Salon Newsreal | "This hypocrite broke up my family" page 2

A L S O__T O D A Y

Editorial
Why we ran the Henry Hyde story
Lives of the Republicans, Part Two
By David Neiwert
The strange case of Helen Chenoweth shows that playing the sex card against the Democrats as a political strategy can be, in Idaho parlance, as "dumb as a mud fence"
The full text of The Starr Report and The White House Rebuttal

T A B L E+T A L K
Why do people fall in love with politicians? Theorize in the Politics area of Table Talk

R E C E N T L Y
White House adjusts its game plan
By Jonathan Broder
White House switches tactics
(09/14/98)
Where's Whitewater?
By Jonathan Broder
The independent counsel seems to have forgotten something on his way to the impeachment party
(09/11/98)
The voyeur general's report to Congress
By Gary Kamiya
Once its Peeping-Tom shock wears off, the Starr report is nothing more than an extreme close-up of what we already knew
(09/11/98)
Commentary: The other woman
By Murray Waas
The one woman Clinton really hurt
(09/10/98)
Secret lives of the Republicans, Part One
By Jason Vest
How Dan Burton outed himself in a preemptive strike against an upcoming Vanity Fair exposé
(09/10/98)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Browse the
Newsreal Archives
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"THIS HYPOCRITE BROKE UP MY FAMILY" | PAGE 1, 2
- - - - - - - - - -
Snodgrass and his wife divorced in 1967, with Cherie taking custody of the children. "But we continued to see each other after that, because of the kids," he said.
Throughout this period, as Hyde launched his political career in the Illinois Legislature, he continued his secret affair with Cherie, according to Snodgrass. Finally, in 1969, Snodgrass decided to confront the man he blamed for destroying his family. Finding out where Hyde lived, not far from his own Chicago home, Snodgrass rang his doorbell. Hyde was not home, but his wife invited Snodgrass in, and he told her he believed her husband was staying with Cherie in Springfield, the state capital. "She's with your husband now," he told her. "He gives her a lot of jewelry and clothes. She said, 'Well, he gives gifts to me too. My husband is a brilliant man. Your wife must be a tramp.' I felt like a heel for telling her. I said, 'Would you like to take a ride to Springfield and look them up?' At that time I had a new Cadillac; it was sitting outside. She started crying and said, 'I can't, I have a baby to watch.'"
The next morning, Cherie called Snodgrass in tears, saying her affair with Hyde was over. A few months later, they remarried, but the new marriage lasted only a year. "I couldn't handle it," said Snodgrass. "I didn't care for her anymore."
Snodgrass' ex-wife, who is now remarried and living in Texas, declined to speak to Salon. But through one of her grown daughters, she confirmed that she had engaged in a long-term affair with Hyde.
"My mother originally didn't want me to say anything to the press," said her daughter. "But she's just so fed up with [Hyde], with how two-faced he is. She knows she wasn't his first [mistress] and she wasn't his last. She hates his anti-abortion stuff, and all the family values stuff. She thinks he's bad for the country, he's too powerful and he's hypocritical."
As for the children of Fred and Cherie Snodgrass' broken marriage, said a family intimate, "They didn't have a good life, that's for sure." Hyde should not be entirely blamed for the family's destruction, added the source: "The family was screwed up anyway. But the affair sure put the final kibosh on it."
Sitting at home, in his one-bedroom, $325-a-month, government-subsidized apartment, Fred Snodgrass fought to hold back his tears as he talked about his children. The apartment, which is in suburban Weston, Fla., across the highway from the Everglades, is decorated with Picasso reproductions that Snodgrass has painted, signing each one "Freddy." Photographs of his children when they were young, including one with him in a Santa Claus outfit, sit on a side table and fill a box of mementos. Snodgrass said it was difficult to stay close to them after his divorce, particularly when his ex-wife moved them to California. "I went to court and said, 'I'd like to see more of my kids.' The judge said, 'You can take a plane.'" He moved to Florida in 1973 with his elderly mother, and the kids rarely visited. "So the whole family just faded away, just fell apart."
"I never got married again, never wanted any more of that," he added. "I'm an old man now, so that's that."
Why did Snodgrass decide to talk publicly about his wife's affair with Hyde three decades later? "I hate the man. He destroyed my kids, me," he said, starting to cry. "I'm not a vengeful person. And I don't have anything against Cherie anymore. Of course, it takes two to tango and maybe I wasn't the best of husbands. But he got away with it. He doesn't deserve all this ovation, this respect."
SALON | Sept. 16, 1998
Dwight Garner assisted in the reporting of this story.

