As president, John F. Kennedy cultivated his image as a devoted family man with a glamorous wife and two children. In recent years, his legacy has been tarnished by revelations that he had numerous sexual affairs. Kennedy’s escapades were known to many journalists and associates, but in that era such information was not revealed to the general public.

The media has since changed in how it reports on the private lives of politicians. A candidate’s history regarding sex, drug abuse, and other “private” matters is commonly placed under intense media scrutiny. A turning point came in 1987 when Gary Hart was forced to drop out of the presidential race because of revelations of an adulterous relationship. In 1992, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton took the unusual step of admitting on national television that he had &ldquo...