GROVER CLEVELAND

Biography

Steven Grover Cleveland was one man, but he is counted as two presidents. In 1884, Cleveland was elected the 22nd President. He ran again in 1888 but lost to Benjamin Harrison, who became the 23rd president. However, in the election of 1892, Cleveland came back to defeat Harrison. A question then arose, Was Cleveland the 24th president—or was he still the 22nd? The usually accepted answer is that he was both.

Law and Politics

In Cleveland's time there were few regular law schools. Most young men gained their training for the bar by working as clerks for lawyers and studying law in their offices. Cleveland worked and studied hard. Less than 10 years after he came to Buffalo, he had not only been admitted to the bar but had also been made assistant district attorney for Erie County.

Cleveland's record of honesty and fairness in the district attorney's office led to his election as sheriff of Erie County. And in 1881, when the city government had become so corrupt that it disgusted many voters, the Democrats nominated Cleveland for mayor. As mayor he threw out the dishonest politicians and their friends and broke up their deals ruthlessly. This made Cleveland many enemies, but honest men liked him.

Then in 1882 the reform Democrats nominated the young mayor of Buffalo for governor of New York, and he was elected. As governor, Cleveland followed the same course of strict honesty and was hated equally by dishonest Democrats and dishonest Republicans.

Cleveland was the perfect presidential candidate for the Democrats in 1884. In that year the country was rocked by scandals in Washington, and the Republican candidate, James G. Blaine, had been involved in some of them. The Democrats had not elected a president since James Buchanan in 1856. It was plainly good politics for them to name a man famous for his honesty. The speaker who seconded Cleveland's nomination explained, “We love him most for the enemies he has made.”

The campaign was dirty. The Democrats tried to prove that Blaine was a thief, which he was not. And the Republicans, since they could not attack Cleveland's honesty, tried to prove that he was immoral and a Confederate sympathizer. But many reform Republicans, called Mugwumps, disliked Blaine. They deserted their party and supported Cleveland. Near the end of the campaign, one of Blaine's friends called the Democrats the party of “Rum, Romanism and Rebellion.” This so offended the Irish Catholics in New York that many of them voted for Cleveland. By carrying New York he won a majority of the Electoral votes, though he beat Blaine by only a small number of popular votes.

His First Term

In winning the presidency Cleveland also won a great deal of trouble. The Democrats had elected a majority in the House of Representatives. But the Senate remained Republican, and was not inclined to do anything that would help a Democratic president. More than that, after 24 years out of office the Democrats naturally wanted to put their own men in every federal job. Some of the party leaders recommended men who were useful to them but not fit the job. Cleveland refused to appoint such men, which made the leaders furious.

One of the most difficult issues that faced Cleveland was the long-unsolved problem of the tariff (the tax on goods imported into the United States). The high tariff was causing an unhealthy surplus of money in the treasury as well as high prices on some products. Though Cleveland asked Congress to reduce the tariff, the tariff bill that resulted was a failure.

Another problem was the flood of pension bills for Union veterans of the Civil War that Congress sent to the President for his signature. Many of the pension claims were false. Although it angered the veterans, Cleveland vetoed many of the bills.

The one bit of really good fortune that came to Cleveland during this term was his marriage, on June 2, 1886, to Frances Folsom, daughter of one of his former law partners. The wedding ceremony was performed in the White House, the only time a president has been married there.

Harrison Defeats Him

In the election of 1888 the Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison. Cleveland seemed likely to win. But just before the election, the British minister in Washington, D.C., made the mistake of writing a letter stating that the British government hoped to see Cleveland re-elected. This was regarded as foreign interference in American affairs. It so infuriated many anti-British people that Cleveland lost New York and with it the electoral vote, even though he got 95,000 more popular votes than Harrison.

Cleveland retired to New York, where he spent 4 years contentedly practicing law and going fishing with friends. He would have been satisfied to stay there the rest of his life, but the party needed him. Harrison got into trouble with Republican leaders. And by 1892 it was fairly plain that Cleveland, but probably no other Democrat, could beat him. So Cleveland was nominated for the presidency again. This time he received over 350,000 more votes than Harrison and won easily.

His Second Term

Cleveland had hardly taken office when the great business panic of 1893 broke and was followed by a long depression. Cleveland called a special session of Congress and asked for repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. Under this act the government was required to buy a set amount of silver each month and coin it into money. This caused a drain on the gold supply in the treasury. Cleveland favored a “hard,” or gold, currency and felt that silver money would cause wild inflation. The repeal of the Silver Purchase Act antagonized many western Democrats—silver mine owners and farmers who favored silver. It caused a split in the Democratic Party that was to lead to its defeat in the election of 1896.

There were other problems, too. During the campaign Cleveland had promised to lower the tariff. However, conservative Democrats combined with the Republicans to pass a tariff bill so bad that Cleveland called it “party perfidy and party dishonor.” During a railroad strike in Chicago, Cleveland sent in federal soldiers, although the governor of Illinois said they were not needed. So the President was out of favor with his own party because of the silver question, the tariff, and his use of federal troops.

Problems in Hawaii and Latin America

During President Harrison's administration American sugar planters in Hawaii had staged a revolution against the native king. A treaty to annex the islands had been sent to the Senate. But Cleveland felt that the United States had taken advantage of a weak country and withdrew the treaty.

A revolution also broke out in Cuba, which was then a Spanish colony, and some Americans tried to help the Cubans. Since this was against international law, Cleveland stopped them.

A more serious dispute arose between Venezuela and Great Britain over the boundary of British Guiana. When Great Britain extended her claims into Venezuelan territory, Cleveland told the British that this was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine. He did so in such blunt terms that there was almost a declaration of war.

In each case Cleveland did what he believed was the honest thing, but in each case he angered some powerful group in his own party. So in 1896 the Democrats turned away from Cleveland and chose as their candidate William Jennings Bryan, who was defeated by Republican William Mckinley.

Cleveland retired to Princeton, New Jersey, where he lived until his death on June 24, 1908.

For a time Cleveland was ignored by politicians and almost forgotten by the public. But as the years passed, men began to realize how often his decisions, though unpopular, were wise and right. Slowly it became clear that even when he was mistaken it was an honest mistake. He asked no favors. At the height of the panic of 1893, doctors told Cleveland that he had cancer of the mouth. He went secretly on board a ship, where an operation was performed. He had recovered and was back at work before the country learned that he had been ill.

Grover Cleveland was not one of the great presidents, but for courage, honesty, and patriotism he has never been surpassed.

Gerald W. Johnson
Author, The Presidency

<<Chester A. Arthur | Biography Home | Benjamin Harrison>>(23rd) | William McKinley>>(25th)