President Lincoln was assassinated. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. And Julius Caesar? He was stabbed by fellow politicians.
The internet raced to fact-check President Trump after he told graduates at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Wednesday that no politician has ever endured worse treatment.
“Look at the way I’ve been treated lately, especially by the media,” Trump said. “No politician in history … has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
Here’s a look at U.S. politicians who’ve also battled the press and their opposing party during their time in office.
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was famously brought down by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, dogged reporters for the Washington Post who broke the news surrounding the Watergate break in and cover up scandal.
At the height of the investigation, the embattled president famously told a room of reporters: “I’m not a crook.”
In a remarks echoed by President Trump decades later, Nixon told the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the press is the enemy. “Enemies. Understand that … Because they’re trying to stick the knife right in our groin.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
In the 1930s, President Roosevelt was frequently accused of state-sponsored socialism and communism by Republicans who vehemently opposed his New Deal policies.
Republicans even hinted at impeaching the president over his proposals to lift the country out of the Great Depression, according to historians. In addition to facing political blowback, Roosevelt was maligned in newspapers across the country and a front-page editorial was taken out in The New York American attacking his policies, according to historians.
Roosevelt was so enraged he released an official White House statement, slamming the paper’s owner.
President Obama
As the nation’s first African American president, President Barack Obama and his family often weathered naked racism throughout his time in the White House.
“It knocked me back a bit,” Michelle Obama admitted during a 2016 commencement address. “I had a lot of sleepless nights, worrying about what people thought of me.”
During his campaign and well into his time in the White House, Obama had to contend with the infamous “birther” conspiracy, a movement that sought to undermine his legitimacy for office by falsely claiming that the Hawaii-native was born in Kenya. Demands for Obama’s birth certificate began on the fringes of right-wing media and trickled down to voters, helped along by pundits — including President Trump.
Perhaps the one of the most flagrant examples of Republican opposition to Obama came when South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson infamously shouted “you lie” during his health care speech to Congress. The outburst received bi-partisan condemnation.
