Grover Cleveland Survived Love Child Scandal
Philandering Senator John Edwards denies that Rielle Hunter’s baby is his love child. This may or may not be a true statement. Who can know?
A love child might not be a problem. Read here the Univ. of Virginia’s Miller Center for Public Affairs account of Grover Cleveland’s handling of the same type of issue in 1884—
In the election of 1884, Cleveland appealed to middle-class voters of both parties as someone who would fight political corruption and big-money interests. Many people saw Cleveland’s Republican opponent, James G. Blaine, as a puppet of Wall Street and the powerful railroads. The morally upright Mugwumps, a Republican group of reform-minded businessmen and professionals, hated Blaine and embraced Cleveland’s efforts at battling corruption. Cleveland also had the popularity to carry New York, a state crucial to victory.
But Cleveland had a sex-scandal to live down: he was accused of fathering a son out of wedlock — a charge that he admitted might be true — owing to his affair with Maria Halpin in 1874. By honestly confronting the charges, Cleveland retained the loyalty of his supporters, winning the election by the narrowest of margins.
( The cartoon above is of Mr. Cleveland.)
While Grover Cleveland was not quite the progressive figure he is made out to be here, it does seem Senator Edwards should have come out with it all at the start. If this issue was not fatal in 1884, surely Senator Edrwards could have survived it in 2008.
If Mr. Edwards had won the nomination, how could this have been kept a secret?
6 Comments »
Leave a Reply
Welcome To Texas Liberal
Texas Liberal is a blog of politics and political history.
My name is Neil Aquino. Here is my profile.
I can be reached at naa618@att.net.
Additional focuses of the blog are books, art, poetry, personal relationships and, also, sea life and marine mammals.
( The picture above is of the Houston Ship Channel. A narrow channel can lead to a wide sea.)
The signature post of this blog is the Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. This list is the best of it’s kind on the web.
Another good post is my reciting the words to the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts on Galveston Island, Texas as a ship passes behind.
I live in Houston, Texas and I do sometimes write about political issues in Houston and in Texas.
I also often write about my former hometown of Cincinnati, and about the great beach city of Galveston, Texas.
I define liberalism as a role for government in the economy to help make life more fair, and a broad acceptance of people regardless of who they are.
This is why it says “All People Matter” at the top of the blog.
A blog grows one reader at a time. If you like what you read here, please consider forwarding the link.
Texas Liberal began regular posting on July 25, 2006.
I also blog at the Houston Chronicle as one of eight featured political bloggers, and on Where’s The Outrage? which posts out of North Carolina.
Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.
Recent Comments
Texpatriate | Mayora… on Amanda Ulman, Socialist Candid… Fleture on Pink Dolphin In Galveston Nosmo King Jr on Just How Is It The Government… Bill Brady on This Place Is A Pit—I… Canadian Moose on Just How Is It The Government…
Global Voices- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
I think it was really reckless of Edwards to pursue the nomination knowing this was lurking. Really, what if he was the nominee at this point? I don’t care much what they do with their personal lives, but when you add in the sick wife (even if she was “in remission” at the time of the affair) makes him deeply unsympathetic.
Yep.
BTW, I hope you didn’t miss Obama saying the other day of the Republicans’ attempt to make fun of his tire-inflation tip, “It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.” It was a terrific moment. Here’s a link for anyone who missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akjXqfvLu28
[...] Since The Women is the story of a wronged wife, fidelity in marriage is one of its most important questions. Our understanding of infidelity has changed a bit, too. (Well, unless you were a politician or millionaire. The story of “Peaches” Browning and Daddy was daily fodder for the papers in the 1920s, and even before that, President Grover Cleveland had a love child issue.) [...]
Pingback by Noir Dame Blog - » Sorry Keanu, no need for your remake | August 17, 2008
well i just learnd somethin new cause at my school im learning a bout him its a project
[...] Vitter, Larry Craig, Eliot Spitzer, Barney Frank, Mark Foley, David Paterson, Jim McGreevey, Grover Cleveland, Rudy Giuliani, Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy and John Edwards. Did I leave anyone [...]
Pingback by It’s 3am, and the phone is ringing « Inappropriate Obama Merchandise | January 26, 2009