Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-1889, 1893-1897)

• Born: March 18, 1837
• Birthplace: Caldwell, New Jersey
• Died: June 24, 1908
• Place of death: Princeton, New Jersey

The only president in US history to serve in split terms, Cleveland brought great strength of character and inestimable political courage to the nation during years of political turmoil and economic crisis.

Early Life

Steven Grover Cleveland was the fifth of nine children of Richard Falley and Ann Neal Cleveland. His father, a graduate of Yale University, was a minister who moved his growing family from Caldwell, New Jersey, to Fayetteville, New York (where Grover spent most of his youth), Clinton, New York, and thence to Holland Patent, New York. The Cleveland family, staunchly middle class, was influenced by their Puritan heritage, their Presbyterian faith, and their belief in hard work. Young Grover had few intellectual, cultural, or academic interests, preferring instead the outdoor life and fishing. When his father died in 1853, Grover found it necessary to work and help support his family. After teaching for one year as an assistant at the New York Institute for the Blind, he decided that his fortune and future lay to the West.

Cleveland followed the westward path, however, no further than the booming town of Buffalo, New York. There, Cleveland worked for and lived with his uncle, Lewis P. Allen, a wealthy cattle farmer, helping to keep the record books for the farm. After a year, he decided to read law and joined the office of Henry W. Rogers, Dennis Bowen, and Sherman Rogers as a clerk. By 1856, young Cleveland was completely self-supporting. In that year, also, he determined to join the Democratic Party—not a typical choice but one that reflected the party affiliation of the law office in which he worked and his own opinion that the Republican presidential nominee, John C. Frémont, was too radical. Cleveland began to work for the Democratic Party, attending meetings and working in the wards. At the age of twenty-five, he was elected ward supervisor and the same year served a brief appointment as assistant district attorney.

Cleveland’s years in Buffalo served as preparation for his meteoric rise to national fame. There he astounded his colleagues with his capacity for long hours, attention to tedious detail, powers of concentration, and phenomenal physical energy. He showed little flair or imagination or awareness of either a cultural world or a world much beyond the boundaries of Buffalo. Cleveland, a bachelor, associated in his spare time with the other young men of the town, hunting, fishing, and enjoying an occasional beer in the local saloons. He was a large, round-faced man, with sandy hair and brilliant blue eyes. His girth led his nieces and nephews to call him “Uncle Jumbo”; his size represented considerable strength, however, rather than excess fat.

Cleveland was a staunch Unionist, a war Democrat, but when the Civil War broke out, he felt no particular inclination to fight. He provided the major support for his mother and two sisters, and, when drafted in 1863, he hired a substitute soldier, as permitted by law. In 1870, Cleveland was elected sheriff of Erie County, a position attractive in part because of the regular income it provided. While sheriff, Cleveland himself pulled the lever to hang two convicts, believing that it was wrong to require of others that which he was not willing to do himself. This incident provided further evidence of the absolute integrity that was an integral part of Cleveland’s character. After one term as sheriff, Cleveland resumed his practice of law.

For the next ten years, Cleveland was a diligent and respected member of the bar in the expanding city of Buffalo (its population grew from 42,000 in 1850 to 155,000 in 1880). He was a contented plodder, satisfied with his place in the world and admired for his common sense. With its larger size, however, Buffalo government and politics became more corrupt, and when the Republicans nominated a “ring” candidate for mayor in 1881, the Democrats looked for an honest alternative. Attracted to Cleveland by his integrity (though, as a political novice, he was not the party’s first choice), the Democrats persuaded him to run. At the age of forty-four, Cleveland was sworn in as mayor of Buffalo in 1882. His attacks on corruption and his courage in defying political bosses quickly gained for him a statewide reputation.

Life’s Work

Luck played a part in Cleveland’s career. The New York Democratic Party was badly divided over the power of Tammany Hall. The same moral outrage of the people who had elected Cleveland mayor of Buffalo made him an attractive candidate for governor of New York. Once again, the Republicans nominated a machine politician and the Democrats looked for a reformer. The big, bluff man from Buffalo caught the party’s attention, was nominated, and in 1882 was elected governor of New York. Cleveland’s administration was notable for its honesty, openness, strong values, good appointments, and courage in quarreling with John Kelly, the leader of Tammany Hall.

