- Bill Clinton and Bob Dole are Related; I am voting for PEROT
President Clinton and Bob Dole have more in common than wanting to be
President. They are distant cousins. In fact, they are related several
times. Both Clinton and Dole can trace their ancestry to King Henry
III and are also related to Presidents William Henry Harrison and
Benjamin Harrison. All of this is according to Burke's Peerage, a
publishing house that traces the lineage of royal and noble families.
Clinton has far more royal blood than Dole because he is also
directly descended from King Robert I of France and is related to
every Scottish monarch and to the current British royal family.
Harold Brooks-Baker, publishing director of Burke's Peerage,
believes that Clinton's bluer blood gives him an edge in
November's election. "The Presidential candidate with the greatest
number of royal genes has always been the victor, without exception,
since George Washington," said Brooks-Baker, an American from
Baltimore, Md., who has lived in Britain since 1968. "Only the merest
drop of royal blood flows in the veins of Senator Dole," he said.
Dole's sole royal link is to Henry III, who ruled England from
1227 to 1272. He is related to the king on his mother's side,
through the Talbott and Harrison families of Maryland and
Virginia, according to Burke's. The Dole family's history of
political service dates back to the mid-1600s when the candidate's
ancestor, Richard Ewen, served as a speaker of the House of Burgesses
Assembly in Maryland. The same Harrison family also includes U.S.
Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison as distant
cousins of Dole.
Clinton's royal roots, Brooks-Baker said, include several medieval
monarchs and Simon de Montford, a statesman and soldier under King
Henry III who lived from 1208 to 1265 and married the king's sister
Eleanor. Through de Montford, Clinton is related to every ancient
aristocratic family in Britain today. On his mother's side, Clinton is
also related to President Andrew Jackson and Davy Crockett, the
frontier folk hero who died in 1836 defending the Alamo during the war
for Texan independence.
Of course, not all these connections are ones that the candidates
would brag about. Both candidates' relatives include President William
Henry Harrison. Harrison is noted for the longest inaugural speech in
history, delivered in a cold mixture of rain, sleet and snow. He gave
a one hour forty-five minute speech in the terrible weather despite
the fact that he was not wearing a hat or an overcoat. The 68 year old
Harrison became ill the next day with a bad cold; his condition
worsened until he died four weeks later from pneumonia.
Both of the 1996 Presidential candidates are descended from Henry III,
and Clinton is also descended from the 13th-century baronial leader
Simon de Montfort. Henry III and de Montford were brothers- in-law but
also became bitter enemies. Finally, President Clinton's descent from
Henry III is via an illegitimate child.
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