Secret Love Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sally Hemings

Thomas Jefferson had a long-term relationship with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman at Monticello. It likely began in the late 1780s when Jefferson was Minister to France, where Hemings, then around sixteen, accompanied his household as a lady's maid to his daughters. The relationship continued for decades after their return to Virginia and resulted in at least six children.

Jefferson never publicly acknowledged the relationship, and his descendants denied it for nearly two centuries. When journalist James Callender published allegations in 1802, Jefferson's supporters dismissed them as political smears. DNA testing in 1998, combined with historical and documentary evidence, confirmed that Jefferson almost certainly fathered Hemings' children. This finally resolved a controversy that had raged for generations.

Answer: Nan Britton

Warren G. Harding had an affair with Nan Britton that began when she was young and he was an established politician, and it continued into his presidency. Their relationship was conducted in secret, and Britton later claimed that some of their meetings took place in the White House, including in a coat closet, though such details come primarily from her own account. She gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Ann, in 1919, and Harding never publicly acknowledged the child.

After Harding died in 1923, Britton published a memoir describing the affair, which his family strongly denied. In 2015, DNA testing confirmed that Harding was the father of her daughter. This largely vindicated Britton's claims nearly a century later.

Answer: Lucy Mercer

Franklin D. Roosevelt's affair with Lucy Mercer began around 1916, when she was working as Eleanor Roosevelt's social secretary. Eleanor discovered the relationship in 1918 after finding love letters and was deeply upset. She even offered him a divorce. He refused, partly due to family pressure, including from his mother, and concerns about his political future, and promised to end the affair.

Although Lucy later married and was widowed, contact between them appears to have resumed in later years. When Roosevelt died at Warm Springs in April 1945, Lucy was present, while Eleanor was in Washington and arrived shortly afterwards.

Answer: Mimi Alford

Mimi Alford was a 19-year-old White House intern when she began a relationship with President John F. Kennedy in 1962. The relationship lasted for about 18 months and was kept secret at the time. Alford did not speak publicly about it for decades, even as reports of Kennedy's other relationships emerged.

In 2012, she published a memoir describing the affair, including how it began and the power imbalance she experienced as a young intern involved with the president. Her account added to the historical understanding of Kennedy's personal life during his marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Answer: Alice Glass

Lyndon B. Johnson had a long-running affair with Alice Glass, a Texas socialite and political hostess. The relationship began in the late 1930s and continued for many years, with the two often staying in contact even as Johnson's political career advanced.

Biographers have written that Glass knew Johnson for years and that their relationship was one of the most important outside his marriage to Lady Bird. Some accounts say the affair cooled in the 1960s, partly over Johnson's Vietnam policies, though the exact details come mainly from later historical works rather than contemporary public records.

Answer: Kay Summersby

Kay Summersby served as Dwight D. Eisenhower's driver and secretary during World War II, and their relationship appears to have become more than professional. Eisenhower reportedly considered leaving Mamie for Summersby after the war, but was strongly discouraged by senior figures, including George Marshall, who warned that such a move would damage his career and future prospects.

Eisenhower returned to Mamie, and the relationship remained a subject of dispute for years. Summersby's memoir 'Past Forgetting' was published in 1976 and, while the Eisenhower family rejected her account, many historians accept that a romantic relationship existed which was based on letters and testimony from people who knew them.

Answer: Gennifer Flowers

Bill Clinton's relationship with Gennifer Flowers reportedly began in the late 1970s and continued intermittently for years. Flowers, who later worked as a reporter and state employee in Arkansas, kept the relationship private until she went public during Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.

Clinton initially denied having an affair with her, though he later acknowledged that the relationship had caused 'pain' in his marriage. In 1998, during the Paula Jones deposition, he admitted to a sexual encounter with Flowers. Her secretly recorded phone calls with him had already become public, and the episode unfolded amid growing scrutiny over other allegations, including Monica Lewinsky.

Answer: Maria Halpin

Grover Cleveland was accused of fathering a child with Maria Halpin, who gave birth to a son in 1874 named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Halpin said Cleveland was the father, and Cleveland accepted financial responsibility for the child. The scandal was used against him during the 1884 presidential campaign, and opponents famously chanted, "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?"

Cleveland's response was unusually direct for a politician: he told his staff to 'tell the truth'. He did not fully clarify the paternity question, but he did acknowledge the relationship and his support for the child. He won the election anyway, and his supporters answered the taunts with 'Gone to the White House, ha ha ha!'

Answer: Mary Hulbert Peck

Woodrow Wilson's private life drew attention because of his correspondence and close relationships with women after the death of his first wife, Ellen. Some later accounts suggest he had a particularly warm friendship with Mary Hulbert Peck, but the evidence for a full romantic affair is not strong enough to state as fact.

Wilson's advisers were mindful of how any personal scandal could affect his political image. After Ellen's death, Wilson eventually married Edith Galt in 1915. That marriage became a major part of his later life and presidency, while rumours about earlier relationships remained uncertain rather than firmly documented.

Answer: Lucia Calhoun

James Garfield had a brief romantic involvement with Lucia Calhoun in the early 1860s while married to Lucretia and serving in the Union Army. Unlike most politicians of his era, Garfield wrote deeply confessional letters to his wife admitting the relationship and expressing intense guilt over his betrayal. Lucretia forgave him, and they worked to rebuild their marriage, which by all accounts became stronger afterwards.

Garfield destroyed many of the most explicit letters, but enough survived for historians to piece together what happened decades after he died in 1881. The affair remained completely private during his lifetime and presidency, only emerging when scholars examined his personal papers in the 20th century. The episode stands out both for Garfield's unusual honesty with his wife and as an example of a presidential secret love that stayed genuinely hidden until long after he was gone.