Once again, luck played a role in Cleveland’s career, for the national Democratic Party was seeking a reformer, especially after the Republicans nominated James G. Blaine, a politician tainted with corruption since the Ulysses S. Grant administration, for president of the United States. The opposition of Tammany Hall to Cleveland’s nomination merely endeared his candidacy to other Democrats across the country, and in 1884 he received the Democratic nomination for president. As in his races for mayor and for governor, the major issue was corruption, and Cleveland’s strength was his unquestioned honesty and integrity.

The campaign of 1884, however, soon collapsed into mudslinging. Blaine was increasingly identified with corruption in government, while the Republicans countercharged that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child. In reaction to the rhyme “Ma! Ma! Where’s my pa? Gone to the White House, Ha! Ha! Ha!” Cleveland responded only, “Tell the truth.” The truth appeared to be that Cleveland had acted honorably in a relationship with Mrs. Maria Halprin, and his courage and honesty once again impressed itself upon his countrymen. Cleveland made only four speeches during the campaign, while Blaine traveled more widely. A turning point came in the closing days of the campaign, when the Reverend Mr. Samuel D. Burchard, who accompanied Blaine, charged that the Democrats were the party of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.” This influenced a heavy turnout among the Irish Catholic voters of New York City, and by a narrow margin Cleveland became the first Democratic president since 1856.

Cleveland was admirably suited to the needs of the United States in 1885. He headed a government that endeavored to correct the abuses of the past and establish honesty and efficiency in the administration of government. Cleveland appointed an excellent cabinet, including the southern wing of the party once again. The major issues of his first administration were civil service reform, the role of silver currency, and a reduction of the tariff. He successfully expanded the Civil Service Act and moved toward a more professional government bureaucracy. In connection with the many patronage bills that flowed through Congress, Cleveland vetoed more than 300 measures in his first administration (compared to 132 vetoes by the previous twenty-one presidents). He opposed the free-silver faction in the party, supporting instead a sound money policy based on gold. He was forced to retreat on the tariff issue in the face of congressional opposition.

Cleveland’s administration was also noteworthy for the passage of the Dawes Act, which encouraged the “Americanization” of Native Americans. Additionally, the Interstate Commerce Act was adopted under and signed by Cleveland. There was a greater awareness of labor unrest as well, provoked by the Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago in 1886, which left several persons dead and reawakened a fear of organized labor. For the public, however, the most memorable part of Cleveland’s first administration was his marriage in 1886 to Miss Frances Folsom, the twenty-two-year-old daughter of his former law partner (Cleveland was the first president to be married in a White House ceremony). The public was delighted with the romance, and, indeed, the marriage was a remarkably happy one.

As the election of 1888 approached, the Republicans began to gather funds and support to regain control of the national government. To oppose Cleveland, they nominated Benjamin Harrison, who vigorously campaigned against Cleveland and especially against tariff reform. Cleveland once again won a majority of the popular vote, but this time he narrowly lost the electoral vote to Harrison. Cleveland took his family to New York City, where he resumed the practice of law and where his first child (known to the country as “Baby Ruth”) was born.

As discontent with the extravagant policies of Harrison grew, the Democrats turned once again to Cleveland in 1892. Again opposed by the New York Tammany Hall machine, Cleveland nevertheless was nominated on the first ballot. With his usual courage, he endorsed the gold standard in the face of strong party support for free silver. He was reelected president and returned to Washington (where his daughter Esther became the first child born in the White House) on the eve of the great Panic of 1893. Once again, the country needed a man of courage and honesty and was fortunate to have the leadership of Cleveland—who possessed these qualities in great abundance, along with a certain stubbornness and a lack of vision.

Before attending to the economic problems of the nation, Cleveland had to attend to a problem of his own—a malignant growth was discovered in the roof of his mouth. Fearing that public knowledge of his illness would fuel the panic, Cleveland chose to undergo a secret operation on board a borrowed yacht. The operation was successful, and not for twenty-five years did the full truth of that cruise emerge. Meanwhile, the debate over free silver was spurred on by the economic crisis. Cleveland continued to stand firm for a solid currency. He called a successful special session of Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which Cleveland believed contributed to the continuing economic decline. Unable to obtain adequate tariff reform, Cleveland continued nevertheless to protest the high tariff as also contributing to the panic.

In an effort to avert the constant drain of gold from the United States Treasury, Cleveland agreed to a sale of government bonds handled by J. P. Morgan . Although a financial success, this apparent “sell-out” to the interests of big business hurt Cleveland and his party, already badly divided over the question of free silver. Similarly, his action in sending federal troops to help put down the Pullman workers’ strike (1894) and his hostility to the unemployed workers who marched to Washington, D.C., as Coxey’s Army convinced the working-class supporters of the Democratic Party that Cleveland had abandoned them in favor of the rich.

