Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: John Quincy Adams and Skinny-dipping Extortion
The story about to be told may be, in the language of historians, "apocryphal", but it's a story I love to hear, so I hope it has at least a ring of truth to it.
It is said that John Quincy Adams liked to go for a daily skinny-dip in the Potomac River. He would take a daily dip at 5:00 a.m. each morning as part of his daily ritual. Washington being a small town in those days, the word spread about Adams' routine, and New York political king-maker Thurlow Weed decided to check out if the rumors were true. One morning he followed Adams on his stroll to the river and spied on the President as he stripped to the buff and dove into the river. Weed is quoted as saying that Adams "seemed as much at ease in that element as on Terra Firma."
Anne Royall was a female journalist in a time when there were no female journalists. She was the widow of William Royall, who had been a major in the American Revolution and when her husband died in 1812, she was on the losing end of litigation with his family over his estate. She campaigned for a widow's pension, but was unsuccessful in that goal. In the course of that fight, she had been begging Adams for an interview, but the surly son-of-a-president had refused to give her one.
Accoring to the story told by author Daniel Walker Howe and others, one morning Royall also followed Adams as he went for his morning skinny-dip. (One wonders how many other voyeurs Adams attracted on his morning dips?) While Adams was doing the backstroke, Royall gathered up the President's clothes and sat on them on the river bank. When Adams discovered what had happened and told Royall to give him back his duds, she refused to do so unless he promised to give her an interview. Adams agreed, and true to his word he did give the interview. Historians note that Anne Royall became the first female reporter to interview a President. Compared to her, Woodward and Bernstein were amateurs.
I have looked through every biography of John Quincy Adams that I have for mention of this story, and none do. Most seem to treat any mention of his skinny-dipping as undignified and make no mention of it at all. Only one mentioned Anne Royall. In his wonderful 2009 work Mr. Adams's Last Crusade, author Joseph Wheelan writes at pages 141-2:
The journalist Anne Royall's "Sketches of History, Life and Manners in the United States" describes Adams receiving her "with the ease of manner, which bespeaks him what he realy is, the profound scholar and the consumate gentleman." He was serene, dignified and of "middling stature, robust make, and every indication of a vigorous constitution." She remarked on his piercing black eyes. "He never smiled whilst I was in his company. It is a question with me whether he ever laughed in his life, and of all the men I ever saw, he has the least of what is called pride, both in his manners and in his dress."
It is said that John Quincy Adams liked to go for a daily skinny-dip in the Potomac River. He would take a daily dip at 5:00 a.m. each morning as part of his daily ritual. Washington being a small town in those days, the word spread about Adams' routine, and New York political king-maker Thurlow Weed decided to check out if the rumors were true. One morning he followed Adams on his stroll to the river and spied on the President as he stripped to the buff and dove into the river. Weed is quoted as saying that Adams "seemed as much at ease in that element as on Terra Firma."
Anne Royall was a female journalist in a time when there were no female journalists. She was the widow of William Royall, who had been a major in the American Revolution and when her husband died in 1812, she was on the losing end of litigation with his family over his estate. She campaigned for a widow's pension, but was unsuccessful in that goal. In the course of that fight, she had been begging Adams for an interview, but the surly son-of-a-president had refused to give her one.
Accoring to the story told by author Daniel Walker Howe and others, one morning Royall also followed Adams as he went for his morning skinny-dip. (One wonders how many other voyeurs Adams attracted on his morning dips?) While Adams was doing the backstroke, Royall gathered up the President's clothes and sat on them on the river bank. When Adams discovered what had happened and told Royall to give him back his duds, she refused to do so unless he promised to give her an interview. Adams agreed, and true to his word he did give the interview. Historians note that Anne Royall became the first female reporter to interview a President. Compared to her, Woodward and Bernstein were amateurs.
I have looked through every biography of John Quincy Adams that I have for mention of this story, and none do. Most seem to treat any mention of his skinny-dipping as undignified and make no mention of it at all. Only one mentioned Anne Royall. In his wonderful 2009 work Mr. Adams's Last Crusade, author Joseph Wheelan writes at pages 141-2:
The journalist Anne Royall's "Sketches of History, Life and Manners in the United States" describes Adams receiving her "with the ease of manner, which bespeaks him what he realy is, the profound scholar and the consumate gentleman." He was serene, dignified and of "middling stature, robust make, and every indication of a vigorous constitution." She remarked on his piercing black eyes. "He never smiled whilst I was in his company. It is a question with me whether he ever laughed in his life, and of all the men I ever saw, he has the least of what is called pride, both in his manners and in his dress."