The McLeans purchased the diamond for $180,000. For eight years, the bad luck association of the diamond was not evident. However, some subsequent events led to further speculation of the curse. In 1997, The Washington Post referenced its former publisher, the feckless Ned McLean, as "more of a curse even than the diamond". Personal life In 1908, Edward McLean married Evalyn Walsh, the only surviving child and sole heiress of mining millionaire Thomas Walsh. Following a honeymoon trip around the world, the couple returned to Washington and settled into the McLean family's country house, called "Friendship", now the McLean Gardens Condominium development in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington. The McLeans lived lavishly and were prominent in Washington society. Political friends The McLeans were close friends of Senator and President Warren G. Harding and first lady Florence Harding. McLean was also a friend of Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, through whom he became embroiled in the Teapot Dome scandal. McLean falsely told investigating Senator Thomas J. Walsh that he had given Fall a $100,000 loan when, in fact, Fall had illegally received money from private oil companies. When Walsh threatened to have McLean charged with perjury, McLean admitted the falsity of his claim. This admission was later characterized as "the first climactic sensation" and "the smoking gun" of the scandal. Divorce, mental illness, and death The McLean marriage ended with much publicized and bitterly contested divorce proceedings, initiated by Mrs. McLean on grounds of infidelity, in October 1931. McLean filed for divorce in Mexico but his wife obtained a permanent injunction from a District of Columbia court ordering the cessation of the Mexican proceedings. Edward McLean then suddenly announced he had already married Rose Douras, a sister of Hollywood film star Marion Davies; though a marriage had not occurred. McLean immediately took up residence in Riga, Latvia, where he again filed for a divorce, which was granted on December 13, 1932. Edward McLean's increasingly erratic behavior and reckless spending led to the forced sale of The Washington Post by trustees appointed by the court. The divorce proceedings of Evalyn McLean continued in United States court but were dropped following an October 31, 1933, verdict by a jury in a Maryland trial that declared Edward McLean to be legally insane and incapable of managing his affairs. The court ordered that he be committed indefinitely to a psychiatric hospital. Edward McLean