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| Nothing new under the sun. Eccept that Cleveland didn't deny it, and true or not, tried to take responsibility for it.
Grover Cleveland: The “Pa” Story:
Democratic candidate Cleveland had been nominated because of his flawless reputation – until a sleazy Buffalo newspaper printed a story that he had fathered an illegitimate child a decade earlier. Other newspapers got wind of the story and created a scandal of it. Pastors and priests all over the country decried the liaison from the pulpits. Needless to say, everyone expected Cleveland to vociferously deny such a monstrous charge. He did not.
He told his campaign managers to “tell the truth” – a mantra that he would always follow. And the truth was this: some years earlier, he had been acquainted with a widowed seamstress named Maria Halpin. Casual with her favors, Mrs. Halpin was also acquainted with several of Cleveland’s friends. When there was to be a child, Grover Cleveland volunteered to accept responsibility. While he was never sure of his paternity, he was the only bachelor amongst Maria’s intimates and did not wish to have his married friends embarrassed. He was also in a position to afford financial assistance – and even tried to set Mrs. Halpin up in a dressmaking business. Despite Cleveland’s monetary assistance, she proved to be an unfit mother, and when the boy was still small, Cleveland had him placed in suitable foster care. Some say he grew up to be a professional man; some say he died when he was a child. Nothing has ever been ascertained fully.
Edited by farmer4321 1/11/2019 10:54
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