askhistorians

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Grover Cleveland was accused of raping a maid during the 1884 presidential election. His campaign called her a liar, and he won anyway. Has evidence emerged since about who was correct? Cleveland also later married his adopted daughter when he was 48 and she was 21. Did that cause a scandal itself? NSFW	5689
Rudy Giuliani is often referred to as having completely broken the mob when he served as the US Attorney for SDNY. How much of the Mafia’s decline in the US, or even just NYC, since its heyday can actually be attributed to him personally?	5633
From 1835 to 1907, British Parliament made it illegal for a man to marry the sister of his dead wife. Why did the Victorians consider this such a big social problem? Also, how did they get around the fact that the Bible endorses similar marriages?	4532
When and why did Congress start passing so much legislation through massive omnibus spending bills instead of stand-alone, issue-specific bills?	3633
Pederasty was tolerated in many pre-modern societies around the globe: Ancient Greece famously, but also Japan and some Indian kingdoms, for example. Today we recognize it as very harmful. Is there any evidence of the trauma it must have left on the pre-modern children who were molested? NSFW	2883
"Getting to the border" is a common trope of American heist movies. Was there ever a time when crossing the Mexican border, or leaving the country generally, actually did offer a way to get away with crimes? If so, when did that stop?	2873
Beethoven was famously enraged when Napoleon declared himself Emperor. How did the rest of Europe, including French citizens, view his abandonment of republican ideals? Did his military forces that nominally fought for those ideals feel betrayed, and did foreign European aristocracy feel reassured?	2468
The film Breakfast at Tiffany’s includes portrayals of sex work and infidelity that are a) barely disguised, and b) not particularly negative even if not very positive. How was this possible under the Hays Code?	2179
Many Catholic relics, like bejeweled skulls or wrist bones placed on prominent display in churches, seem creepy or ridiculous to modern sensibilities. Did any medieval people feel similarly? When did veneration of relics stop being so central to ordinary worshippers' experience of Catholicism?	1537
George Wallace was synonymous with Southern racism for decades, but after apologizing, he won a final term as Alabama governor with a majority of the black vote. Why did blacks forgive and vote for him given his lengthy track record?	413

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