Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Hugh Sidey, whose personal portraits of America's chief executives appeared in Time magazine's "The Presidency" column over four decades, died Monday. He was 78. His brother, Ed Sidey, said other relatives told him that Sidey had suffered a heart attack in Paris. He lived in suburban Potomac, Md. Sidey, who served as Time's White House correspondent and its Washington bureau chief, wrote "The Presidency" from 1966 to 1996. He was a contributing editor to the newsweekly at the time of his death. Reflecting on the presidents in a 2003 interview, Sidey said: "They are not as tall or...

In its 12 Nov 2001 issue, Time ran this brief article on page 31. Hugh Sidey—the magazine's Washington Contributing Editor—has been covering the presidency for Life and Time since 1957. In this snippet, he reveals that JFK told him in 1961 that the Soviet Union has a nuclear bomb in its embassy in Washington, DC. In my book, this counts as a major revelation, yet there are several factors that indicate that this piece was created in a way that minimizes its impact. And that's exactly what happened: minimal impact. A sitting president told a White House reporter that...

Yes, America, there was a Mimi, a teenage cuddle for President John Kennedy back in 1962 and '63. But there was also a Pam, a Priscilla, a Jill (actually, two of them), a Janet, a Kim, a Mary and a Diana I can think of offhand. The Kennedy sex industry will march on. Sharing the sheets with J.F.K. seems to have become a badge of honor — and perhaps a route to publishing riches. But beware of boasting or true confessions: I've never met anybody who was a witness in the bedroom. It is all circumstantial — or was, until...