In the area of foreign policy, Cleveland opposed imperialism, refusing to bring the treaty for Hawaiian annexation before the Senate. He maintained strict neutrality in the Cuban revolt, though encouraging Spain to moderate its treatment of the Cuban people. In the border dispute between British Guiana and Venezuela, Cleveland encouraged arbitration. He supported the Monroe Doctrine and appeared ready to risk war with Great Britain if a peaceful settlement was not reached. Once again, Cleveland acted strongly and courageously and won both the respect of and stronger ties with Great Britain as a result.

Silver continued to be the simplistic, single answer for those in and out of the Democratic Party who sought relief from the panic. As the election of 1896 approached, it was clear that Cleveland had lost much of his party’s support. Once again, Cleveland stood with courage for his principles and against free silver; this time, courage without compromise proved fatal. Although he had no desire for a third term, the Democratic convention repudiated him thoroughly in its platform. With William Jennings Bryan as their candidate and free silver as their issue, the Democrats’ repudiation was silently returned by Cleveland, who privately sympathized with the Republicans in the election. He was satisfied with the election of William McKinley, though it must have hurt to notice that Bryan, in losing, received almost a million votes more than Cleveland had received in his 1892 victory.

After the inauguration of McKinley, Cleveland and his family planned to retire to private life. Because of the children, Cleveland and his wife preferred an area less crowded than New York City and chose to settle in Princeton, New Jersey. There, Cleveland mellowed and enjoyed to the fullest his children and his community. He became deeply involved in the life of Princeton University, where he received an honorary degree and in 1901 was named a trustee. There, the eldest of his five children (his daughter Ruth) died in 1904, leaving a great void in her father’s life. There also Cleveland knew, liked, and quarreled with the next Democrat to be elected president, Woodrow Wilson. There, also, Cleveland died, in June, 1908.

Significance

Grover Cleveland was admirably suited to his time. His disciplined life made him more comfortable as a supporter of the status quo than as a reformer, and his courage and conscience made him strong in actions he believed best for the interests of the United States. It was Cleveland’s misfortune sometimes to be wrong in his judgment of what was best; the rigid strength of character that held him firm before the winds of pressure from special interests held him equally firm against compromise when it would, perhaps, have been wise. Nevertheless, Cleveland brought conscience, courage, and honesty to the White House at a time when those qualities had often been lacking. He provided an image—backed up by reality—of the integrity and leadership that the United States needed. He worked long hours, bringing his legal intellect to the consideration of all sides of a problem before making a rational decision about the wisest course to follow. Once that decision was made, he did not depart from it.

Though Cleveland was wildly unpopular in 1896, especially among the Bryan faction of Democrats, it was always his position and never his character that came under attack. In later years, he emerged with much greater popularity, and Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, honored him for his courage and his honesty. The nation had come to realize the value of his leadership and to believe that the economic stability that had eventually prevailed would not have been possible without his strong opposition to free silver. Cleveland was a good man in an age in which goodness was not often cherished. The verse of James Russell Lowell perhaps best memorializes his contribution to America:

We, who look on with critic eyesExempt from action’s crucial test,Human ourselves, at least are wiseIn honoring one who did his best.

Bibliography

Algeo, Matthew. The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth. Chicago: Chicago Rev., 2011. Print.

Algeo, Matthew. "Grover Cleveland's Hurricane." New York Times. New York Times, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

Brodsky, Alyn. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character. New York: St. Martin's, 2000. Print.

Cleveland, Grover. Letters of Grover Cleveland: 1850-1908. Ed. Allan Nevins. Boston: Houghton, 1933. Rpt. New York: Da Capo, 1970. Print.

Cleveland, Grover. Presidential Problems. New York: Century, 1904. Print.

Ford, Henry Jones. The Cleveland Era: A Chronicle of the New Order in Politics. New Haven: Yale UP, 1919. Print.

Graff, Henry F. Grover Cleveland. New York: Times, 2002. Print.

Hollingsworth, Joseph Rogers. The Whirligig of Politics: The Democracy of Cleveland and Bryan. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1963. Print.

Jeffers, H. Paul. An Honest President: The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland. New York: Morrow, 2000. Print.

Merrill, Horace Samuel. Bourbon Leader. Boston: Little, 1957. Print.

Nevins, Allan: Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage. New York: Dodd, 1966. Print.

Welch, Richard E., Jr. The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland. Lawrence: UP of Kansas, 1988. Print.