8 Historical Figures Who Did Unspeakable Things

5. Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland was an American politician and lawyer who was the 22nd and 24th president of the U.S., the only president in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office. He was also well known for surviving a s*x scandal that would destroy any Democrat nowadays.

It all began in 1873, when Cleveland, a Buffalo lawyer and former Sheriff of Erie County, invited Maria Halpin to dinner at a restaurant. After a pleasant meal, he escorted her back to her boarding house, where he raped her, then threatened her into silence. After a few weeks, Maria Halpin discovered she was pregnant, and eventually gave birth to a baby boy.

When she claimed that Grover Cleveland was the father, he had the child seized and placed in an orphanage, and had Halpin committed to a mental asylum. She was released after an evaluation concluded that she was not insane, and had only been sent there due to an egregious abuse of power by corrupt officials.

Unfortunately, Cleveland got away with it. He went on to get elected Mayor of Buffalo, then Governor of New York, before running for president in 1884. A slogan shouted by opponents, mimicking a baby crying “Ma! Ma! Where’s my Pa?!” dogged Cleveland. However, he won and his supporters retorted with the counter chant: “Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!”