Alexander Hamilton
As long as there’s been politics, there’s been dirty politics. Before the 1800 election, newspaper editor and gossipmonger James Callender grew wary of Alexander Hamilton’s increasing influence. Eager to put a stop to it, Callender publicly reported Hamilton’s affair with a married woman named Maria Reynolds in his 1797 pamphlet, titled History of the United States. Callender is also remembered for publishing a series of articles alleging that Thomas Jefferson had fathered illegitimate children with his slave, Sally Hemings. The tradition continued in American politics. During the 1884 presidential campaign, Grover Cleveland’s Republican opponents embraced allegations that the Democrat had fathered a child out of wedlock. They took to the streets, chanting theslogan, “Ma, ma, where’s my pa?” But in the end, the scandal failed to topple Cleveland, whose triumphant supporters called back, “Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!”