When Jeri Zimmermann met Goldman Sachs investment banker Jack Ryan in 1990, she was dealing blackjack at a charity event.
She could not know that she would marry him on June 15, 1991, and that they would have a son, Alex, on August 15, 1994.
Nor could she know that her marriage would lead to the future election of Barack Obama as President
In 1997, Jeri was chosen to portray Seven of Nine, a Borg drone freed from the Borg’s collective dictatorship, in the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager. When she joined the cast in season four, ratings increased 60%.
The series ended in 2001.
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
In 2000, Jack Ryan retired as an active partner at Goldman Sachs. Then, in 2004, he decided to run as a Republican for the position of United States Senator from Illinois.
His opponent was Barack Obama.
Ryan seemed to have everything: He was handsome, popular and wealthy.
Obama’s candidacy looked doomed.
And then the unexpected happened.
The Chicago Tribune and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, successfully filed suit to have the Ryans’ divorce and child custody records unsealed.
Jack Ryan
In the custody files, his then-wife, Jeri, charged that Jack had pressured her to perform sexual acts with him at swinger’s clubs in New York, New Orleans and Paris while other patrons watched.
It was his repeated pressuring that led to her divorcing him on August 27, 1999.
In a legal filing dated June 9, 2000, Jeri Ryan said she knew her marriage was over by the spring of 1998.
Jack had repeatedly surprised her with trips to the cities but didn’t tell her he planned to bring her to sex clubs while there.
“They were long weekends, supposed `romantic’ getaways,” Jeri Ryan said in the filing. “The clubs in New York and Paris were explicit sex clubs. Respondent had done research. Respondent took me to two clubs in New York during the day. One club I refused to go in. It had mattresses in cubicles. The other club he insisted I go to.”
Jeri described one as “a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling.”
And true to her Borg character, she had steadfastly replied: “I will not comply.”
Jack confirmed the trips with the actress but described them simply as “romantic getaways,” denying her claims that he sought public sex.
He described the accusations as “ridiculous” and accused Jeri of trying to “libel” him with what he called “smut.”
He implied that his ex-wife had made them to ruin his reputation as he contemplated a political career.
“I was faithful and loyal to my wife throughout our marriage,” Jack Ryan said in the filing. “I did arrange romantic getaways for us but that did not include the type of activities she describes. We did go to one avant-garde nightclub in Paris, which was more than either one of us felt comfortable with. We left and vowed never to return,” Jack Ryan said.
Ryan said he fought release of the files not to avoid personal and political embarrassment but to protect his son.
“A lot of people were saying to me the last three months it’s politically damaging to keep these files sealed, just release the files,” Ryan said.
“But what dad wouldn’t do the same thing I did? What dad wouldn’t try to keep information about your child, that might be detrimental to the world knowing, private? Even the things moms and dads say to each other, about each other, should be kept away from children.”
Ryan had been running against Obama as a clean-cut, “family values” candidate. Suddenly, he found that image fatally tainted.
Republican leaders in Chicago were stunned by the news.
Republican Rep. Ray LaHood told the Chicago Tribune that Ryan “needs to immediately withdraw from the race.”
“There is no way Republicans in Illinois will vote for somebody with this kind of activity in their background,” LaHood said.
At a news conference Ryan insisted that he would remain in the race. He did not deny his former wife’s version of events.
In a radio interview, Ryan called the uproar over his marital dispute “a new low for politics. I think my character has been proven by this. There’s no breaking of any laws. There’s no breaking of any marriage laws.
“There’s no breaking of the Ten Commandments anywhere. And so I think if that’s the worst people can say about me in the heat of a difficult dispute, I think it speaks very well about my character.”
Days after the release, Ryan withdrew from the race.
Asked about the week’s revelations, Obama replied: “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on that. Those are issues of personal morality. The issues I’m focused on are public morality.”
Barack Obama as a United States Senator
As Ryan’s replacement, the Republicans chose Alan Keyes, a black right-winger whom even George W. Bush found to be “a piece of work.”
Obama easily won election with 73% of the vote.
Four years later, he would parley that victory into a successful run for President of the United States—and become the first black candidate to hold that office.
