# Which presidents supposedly sired children out of wedlock? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853 "2003-04-10T19:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853/1 "2003-04-10T19:11:00Z")
I used to believe Grover Cleveland did, but some of the evidence I have seen lately suggests he was merely trying to help out a single mother in desperate straits. Also Warren Harding was said to have a daughter - her mother even wrote a “tell all” style book in the late 1920’s I believe. But I am not sure if that story has held up since. What other presidents have had these sorts of stories? On TV years ago was a woman who often claimed to be the mother of LBJ’s “love child”, but that account sounded very fishy (and her son died young). And I nearly forgot Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, but has that been proven or not? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853/2 "2003-04-10T19:39:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by syncrolecyne \* > \*\*Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, but has that been proven or not? \*\* [Yes](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990625.html) ---
**Author:** ![Survey1215](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853/3 "2003-04-10T19:45:11Z")
Edmund Morris, in The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (which I’m reading now), contends that Cleveland did have a child out of wedlock, in Buffalo, NY, IIRC. Maybe that contention will change by the time I finish the book. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853/4 "2003-04-10T21:22:43Z")
As I understand it, Cleveland was one of several men who MIGHT have been the father of Maria Halpin’s baby. To his credit, far from denying everything, Cleveland admitted sleeping with Miss Halpin, and took responsibility for fathering her child. Whatever Cleveland’s sins may have been, he behaved honorably in this affair, which is a big part of the reason he won the 1884 election, despite the Republicans’ attempts to make hay of the scandal. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853/5 "2003-04-10T21:44:25Z")
It is not at all proven that Thomas Jefferson fathered any children by Sally Hemings. If you read Cecil’s column all the way through, you’ll see that he’s iffy on the findings himself. Since then, the [The Jefferson-Hemings Scholars Commission](http://www.geocities.com/tjshcommission/) has been even more skeptical. > [@](#): > > The question of whether Thomas Jefferson fathered one or more children by his slave Sally Hemings is an issue about which honorable people can and do disagree. After a careful review of all of the evidence, the commission agrees unanimously that the allegation is by no means proven; and we find it regrettable that public confusion about the 1998 DNA testing and other evidence has misled many people. With the exception of one member, whose views are set forth both below and in his more detailed appended dissent, our individual conclusions range from serious skepticism about the charge to a conviction that it is almost certainly false. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853/6 "2003-04-10T22:26:05Z")
Hell, Clinton _[supposedly](http://www.nationalenquirer.com/stories/feature.cfm?instanceid=32240)_ sired a child out of wedlock. ---
**Author:** ![biker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce7236/32.png) [@biker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biker)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853/7 "2003-04-11T05:45:36Z")
every one in ten of us, do not have the father we think we do. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853/8 "2003-04-12T11:56:37Z")
The Grover Cleveland campaign gave us one of the more memorable campaign slogans: “Ma, Ma, where’s my pa?” “Gone to the White House, ha ha ha” ---
**Author:** ![Kallisti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@Kallisti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallisti)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidents-supposedly-sired-children-out-of-wedlock/167853/9 "2003-04-12T13:11:52Z")
ALL YOUR BASTARD ARE BELONG TO US