Courtesy New York Times
Ma, Ma, Where’s My Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha Ha Ha!
During the election of 1884, Republicans tried unsuccessfully to discredit Grover Cleveland, a Democrat from New York, with tales of his debauched lifestyle and immoral character, using this ditty to allude to a love child allegedly born to Cleveland and widow Maria Crofts Halpin. The jury’s still out on that particular presidential contretemps.
But thanks to genetic genealogy, the truth has recently been uncovered on another presidential mystery:
Peter Baker’s piece in the 12 Aug 2015 issue of the New York Times is titled, “DNA Is Said to Solve a Mystery of Warren Harding’s Love Life.” In his article, Baker sheds lights on recurring questions about paramour Nan Britton and President Warren Harding:
She was denounced as a “degenerate” and a “pervert,” accused of lying for money and shamed for waging a “diabolical” campaign of falsehoods against the president’s family that tore away at his legacy.
Long before Lucy Mercer, Kay Summersby or Monica Lewinsky, there was Nan Britton, who scandalized a nation with stories of carnal adventures in a White House coat closet and endured a ferocious backlash for publicly claiming that she bore the love child of President Warren G. Harding.
Harding-Britton descendants recently challenged the story that Harding was sterile and that their claims were without merit. Their claims of paternity are now validated thanks to DNA. Click here for one CNN story. For more information, visit:
When DNA and genetic genealogy vindicate women’s experiences, I’m always on board. Ma, Ma, Where’s My Pa? Question answered in this case.
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