Grover Cleveland – Encyclopedia of U.S. History

Grover Cleveland was the only president to serve two nonconsecutive
terms. He won election in 1884, lost in 1888, then won again in 1892.
Grover Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837, one of nine children born to a Presbyterian minister and his wife. He spent most of his
childhood in rural upstate New York, where he worked hard and learned
the value of a dollar.
Cleveland’s father died when the boy was just sixteen; this resulted
in Cleveland deciding against attending college, in favor of working to
help support his family. He instead moved to Buffalo, New York, where
he apprenticed at a law firm, then became a lawyer. The future president
avoided fighting in the American Civil War (1861–65) by hiring someone else to take his place, a legal practice during that era.
In 1870, Cleveland was elected to a threeyear term as sheriff of Erie County, New York. It
was a job well suited to the lawyer, who firmly
believed in public law and order. He earned a
reputation for telling the truth, regardless of who
it affected or involved. It was a characteristic that
served him well politically. By the end of the
1870s, the city’s upper class admired Cleveland;
he was ready to delve further into politics.
From mayor to president
Cleveland was elected mayor of Buffalo in 1881.
He endeared himself to the state’s Democrats as
he became known as the “veto mayor.” By vetoing, or voting against, many of the bills that
crossed his desk, Cleveland curbed public
spending and helped the city run more honestly
and efficiently. The Democratic Party nominated the mayor as its choice for governor, and
Cleveland won the election in 1882 by a large
margin. He continued to use the power of the
veto, and by 1884 he was the Democratic favorite to run as president.
Cleveland ran against former U.S. senator James G. Blaine
(1830–1893) of Maine, a Republican leader with years of political
experience. During the campaign, Blaine’s supporters brought
Cleveland’s honesty into question by accusing him of fathering a child
out of wedlock. Rather than deny the accusation, Cleveland admitted to
being the boy’s father and instructed his campaigners to tell the truth.
The scandal did not keep Cleveland from the White House, and he
became the first Democrat to lead the country in twenty-eight years. He
spent his first years trying to clean up the federal government and rid it
of inefficiency and dishonesty. One of the major ways he accomplished
this was to veto private pension bills for Civil War veterans who he believed were lying about or exaggerating their injuries. Past presidents had
passed these bills without hesitation, and Cleveland’s refusal to do the
same angered some Americans. Likewise, he refused to give government
assistance to farmers in the West, who had lost crops and thousands of
dollars to drought.
Cleveland married twenty-one-year-old Frances Folsom
(1864–1947) in 1886. He was the first president to marry while in the
White House, and his young wife brought him great happiness. The
couple eventually had five children.
Loses, then wins, election
Toward the end of his first term in office, Cleveland began focusing on
reducing federal tariffs (taxes) on imported goods. Republicans traditionally were in favor of high tariffs because the money collected allowed
the federal treasury to grow. Cleveland believed taxes did little more than
increase the profits of big businesses and raise prices for consumers. High
tariffs had been a reality for so long, however, that Cleveland was unable
to motivate the Democratic Party to support his efforts.
The tariff issue hurt Cleveland, who did not enjoy making speeches
and so made little effort to defend himself against the Republican Party.
He lost the 1888 election to his Republican opponent, former U.S. senator Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901; served 1889–93) of Indiana. It
would not happen a second time, however, and Cleveland returned to
the White House for another four years after he defeated Harrison in the
1892 election.
A difficult term
Cleveland’s second term was besieged by problems beyond his control.
In 1893, he underwent an operation to remove a tumor in his jaw. The
operation, performed without the public’s knowledge, was successful,
but it drained the president of his energy. At the same time, the country
experienced its worst-ever economic depression. Hundreds of businesses
closed, and foreign investors withdrew their money out of fear.
In response, Cleveland repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
that had been passed in 1890. The act had required the government to
purchase twice as much silver as it had before and put into circulation
much more money than had previously been available. The abundance
of silver in circulation threatened to deplete the treasury’s gold reserve.
Although the repeal did help replenish the gold supply, Cleveland’s fellow Democrats were offended by the way he bullied them into signing
the repeal. He lost a great deal of his power and influence by this event. Pullman strike
By 1894, the United States was in the worst economic conditions it had
ever known. Wages were cut, factories closed, and hundreds of thousands
of citizens were out of work. The American working class was angry,
frustrated, and frightened. Cleveland sensed this and worried that this
attitude would threaten public order.
His fears were realized when workers at the Pullman sleeping car
company in Chicago, Illinois, went on strike in protest of wage cuts.
The American Railway Union joined the Pullman workers to give them
more power. In doing so, rail traffic throughout Chicago came to a complete halt. Mail could not be delivered; goods could not be transported
in or out of the city, which affected business throughout the country.
Cleveland ordered military troops into Chicago to maintain order,
but mob violence ensued for several days after their arrival. The Pullman
strike was broken, however; it was the first time federal authorities had
ever responded to a workers’ strike.
The end of the Cleveland administration
Cleveland’s administration and the president’s lack of response to the
horrible conditions Americans were living in were held responsible for
the dire economic environment. Cleveland was not chosen by his party
as the presidential nominee in 1896, an honor that instead went to
lawyer and former U.S. representative William Jennings Bryan
(1860–1925) of Nebraska. The Democratic nominee lost to the
Republican candidate, Ohio governor William McKinley (1843–1901;
served 1897–1901) in November.
Cleveland was relieved to leave behind his job as president of the
United States. He spent his last years on his New Jersey estate. He died
of a heart attack in 1908 with his wife by his side.

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *