America's already had a female president - and 11 other 'crazy' conspiracy theories that turned out to be (mostly) true

Conspiracy: A stroke rendered President Woodrow Wilson incapable of governing, and his wife surreptitiously stepped in.

The truth: Wilson did suffer a debilitating stroke towards the end of his presidency—but the government felt it was in the country’s best interest to keep things quiet. The public didn’t learn about the stroke for months, during which time his wife, Edith Wilson, was making most executive decisions. Despite Mrs. Wilson claiming that she acted only as a “steward,” historians who have analyzed the Wilson term in office confirm that for well over a year, Mrs. Wilson was effectively president.

Conspiracy: The Dalai Lama is a CIA agent.

The truth: Perhaps the reason the Dalai Lama is smiling in all those photos has something to do with the six-figure salary he pulled down from the U.S. government during the 1960s. According to declassified intelligence documents, he earned $180,000 in connection with the CIA’s funding of the Tibetan Resistance to the tune of $1.7 million per year. The idea was to disrupt and hamper China’s infrastructure.

Conspiracy: The FBI was spying on former Beatle John Lennon.

The truth: Crazy conspiracy theories regarding celebs are always interesting—and this one is most certainly true. Like many counter-culture heroes, Lennon was considered a threat: “Anti-war songs, like “Give Peace a Chance” didn’t exactly endear former Beatle John Lennon to the Nixon administration,” NPR reported in 2010. “In 1971, the FBI put Lennon under surveillance, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service tried to deport him a year later.” Lennon is one of 13 more notable celebrities you didn’t realize were watched by the FBI.

Conspiracy: For decades, tobacco companies buried evidence that smoking is deadly.

The truth: At the beginning of the 1950s, research was showing an indisputable statistical link between smoking and lung cancer, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that Philip Morris, the nation’s largest cigarette maker at the time, even admitted that smoking could cause cancer.

Original Quill wrote:Lincoln slept with many men.

Lawyers rode the "circuit" in those days, to argue cases in different courts.   They often doubled up at Inns and in beds, in order to save money.

Ben Reilly wrote:

Conspiracy: A stroke rendered President Woodrow Wilson incapable of governing, and his wife surreptitiously stepped in.

The truth: Wilson did suffer a debilitating stroke towards the end of his presidency—but the government felt it was in the country’s best interest to keep things quiet. The public didn’t learn about the stroke for months, during which time his wife, Edith Wilson, was making most executive decisions. Despite Mrs. Wilson claiming that she acted only as a “steward,” historians who have analyzed the Wilson term in office confirm that for well over a year, Mrs. Wilson was effectively president.

And just one more to whet your appetites:

Conspiracy: The Dalai Lama is a CIA agent.

The truth: Perhaps the reason the Dalai Lama is smiling in all those photos has something to do with the six-figure salary he pulled down from the U.S. government during the 1960s. According to declassified intelligence documents, he earned $180,000 in connection with the CIA’s funding of the Tibetan Resistance to the tune of $1.7 million per year. The idea was to disrupt and hamper China’s infrastructure.

https://www.rd.com/culture/conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true/

Ben Reilly wrote:

Original Quill wrote:Lincoln slept with many men.

Lawyers rode the "circuit" in those days, to argue cases in different courts.   They often doubled up at Inns and in beds, in order to save money.

I know there are historians who believe he was lovers with a man named Joshua Fry Speed, which is a pretty cool name even if he wasn't schtupping Lincoln.

Maddog wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:

Original Quill wrote:Lincoln slept with many men.

Lawyers rode the "circuit" in those days, to argue cases in different courts.   They often doubled up at Inns and in beds, in order to save money.

I know there are historians who believe he was lovers with a man named Joshua Fry Speed, which is a pretty cool name even if he wasn't schtupping Lincoln.

Buchanan was almost definitely gay. Lincoln may have swung both ways, which is why gay Republicans are called Log Cabin Republicans.  

Ben Reilly wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Buchanan was almost definitely gay. Lincoln may have swung both ways, which is why gay Republicans are called Log Cabin Republicans.  

That's not true; the Log Cabin Republicans is a group that named itself that because it believes in the principles of freedom and equality, which it believes Lincoln, the first Republican president, embodied.