting rights, Sturdevant said.

Suffrage campaigns included discussions of child custody and the retention of property, she said. “Divorce rights were always part of the women’s rights movement,” she said.

By the early 20th century Nevada became the place to go for a quick split. “Going to Reno” became a euphemism for divorce. Nevada only required six months residency, Sturdevant said, “So people, mostly women, would go there to live for six months and obtain a divorce.” But, evidently, the demand argued for a change in the state. In 1922, the waiting period was reduced to three months, making Nevada the greatest divorce mill of all.

DIVORCE AFTER WORLD WAR II

Post World War II America made earlier divorce statistics look like child’s play. According to Glenda Riley and her book, “Divorce: An American Tradition,” pre-World War II marriages “were of relatively short duration and characteristically ended with the death of one partner.”

“After every war in American history, you find increases in marriage and divorce and a baby boom,” Sturdevant said.World War II provided the greatest of them all. Other trends also became clear after World War II, according to Riley’s book, including more divorces in urban areas and the West, which continued to tally the highest rates.

By the 1980s, almost every other marriage ended in divorce, with a divorce about every 13 seconds, she wrote. Although this statistic has declined some in the last decade, the ratios haven’t changed much.

Since Nelson Rockefeller’s run-in with voters, the American public has become more accepting of divorce, Pika said. “By 1976 and 1980, it was not a problem for Ronald Reagan,” he said.

The circumstances can make the difference, though. “Was it triggered by the candidate being unfaithful, abusive, or some other undesirable trait?” Pika said. “Under those conditions, it could once again become important.” That opinion is in line with the Pew survey results.

So what about New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s situation? She has never been accused of adultery, but her husband has. Several times. Will voters decide her loyalty to her husband is a virtue — or simply a political decision?

Stay tuned.

About the author: Victor Greto is an award-winning news and features reporter who has worked in Colorado, Delaware, and Florida.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES AND MARITAL HISTORY

JOE BIDEN, Democrat. Biden, of Wilmington, Del., has been a senator since 1973. His first wife died in a car accident. He remarried. His second wife is named Jill. He has three children and five grandchildren. He’™s been accused of plagiarism, but never infidelity.

JOHN EDWARDS, Democrat. Edwards, of Raleigh, N.C., was a senator from 1998 to 2004. He was a candidate for vice president and president in 2004. He has only been married once, to his wife Elizabeth, who is battling cancer. The couple has four children.

BARACK OBAMA, Democrat. Obama, of Chicago, Ill., was elected in 2004 to the senate. He and his wife, Michelle, have two children.

HILARY CLINTON, Democrat. Clinton, of Chappaqua, N.Y., was elected to the senate in 2000, the year her husband, former President Bill Clinton, left the White House. The couple has one child. During his tenure as president, her husband was accused of having an affair with an intern, Monica Lewinsky.It was not the first time he was accused of infidelity in their marriage.

MIKE GRAVEL, Democrat. Gravel was a senator from 1969-81. Before that he served in the House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966 and as speaker of the House from 1965 to 1966. He and his wife, Whitney, have two children.

BILL RICHARDSON, Democrat. Richardson, of Santa Fe, N.M., is married to wife Barbara. He is currently the governor of New Mexico. He was the Democratic Chief Deputy Whip for the House of Representatives in 1997. He served in the House from 1983 to 1997.

DENNIS KUCINICH, Democrat. He has been married three times, to his newest wife in 2005.

CHRIS DODD, Democrat. Dodd, of East Haddam, Conn., has been a senator since 1980. He served in the House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980. He is married to Jackie Clegg. The couple has two children.