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WHIPS, CAGES AND A FUTURE PRESIDENT
In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Politics, Social commentary on December 12, 2023 at 12:38 amWhen Jeri Zimmermann met Goldman Sachs investment banker Jack Ryan in 1990, she was dealing blackjack at a charity event.
She could not know that she would marry him on June 15, 1991, and that they would have a son, Alex, on August 15, 1994.
Nor could she know that her marriage would lead to the future election of Barack Obama as President
In 1997, Jeri was chosen to portray Seven of Nine, a Borg drone freed from the Borg’s collective dictatorship, in the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager. When she joined the cast in season four, ratings increased 60%.
The series ended in 2001.
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
In 2000, Jack Ryan retired as an active partner at Goldman Sachs. Then, in 2004, he decided to run as a Republican for the position of United States Senator from Illinois.
His opponent was Barack Obama.
Ryan seemed to have everything: He was handsome, popular and wealthy.
Obama’s candidacy looked doomed.
And then the unexpected happened.
The Chicago Tribune and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, successfully filed suit to have the Ryans’ divorce and child custody records unsealed.
Jack Ryan
In the custody files, his then-wife, Jeri, charged that Jack had pressured her to perform sexual acts with him at swinger’s clubs in New York, New Orleans and Paris while other patrons watched.
It was his repeated pressuring that led to her divorcing him on August 27, 1999.
In a legal filing dated June 9, 2000, Jeri Ryan said she knew her marriage was over by the spring of 1998.
Jack had repeatedly surprised her with trips to the cities but didn’t tell her he planned to bring her to sex clubs while there.
“They were long weekends, supposed `romantic’ getaways,” Jeri Ryan said in the filing. “The clubs in New York and Paris were explicit sex clubs. Respondent had done research. Respondent took me to two clubs in New York during the day. One club I refused to go in. It had mattresses in cubicles. The other club he insisted I go to.”
Jeri described one as “a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling.”
And true to her Borg character, she had steadfastly replied: “I will not comply.”
Jack confirmed the trips with the actress but described them simply as “romantic getaways,” denying her claims that he sought public sex.
He described the accusations as “ridiculous” and accused Jeri of trying to “libel” him with what he called “smut.”
He implied that his ex-wife had made them to ruin his reputation as he contemplated a political career.
“I was faithful and loyal to my wife throughout our marriage,” Jack Ryan said in the filing. “I did arrange romantic getaways for us but that did not include the type of activities she describes. We did go to one avant-garde nightclub in Paris, which was more than either one of us felt comfortable with. We left and vowed never to return,” Jack Ryan said.
Ryan said he fought release of the files not to avoid personal and political embarrassment but to protect his son.
“A lot of people were saying to me the last three months it’s politically damaging to keep these files sealed, just release the files,” Ryan said.
“But what dad wouldn’t do the same thing I did? What dad wouldn’t try to keep information about your child, that might be detrimental to the world knowing, private? Even the things moms and dads say to each other, about each other, should be kept away from children.”
Ryan had been running against Obama as a clean-cut, “family values” candidate. Suddenly, he found that image fatally tainted.
Republican leaders in Chicago were stunned by the news.
Republican Rep. Ray LaHood told the Chicago Tribune that Ryan “needs to immediately withdraw from the race.”
“There is no way Republicans in Illinois will vote for somebody with this kind of activity in their background,” LaHood said.
At a news conference Ryan insisted that he would remain in the race. He did not deny his former wife’s version of events.
In a radio interview, Ryan called the uproar over his marital dispute “a new low for politics. I think my character has been proven by this. There’s no breaking of any laws. There’s no breaking of any marriage laws.
“There’s no breaking of the Ten Commandments anywhere. And so I think if that’s the worst people can say about me in the heat of a difficult dispute, I think it speaks very well about my character.”
Days after the release, Ryan withdrew from the race.
Asked about the week’s revelations, Obama replied: “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on that. Those are issues of personal morality. The issues I’m focused on are public morality.”
Barack Obama as a United States Senator
As Ryan’s replacement, the Republicans chose Alan Keyes, a black right-winger whom even George W. Bush found to be “a piece of work.”
Obama easily won election with 73% of the vote.
Four years later, he would parley that victory into a successful run for President of the United States—and become the first black candidate to hold that office.
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