Stephen Grover Cleveland (1837-1908)/biography

Stephen Grover Cleveland ( –  ), the twenty-second and twenty-fourth, was the only President to serve non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897). He was defeated for reelection in 1888 by, against whom he ran again in 1892 and won a second term. He was the only elected to the Presidency in the era of  political domination between 1860 and 1912, after the. His admirers praise him for his bedrock honesty, independence, integrity, and commitment to the principles of. As a leader of the, he opposed , taxes, corruption, , and inflationary policies.

Some of Cleveland's actions were controversial with political factions: his intervention in the  of 1894 in order to keep the railroads moving angered labor unions, and his support of the  and opposition to  alienated the  wing of the party. Furthermore, critics complained that he had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters &mdash; and  &mdash; in his second term. He lost control of his party to the and s in 1896.

Early life
Cleveland was born in to the Reverend Richard Cleveland and Anne Neal. He was the fifth of nine children, five sons and four daughters. He was named Stephen Grover in honor of the first pastor of the First Church of Caldwell, where his father was pastor at the time. From 1841 to 1850, he lived in, but as the church frequently transferred its ministers, the family moved many times, mainly around central and southern  State.

He became involved in Democratic politics at the age of 19 when he worked for the presidential campaign of. Following Buchanan's single term, the next Democrat elected president would be Cleveland himself, almost thirty years later. During the, Cleveland hired a replacement to avoid Lincoln's.

As a lawyer in, he became notable for his single-minded concentration upon whatever task faced him. He was elected of  in 1870 and, while in that post, carried out at least two hangings of condemned criminals, refusing to delegate the unpleasant task to others. Political opponents would later hold this against him, calling him the "Buffalo Hangman." Cleveland stated that he wished to take the responsibility for the executions himself and not pass it along to subordinates.

Political career
In 1871 Grover Cleveland was elected Sheriff of Erie County, New York. At age 44, he emerged into a political prominence that carried him to the in three years. Running as a reformer, he was elected in 1881, with the slogan "Public Office is a Public Trust" as his trademark of office. One newspaper, in endorsing him, said it did so for three reasons: "1. He is honest. 2. He is honest.  3. He is honest." In 1882, he was elected, working closely with reform-minded Republican state legislator.

1884 campaign
Cleveland won the Presidency in the with the unusual combination of support from both Democrats and reform-minded Republicans called "" who denounced his opponent, former   of, as corrupt.

The campaign was negative. To counter Cleveland's image of purity, his opponents reported that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child while he was a lawyer in Buffalo. The derisive phrase "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?", often chanted at Republican political rallies, rose as an unofficial campaign slogan for those who opposed him.

Cleveland admitted to paying child support in 1874 to Maria Crofts Halpin, the woman who claimed he fathered her child named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Halpin was involved with several men at the time, including Cleveland's law partner and mentor, Oscar Folsom, for whom the child was named. (Cleveland may not have been the father and is believed to have assumed responsibility because he was the only bachelor among them.) After Cleveland's election as President, Democratic newspapers added a line to the chant used against Cleveland and made it: "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa? Gone to the White House! Ha Ha!"

The desire for reform, blunders on behalf of Blaine, and voters' demand for honesty turned the tide for Cleveland. Cleveland's victory made him the first Democrat elected president since James Buchanan, who was elected in 1856.

Politics
Cleveland's administration might be characterized by his saying: "I have only one thing to do, and that is to do right". Cleveland faced a Republican Senate and often resorted to using his veto powers. Cleveland himself insisted that, as President, his greatest accomplishment was blocking others' bad ideas. He vigorously pursued a policy barring special favors to any economic group. Vetoing a bill to appropriate $10,000 to distribute seed grain among drought-stricken farmers in Texas, he wrote: "Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character...." He also vetoed hundreds of private pension bills for veterans. When Congress, pressured by the, passed a bill granting pensions for disabilities not caused by military service, Cleveland vetoed that, too. Cleveland used the veto far more often than any President up to that time. Once Cleveland told a friend that his principal duty and greatest service to the country was in preventing Congress from enacting bad bills. He also felt that if the constitution did not authorize it, he could not in good faith sign a bill into law.

Cleveland lived up to his reputation of running an efficient government. He demanded his administration get rid of extravagances and abuses.

In 1885, Cleveland ordered a military campaign against the Southwestern tribe under Chief ; in 1886 Geronimo was captured.

