Marriage vows immaterial to oath of office

RE "EDWARDS'S affair is everyone's business" (Letters, Aug. 18): Grant Hansel voices his opinion of a direct correlation between one's faithfulness in marriage and one's ability to be an effective leader. The facts simply do not support this.

We have just endured nearly eight years of a president who by all accounts is faithful in marriage. He also owns the lowest approval rating of anyone since Richard Nixon, and is likely to be judged by history as one of the worst presidents.

Bill Clinton was unfaithful to his wife yet presided over eight years of peace, prosperity, and balanced budgets. One of the country's most admired presidents, John Kennedy, was pitiful when it came to marriage vows. But I wouldn't have wanted anyone else negotiating the future of the world during the Cuban missile crisis.

Going further back, recent DNA evidence has demonstrated that one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, was almost certainly the father of a number of illegitimate children by one of his slaves.

I don't advocate adultery, and it's not something I practice. However, I suggest we manage our own morality, and choose a president based on other legitimate criteria; marriage vows have nothing to do with it.

MARC J. DeWITT
Mendon