A L S O__T O D A Y Editorial Why we ran the Henry Hyde story Lives of the Republicans, Part Two By David Neiwert The strange case of Helen Chenoweth shows that playing the sex card against the Democrats as a political strategy can be, in Idaho parlance, as "dumb as a mud fence" The full text of The Starr Report and The White House Rebuttal T A B L E+T A L K Why do people fall in love with politicians? Theorize in the Politics area of Table Talk R E C E N T L Y White House adjusts its game plan By Jonathan Broder White House switches tactics (09/14/98) Where's Whitewater? By Jonathan Broder The independent counsel seems to have forgotten something on his way to the impeachment party (09/11/98) The voyeur general's report to Congress By Gary Kamiya Once its Peeping-Tom shock wears off, the Starr report is nothing more than an extreme close-up of what we already knew (09/11/98) Commentary: The other woman By Murray Waas The one woman Clinton really hurt (09/10/98) Secret lives of the Republicans, Part One By Jason Vest How Dan Burton outed himself in a preemptive strike against an upcoming Vanity Fair exposé (09/10/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		"THIS HYPOCRITE BROKE UP MY FAMILY" \| PAGE 1, 2 - - - - - - - - - - Snodgrass and his wife divorced in 1967, with Cherie taking custody of the children. "But we continued to see each other after that, because of the kids," he said. Throughout this period, as Hyde launched his political career in the Illinois Legislature, he continued his secret affair with Cherie, according to Snodgrass. Finally, in 1969, Snodgrass decided to confront the man he blamed for destroying his family. Finding out where Hyde lived, not far from his own Chicago home, Snodgrass rang his doorbell. Hyde was not home, but his wife invited Snodgrass in, and he told her he believed her husband was staying with Cherie in Springfield, the state capital. "She's with your husband now," he told her. "He gives her a lot of jewelry and clothes. She said, 'Well, he gives gifts to me too. My husband is a brilliant man. Your wife must be a tramp.' I felt like a heel for telling her. I said, 'Would you like to take a ride to Springfield and look them up?' At that time I had a new Cadillac; it was sitting outside. She started crying and said, 'I can't, I have a baby to watch.'" The next morning, Cherie called Snodgrass in tears, saying her affair with Hyde was over. A few months later, they remarried, but the new marriage lasted only a year. "I couldn't handle it," said Snodgrass. "I didn't care for her anymore." Snodgrass' ex-wife, who is now remarried and living in Texas, declined to speak to Salon. But through one of her grown daughters, she confirmed that she had engaged in a long-term affair with Hyde. "My mother originally didn't want me to say anything to the press," said her daughter. "But she's just so fed up with [Hyde], with how two-faced he is. She knows she wasn't his first [mistress] and she wasn't his last. She hates his anti-abortion stuff, and all the family values stuff. She thinks he's bad for the country, he's too powerful and he's hypocritical." As for the children of Fred and Cherie Snodgrass' broken marriage, said a family intimate, "They didn't have a good life, that's for sure." Hyde should not be entirely blamed for the family's destruction, added the source: "The family was screwed up anyway. But the affair sure put the final kibosh on it." Sitting at home, in his one-bedroom, $325-a-month, government-subsidized apartment, Fred Snodgrass fought to hold back his tears as he talked about his children. The apartment, which is in suburban Weston, Fla., across the highway from the Everglades, is decorated with Picasso reproductions that Snodgrass has painted, signing each one "Freddy." Photographs of his children when they were young, including one with him in a Santa Claus outfit, sit on a side table and fill a box of mementos. Snodgrass said it was difficult to stay close to them after his divorce, particularly when his ex-wife moved them to California. "I went to court and said, 'I'd like to see more of my kids.' The judge said, 'You can take a plane.'" He moved to Florida in 1973 with his elderly mother, and the kids rarely visited. "So the whole family just faded away, just fell apart." "I never got married again, never wanted any more of that," he added. "I'm an old man now, so that's that." Why did Snodgrass decide to talk publicly about his wife's affair with Hyde three decades later? "I hate the man. He destroyed my kids, me," he said, starting to cry. "I'm not a vengeful person. And I don't have anything against Cherie anymore. Of course, it takes two to tango and maybe I wasn't the best of husbands. But he got away with it. He doesn't deserve all this ovation, this respect." SALON \| Sept. 16, 1998 Dwight Garner assisted in the reporting of this story.