President Cleveland angered railroad investors by ordering an investigation of western lands they held by government grant, involving the return of 81,000,000 acres (328,000 km²) which is the approximately equivalent to the areas of N.Y., N.J., Pa., Dela., Md., and Va.,combined. The Department of the Interior charged that the rights of way for this land must be returned to the public because the railroads failed to extend their lines according to agreements. The lands were forfeited and became part of public domain.

He signed the, the first law attempting Federal regulation of the railroads.

Foreign policy
Cleveland was a committed isolationist who had campaigned in opposition to expansion and imperialism. He reversed policy and withdrew the treaty for the annexation of negotiated by Benjamin Harrison from the consideration of the Senate. Cleveland often quoted the advice of 's Farewell Address in decrying alliances, and he slowed the pace of expansion that President had begun. Cleveland refused to promote Arthur's canal treaty, calling it an "entangling alliance". Free trade deals (reciprocity treaties) with and several South American countries died because there was no Senate approval. Cleveland withdrew from Senate consideration the which guaranteed an open door for U.S. interests in.

As argued, "But while Cleveland retarded the speed and aggressiveness of U.S. foreign policy, the overall direction did not change." Historian argues that the audiences who listened to Cleveland and Secretary of State 's moralistic lectures "readily detected through the high moral tone a sharp eye for the national interest." Cleveland supported an free trade (reciprocity) and accepted an amendment that gave the United States a coaling and naval station in. Naval orders were placed with Democratic industrialists rather than Republican ones, but the military buildup actually quickened.

In his second term Cleveland stated that by 1892, the had been used to promote American interests in, , , , , , and Hawaii. Under Cleveland, the U.S. adopted a broad interpretation of the that did not just simply forbid new an colonies but declared an American interest in any matter within the hemisphere.

Crusade against protective tariff
In December 1887, Cleveland called on Congress to reduce high protective s:

The theory of our institutions guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his industry and enterprise, with only such deduction as may be his share toward the careful and economical maintenance of the Government which protects him... the exaction of more than this is indefensible extortion and a culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice. This wrong inflicted upon those who bear the burden of national taxation, like other wrongs, multiplies a brood of evil consequences. The public Treasury... becomes a hoarding place for money needlessly withdrawn from trade and the people's use, thus crippling our national energies, suspending our country's development, preventing investment in productive enterprise, threatening financial disturbance, and inviting schemes of public plunder.

He failed to lower tariffs when the Mills bill failed, and made it the central issue of his losing 1888 campaign, as Republicans under claimed a high tariff was needed to produce high wages, high profits, and fast economic expansion.

Personal life
On June 2, 1886, Cleveland married, the daughter of his former law partner, in the in the White House. He was the second President to marry while in office, and the only President to have a wedding in the White House itself. This marriage was controversial because Cleveland was the executor of the Folsom estate and supervised Frances' upbringing. Folsom, at 21 years old, was the youngest in the history of the United States. Their children were (1891-1904);  (1893-1980);  (1895-1977);  (1897-1974); and  (1903-1995).

Significant events

 * In October 1886, Cleveland presided over the dedication of the.
 * was created (1886)
 * (1886)
 *  (1886)
 * (1887)
 * (1887)

Supreme Court appointments
Cleveland appointed the following Justices to the during his first term.


 * – 1888
 * – 1888

1888 campaign
Cleveland was defeated in the, in part due to fraud (See ). He actually led in the popular vote over (48.6% to 47.8%), but Harrison won the  by a 233-168 margin, largely by squeaking out a barely-over-1% win in Cleveland's home state of New York; in fact, had Cleveland won his home state, he would have won the electoral vote by a count of 204-197 (201 votes then needed for victory). Note, though, that Cleveland earned 24 of his electoral votes in states that he won by less than 1% (Connecticut, Virginia, and West Virginia).

Cleveland thus became one of only four men to clearly win the popular vote but lose the presidency; there would not be another such election until 's narrow loss to in 2000. As Frances Cleveland and the ex-president left the White House, she assured the staff that they would return in four years.

1892 Campaign
The primary issues for Cleveland for the were reducing the tariff and stopping free  of silver which had depleted the gold reserves of the. Cleveland was elected again in 1892, thus becoming the only President in U.S. history to be elected to a second term which did not run in succession to the first.

Politics
Shortly after Cleveland was inaugurated, the struck the stock market, and he soon faced an acute. He dealt directly with the Treasury crisis rather than with business failures, farm mortgage foreclosures, and unemployment. He obtained repeal of the mildly inflationary. With the aid of and, he maintained the Treasury's gold reserve.

