No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, it’s hard not to get caught up in the scandals, rumours and stories when it comes to the sex lives of the Presidents. Everyone remembers the big ones – John F. Kennedy and his affection for female constituents and, of course, Bill Clinton’s infamous comments about what he did or didn’t do with his intern, Monica Lewinsky. While sex scandals have rocked the country, details on the sex lives of presidents are often surprising. Here we’ve rounded up five of the juiciest tidbits from the White House just in time for election season.

Lyndon Johnson’s Other Johnson

Rumours and stories abound about Lyndon Johnson and the size of his penis. Johnson was already a well-known and established politician when he became Vice President under John F. Kennedy. While Kennedy received plenty of attention from women, Johnson took a back seat which is, some say, what eventually drove him to start getting his penis out at the drop of a hat. Johnson bragged regularly about his sexual conquests and, according to his biographer Robert Dallek, when asked by a reporter about why the US was involved in a war with Vietnam, Johnson whipped out his “substantial organ” and told the reporter “This is why!”.

Gary Hart’s Infamous Challenge

In 1987, Gary Hart was poised to win the Democratic nomination for President. Whispers about an extramarital affair began cropping up and Hart laughed them off, challenging reporters to follow him around if they were that interested. The press took him up on the challenge and soon uncovered his affair with Donna Rice. The ensuing scandal ruined his chances at the Presidency as well as his political career.

James Buchanan’s “Special Friend”

Once Barak Obama was elected, people celebrated America’s first black president and began to speculate about what other firsts may be in line for our country. The first female president? The first gay president? Too late for the last one, as James Buchanan’s personal life may have been kept quiet during his presidency but today he is widely regarded as America’s first homosexual president. Buchanan maintained a close relationship with a senator from Alabama named William Rufus King. The two lived together for 15 years and the relationship was referred to as essentially a marriage by a number of political contemporaries including Andrew Jackson and Aaron V. Brown.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt – The Original Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

It’s one thing when someone in a marriage has an affair, but it’s quite another when they both are. The story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt is perhaps the strangest example of this. Franklin Roosevelt carried on a long-term extramarital affair with Lucy Mercer, his social secretary. Eleanor, meanwhile, carried on relationships with a number of women, including pilot Amelia Earhart and reporter Lorena Hickok. Today, it is generally accepted that these relationships were sexual in nature.

The Coolidge Effect

While not technically a sex scandal or secret, one President has gone down in history as being the inspiration for a sexual term – The Coolidge Effect. The story goes that President Calvin Coolidge and his wife were being shown around a farm as part of a government tour. The couple toured various parts of the farm separately, including the chicken yard. When Mrs. Coolidge was informed that the rooster mated several times a day, she smiled and said “Please tell the President that.” Later, when President Coolidge was shown the same chicken yard, the guides told him about his wife’s comments earlier. The President smiled and asked if the rooster mates that many times a day with the same chicken. The guide said no, that the rooster becomes aroused with new females at which point President Coolidge smiled and said “Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge.”  Today, The Coolidge Effect is an accepted term in the studies of biology and sexology as being the effect new females have in raising the sexual arousal of a male.