15. A Candidate Elected President Despite an Epic Scandal
Because real life is not fair, and justice and karma are often a joke, Grover Cleveland got away with what he did to Maria Halpin and went on to bigger things after his failed attempt to have her committed to a mental asylum. The city of Buffalo had grown quite corrupt in the 1870s, and when Republicans nominated a ticket in 1881 that was exceptionally dirty even by the day’s low standards, Democrats saw an opportunity. They ran a reform ticket headed by Cleveland for mayor, that went on to win the 1881 elections.
From Mayor of Buffalo, Cleveland was next elected Governor of New York, before he ran for president in 1884. News of the Halpin scandal and his illegitimate child came out in the presidential campaign. Unsurprisingly, opponents attacked Cleveland for the contrast between his do-gooder public persona and his seedy private life. A chant by detractors that mimicked a baby’s cry “Ma! Ma! Where’s my Pa?!” dogged the Cleveland campaign. He won, however, and his supporters retorted with the counter chant: “Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!”