He fought to lower the tariff in 1893-1894. The introduced by West Virginian Representative William L. Wilson and passed by the House would have made significant reforms. However, by the time the bill passed the Senate, guided by Democrat of, it had more than 600 amendments attached that nullified most of the reforms. The "Sugar Trust" in particular made changes that favored it at the expense of the consumer. It imposed an of two percent to make up for revenue that would be lost by tariff reductions. Cleveland was devastated that his program had been ruined. He denounced the revised measure as a disgraceful product of "party perfidy and party dishonor," but still allowed it to become law without his signature, believing that it was better than nothing and was at the least an improvement over the McKinley tariff.

Cleveland refused to allow to use the  to shut down most of the nation's passenger, freight and mail traffic in June 1894. He obtained an injunction in federal court, and when the strikers refused to obey it, he sent in federal troops to and 20 other rail centers. "If it takes the entire and  of the United States to deliver a postcard in Chicago," he thundered, "that card will be delivered." Most governors supported Cleveland except Democrat of, who became his bitter foe in 1896.

Cleveland's agrarian and silverite enemies seized control of the Democratic party in, repudiated his administration and the gold standard, and nominated on a. Cleveland silently supported the (or "Gold Democratic") third party ticket that promised to defend the, limit government, and oppose. The party won only 100,000 votes in the general election (just over 1 percent). Agrarians again nominated Bryan in 1900, but in 1904 the conservatives, with Cleveland's support, regained control of the Democratic Party and nominated.



Foreign affairs
Invoking the in 1895, Cleveland forced Britain to agree to arbitration of a disputed boundary in. His administration is credited with the modernization of the that allowed the U.S. to decisively win the  in 1898, one year after he left office.

In 1893, Cleveland sent former Congressman to Hawaii to investigate the  of Queen  and the establishment of a provisional government. He initially supported Blount's scathing report which blamed the U.S. for the overthrow; called for the restoration of Liliuokalani; and withdrew from the Senate the treaty of. When the deposed Queen refused to grant amnesty as a condition of her reinstatement, and said she would execute the current government in Honolulu, Cleveland referred the matter to Congress. The Senate then produced the, which completely contradicted Blount's findings and found the overthrow was a completely internal affair. Following the Turpie Resolution of, , which vowed a policy of non-interference in Hawaiian affairs, Cleveland dropped all support for reinstating the Queen, and further went on to officially recognize and maintain diplomatic relations with the Republic of Hawaii declared on ,.

Women's rights
Cleveland was a stout opponent of the women's suffrage (voting) movement. In a 1905 article in The Ladies Home Journal, Cleveland wrote, "Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by men and women in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence." *

Significant events

 * Cleveland withdraws a treaty for the, and attempts to reinstate (1893)
 * Cleveland withdraws his support for the Queen's reinstatement after further investigation by Congress in the (1894)
 * (1894)
 * (1894)
 * (1894)
 *  (1895)
 *  (1895)

Supreme Court appointments
Cleveland appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court during his second term.


 * – 1894
 * – 1896

Two of Cleveland's nominees were rejected by the Senate.


 * , on, , by a vote of 24-30.
 * , (the older brother of Rufus Wheeler) on, , by a vote of 32-41.

Cancer
After Cleveland began his second term in 1893, Doctor R.M. O'Reilly found an ulcerated sore a little less than one inch (24 mm) in diameter on the left lingual surface of Cleveland's. Initial biopsies were inconclusive; later the samples were proven to be a. Because of the financial depression of the country, Cleveland decided to have surgery performed on the tumor in secrecy to avoid further market. The surgery occurred on, to give Cleveland time to make a full recovery in time for an address to Congress, which had recessed at the end of June.

Under the guise of a vacation cruise, Cleveland, accompanied by lead surgeon Dr. Joseph Bryant, left for. Bryant, joined by his assistants Dr. John F. Erdmann, Dr. W.W. Keen Jr., Dr. Ferdinand Hasbrouck (dentist and anesthesiologist), and Dr. Edward Janeway, operated aboard E. C. Benedict's yacht Oneida as it sailed off Long Island. The surgery was conducted through the President's mouth, to avoid any scars or other signs of surgery. The team, sedating Cleveland with (laughing gas), removed his upper left jaw and portions of his hard palate. The size of the tumor and the extent of the operation left Cleveland's mouth severely disfigured. During another surgery, an fitted Cleveland with a hard rubber prosthesis that corrected his speech and covered up the surgery.

A cover story about the removal of two bad teeth kept the suspicious press somewhat placated. Even when a newspaper story appeared giving details of the actual operation, the participating surgeons discounted the severity of what transpired during Cleveland's vacation. In 1917, one of the surgeons present on the Oneida (Dr. W.W. Keen, Jr.) wrote an article detailing the operation. The lump was preserved and is on display at the in,. The final diagnosis was verrucous carcinoma and the president was cured by the surgical excision.

Later life and death
After leaving the White House, Cleveland lived in retirement at his estate,, in. For a time he was a trustee of, bringing him into opposition to the school's president,. Conservative Democrats hoped to nominate him for another presidential term in 1904, but his age and health forced them to turn to other candidates. Cleveland consulted occasionally with President, with whom he had constructively worked while Governor of New York decades before.

The former president had been scheduled to be the Chairman and Master of Ceremonies for Day on,  at the  at  on. However, ill-health forced him to cancel, and his role was filled by humorist.

Cleveland died in 1908 from a with his wife at his side. He is buried in the of the.

Honors and memorials
Cleveland's portrait was on the U.S. $1000 bill from 1928 to 1946. He also appeared on a $1000 bill of 1907 and the first few issues of the $20 s from 1914.

Since he was both the 22nd and 24th President, he will be featured on two separate dollar coins to be released in 2012 as part of the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005.

In, Free New York, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research group, began raising funds to purchase the former Fairfield Library in and transform it into the Grover Cleveland Presidential Library & Museum.

Trivia

 * Cleveland is an honorary, and the only brother in the history of the fraternity to hold the office of President.


 * George Cleveland, the president's grandson, is now an and  of his famous grandfather.


 * The , , was about the  between Cleveland and .  In the film, the campaign song, "" was modern and not really from that campaign.


 * The president's granddaughter is a philosopher at.


 * The baseball player was named after him.


 * It is a widely believed urban legend that the candy bar Baby Ruth is named after Cleveland's daughter Ruth, but that is in fact not true, because his daughter died of diphtheria in 1904, which was well over seventeen years before the candy bar was created.


 * Cleveland got along better with the members of the than with the .  A joke of the day had the First Lady waking in the middle of the night and whispering to Cleveland, "Wake up, Grover. I think there's a burglar in the house." Cleveland sleepily mumbled, "No, no. Perhaps in the Senate, my dear, but not in the House."


 * Cleveland had a somewhat phlegmatic personality, and critics accused him of insensitivity to the suffering of the poor during the Panic of 1893. One joke told of the President noticing a starving man eating grass on the White House lawn.  Cleveland stuck his head out the window and suggested he go to the back yard, since the grass was longer there.


 * Because Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, the protocol was unclear as to whether he was officially the 22nd or 24th President of the United States. A special Act of Congress resolved the issue by decreeing that he was both the 22nd and later the 24th President.


 * The street on which Cleveland's summer home was located (Bourne, Massachusetts) is now called President's Road. In the location where his "Summer White House" stood is now a scale replica (the building burned in 1973).


 * Cleveland was the only president between and  who did not serve in the  (he hired a substitute, as the  law of the time permitted).


 * Cleveland was the first of only two officers to become President; the second, Theodore Roosevelt, was a deputy sheriff in the  and a New York City.


 * Television writer has made reference to Cleveland in many of his scripts, including an episode of  in which Grandpa claims to have been spanked by Cleveland "on two non-consecutive occasions".


 * Grover Cleveland's last words were "I have tried so hard to do right," a testament to his firm belief in honesty throughout his life.


 * The neighborhood of in northwest  is named after Grover Cleveland.


 * Cleveland's former hunting lodge is now a bar named "Grover's" on Transit Rd. in


 * A rest-area on the is named in his honor.


 * Cleveland has a street in and a suburb in,  named after him.


 * There is a school in, New York City named and one in Buffalo, New York named Grover Cleveland High School


 * Cleveland Ledge, a subsurface feature of in  eight miles southwest of the entrance to the, is named for Grover Cleveland, who frequently visited the area to fish in the days when his summer White House was at the Gray Gables mansion in Bourne.


 * According to an interview with in the Avon/Avon Lake Press in August 1973, Grover Cleveland also inspired the name of the  puppet, after the formerly unnamed puppet appeared in two non-consecutive episodes.