Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland
22nd & 24th President of the United States
In office
March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1897
Vice PresidentAdlai Stevenson I
Preceded byBenjamin Harrison
Succeeded byWilliam McKinley
In office
March 4, 1885 – March 4, 1889
Vice President
Preceded byChester A. Arthur
Succeeded byBenjamin Harrison
28th Governor of New York
In office
January 1, 1883 – January 6, 1885
LieutenantDavid B. Hill
Preceded byAlonzo B. Cornell
Succeeded byDavid B. Hill
35th Mayor of Buffalo
In office
January 2, 1882 – November 20, 1882
Preceded byAlexander Brush
Succeeded byMarcus M. Drake
17th Sheriff of Erie County
In office
January 1, 1871 – December 31, 1873
Preceded byCharles Darcy
Succeeded byJohn B. Weber
Personal details
Born
Stephen Grover Cleveland

(1837-03-18)March 18, 1837
Caldwell, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedJune 24, 1908(1908-06-24) (aged 71)
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Resting placePrinceton Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
(m. 1886)
Children6, including Ruth, Esther, Richard, and Francis
Parent
Relatives
Occupation
  • Politician
  • lawyer
SignatureCursive signature in ink

Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was an American politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He is the only president in U.S. history to serve non-consecutive presidential terms.[b] In the years before his presidency, he served as a mayor and governor of New York state, winning fame as an anti-corruption crusader. Cleveland was the first Democrat to win the presidency after the Civil War, and was one of two Democrat presidents, followed by Woodrow Wilson in 1912, in an era when Republicans dominated the presidency between 1869 and 1933. He won the popular vote in three presidential elections—1884, 1888, and 1892. Benjamin Harrison won the electoral college vote, and thus the presidency, in 1888.

Cleveland was elected mayor of Buffalo in 1881 and governor of New York in 1882. While governor, he closely cooperated with state assembly minority leader Theodore Roosevelt to pass reform measures, winning national attention.[1] He led the Bourbon Democrats, a pro-business movement opposed to high tariffs, free silver, inflation, imperialism, and subsidies to business, farmers, or veterans. His crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the time.[2] Cleveland also won praise for honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism.[3] His fight against political corruption, patronage, and bossism convinced many like-minded Republicans, called "Mugwumps", to cross party lines and support him in the 1884 election. Fifteen months into his first presidential term, he married Frances Folsom on June 2, 1886.[4] After losing the 1888 election to Harrison, he moved to New York City with his wife and joined a law firm. At the 1892 Democratic National Convention, he won the nomination on the first ballot. The 1892 election restored him to the White House. As his second administration began, the Panic of 1893 sparked a severe national depression. Many voters blamed the Democrats, opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian and silverite seizure of the Democratic Party in 1896. The result was a political realignment that started the Fourth Party System and the Progressive Era.[5] An anti-imperialist,[6] Cleveland opposed the push to annex Hawaii, launched an investigation into the 1893 coup against the Hawaiian queen, and called for her to be restored; the House of Representatives adopted a resolution against annexation.[7][8]

Cleveland was a formidable policymaker, but also garnered criticism. He intervened in the 1894 Pullman Strike to keep the railroads moving, angering both Illinois Democrats and labor unions nationwide; his support of the gold standard and opposition to free silver alienated the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party.[9] Critics complained that Cleveland had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters—depressions and strikes—in his second term.[9] In his memoirs, future president Harry S. Truman expressed criticism of Cleveland's handling of labor strikes in his second term, arguing that "Cleveland had a lot of trouble with strikes and riots, but the Democratic Party, as usual, was on the liberal side during his second administration. But the President was not. He became an ultra-conservative.”[10]

Even so, his reputation for probity and good character survived the troubles of his second term. Biographer Allan Nevins wrote, "[I]n Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have. He possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not."[11] By the end of his second term, he was severely unpopular, even among Democrats.[12] After leaving the White House, Cleveland lived in retirement at his estate, Westland Mansion, and served as a trustee of Princeton University. He continued to voice his political views, but fell seriously ill during the autumn of 1907. He died in 1908, aged 71. Today, Cleveland is praised for honesty, integrity, adherence to his morals, defying party boundaries, and effective leadership and is typically ranked in the middle to upper tier of U.S. presidents.


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  1. ^ "Grover Cleveland Birthplace". www.nps.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  2. ^ Blum, 527
  3. ^ Jeffers, 8–12; Nevins, 4–5; Beito and Beito
  4. ^ McFarland, 11–56
  5. ^ Gould, passim
  6. ^ "The Spanish-American War: The United States Becomes a World Power | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 16, 2023. In June 1898, the American Anti-Imperialist League was formed...Its members included former President Grover Cleveland
  7. ^ Williams, Ronald Jr. (2021). "Special Rights of Citizenship and the Perpetuation of Oligarchic Rule in the Republic of Hawai'i, 1894–1898". Hawaiian Journal of History. 55 (1): 71–110. doi:10.1353/hjh.2021.0002. ISSN 2169-7639. S2CID 244917322.
  8. ^ "Grover Cleveland on the Overthrow of Hawaii's Royal Government". Digital History. University of Houston. 1893. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Tugwell, 220–249
  10. ^ 1946-1952 Years of Trial and Hope Memoirs by Harry S. Truman Volume II, P.233
  11. ^ Nevins, 4
  12. ^ President-Making in the Gilded Age: The Nominating Conventions of 1876–1900 by Stan M. Haynes page 2

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