Larry Flynt Tells Imus Why the U.S. is "One Nation Under Sex," the Title of His New Book

Larry Flynt, the legendary publisher of Hustler magazine, once donated $100,000 to the Imus Ranch, a generous gesture to say the least. Asked at the time if he would return the check because Flynt prints “those dirty pictures,” Imus replied, “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to help kids with cancer.”
 
Flynt’s new book, One Nation Under Sex, focuses on the history of political sexual scandals in the United States. Flynt has been associated with this sort of lurid content since he opened his first Hustler Club in 1968, and began publishing what would become Hustler Magazine in 1972.
 
“I didn’t have any formal education,” Flynt explained. “When I got out of the Navy, I got an idea to start a men’s magazine. I felt the competitors weren’t doing what they should be doing.

At the time, his competitors were Playboy and Penthouse, both of which he thinks did not show men the level of female nudity they desired. “We were a bit more explicit,” he said. “I think we understood the market better.”
 
Flynt never thought of himself as a pornographer, per se, but rather as a liberator. “I felt Moses freed the Jews, and Lincoln freed the slaves, and I’d just like to free a lot of neurotics,” he said. “And in the process help a lot of people through puberty.”
 
He is often thanked by fans for helping them through that awkward phase of life, and remarked, “My god, what better accolade could you have than that?”
 
In One Nation Under Sex, Flynt and co-author David Eisenbach examine the sexual dalliances of this country’s leaders going back to the Founding Fathers, and how social mores have changed over time.
 
“The very first scandal, in Jefferson’s cabinet, was Alexander Hamilton, who got caught up in a clash with a guy that was pimping out his wife, and he was paying for the sex,” Flynt said. Following a Congressional investigation, Hamilton was cleared of any wrongdoing. “They said he wasn’t using the government’s money, and what he did was his own business.”
 
Flynt and Eisenbach also cover Abraham Lincoln, who notoriously slept in bed with various men, not an uncommon practice for men in the mid-1800s. Yet only one of Lincoln’s sleepovers, with a man named William Greene in Illinois, can be traced to an actual shortage of beds.
 
A man named Joshua Speed, by contrast, “slept in the bed with him all the time when Mary Todd Lincoln was out of town,” Flynt said. A close look at correspondences between Speed and Lincoln is even more revelatory, in Flynt’s view, though he insisted he’s not looking to “out” the former President. “People can draw their own conclusions.”
 
Flynt reported that the two “rowdiest” White Houses were JFK’s and Warren Harding’s. “All he did the whole time he was in the White House was womanize,” Flynt said of Harding, who was said to enjoy the “whore houses of Columbus, Ohio.”
 
As for Bill Clinton, his likeability and the country’s success under his tenure have made him one of the most popular former Presidents in history, despite the numerous sexual scandals that swirled around him. “Everybody knew he was a player,” Flynt said, adding, “He was one of those charming guys.”
 
Trying to be charming himself, Flynt told Imus to say hello to Deirdre for him. Not amused, Imus responded, “Leave her alone.”
 
-Julie Kanfer