1063

Grover Cleveland Stephan Grover Cleveland is the fifth of nine children born to
Reverend Richard Falley Cleveland and Ann Neal Cleveland. He was born on March
18th of 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey, although he was raised in Fayetteville, New York.
The actual house in which he was born still stands today on 207 Bloomfield Avenue. He
was named in honor of Stephan Grover, a minister at a local Presbyterian Church who
Reverend Cleveland had recently taken over for. Life as the son of a minister was
different than most boys. The Cleveland’s spent every evening at home in prayer.
Cleveland felt that this moral upbringing was his most valuable tool in life. Grover
Cleveland visited an uncle in Buffalo, New York, and obtained a job in a law firm. While
working there, he studied law and by May of 1859, the New York Supreme Court
admitted him to the bar. Democratic politics had interested Cleveland since his arrival in
Buffalo, so he became the county’s assistant district attorney. In 1865, Confederate
General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at
Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The Confederacy had collapsed and the United
States was reunited and slavery was abolished. As the nation returned to peace, twenty-
eight-year-old Cleveland won the demanding position of sheriff. When his term ended in
1873, he returned to his infamous law practice. On January 1,1882, Grover Cleveland
took an oath to honor the city of Buffalo as their mayor. Cleveland was tough and honest.
He was known as the “Veto Mayor,” because he continuously vetoed bills presented by
corrupt politicians. In November of 1882, by a landslide margin of nearly 200,000 votes,
Grover Cleveland became know as the “Veto Governor.” He understood the tremendous
challenge of being the Governor of the State of New York, but his principles and values
remained as strong as ever. The door to his office was always open, and he kept no
secrets. In two years’ time, Cleveland’s stubborn sense of fairness and honesty gave him
the nickname “His Obstinacy.” He passed bills to enlarge the state’s water supply and
established a 1.5 million-acre park at Niagara Falls. Due to his reputation, the Democratic
Party convinced him to run for president. On the second ballot, Cleveland won the
Democratic nomination. The Democrats chose Thomas Hendricks of Indiana, as his vice-
president on the ballot. To oppose Cleveland for presidency, the Republicans picked
former Maine Congressman, James G. Blaine. Blaine was highly respected as a brilliant
politician and national leader. With both candidates the victims of scandals, in 1884 the
United States had never witnessed such a nasty campaign. In the end, Cleveland won by a
slim margin of less than 63,000 votes. In just three years, Americans had lifted Grover
Cleveland from a city lawyer to the highest public office in our country. At the age of
forty-seven, Grover Cleveland became the twenty-second President of the United States,
on March 4, 1885. A bachelor, Cleveland was not familiar with the comforts of the White
House. During this first term, he ran into trouble. He filled every federal office with
Democrats, whether or not they were deserving and meritted the positions. In June of
1886, Cleveland married twenty-one-year-old Frances Folsom. He was the only president
to be married in the White House and the first to have a child born in the White House, in
1893. Cleveland did not always make popular decisions, but based his treatment of
injustices as the right thing to do. Over the years, unhappy trade workers banned together
and formed the first trade unions. They were not pleased with their president. There was a
huge gulf between the employer and employee. In December of 1888, he called on
Congress to reduce high protective tariffs. The Democrats felt this would impact his re-
election campaign, which he lost in 1888 to Benjamin Harrison. During his first term,
Grover Cleveland was known as the “Veto President.” He issued more than 300 veto
messages. He vetoed many private pension bills to Civil War veterans, who submitted
fraudulent claims, and vetoed a bill appropriating $10,000 to distribute grains to drought-
stricken, Texas farmers, contending that aid would weaken the character of the nation.
Another unpopular decision was ordering the investigation of the railroads. He forced
them to return 81,000 acres of Government land, and enacted the Interstate Commerce
Act, which was the first law passed regulating the railroads. During President Harrison’s
term, many issues angered Cleveland. The McKinley Tariff was passed, which taxed
import items at the highest rates in history. The Congress also granted higher pensions for
Civil War veterans. By the end of Harrison’s term, Congress had spent so much money
on wasteful projects, that the treasury was almost empty. Predicting a national disaster,
Grover Cleveland agreed to run for a second term as president. He returned to the White
House in 1893, as his wife had predicted. Four years of careless spending by the
Republicans pushed the United States into an acute depression. He had to act drastically,
and dealt directly with the Treasury crisis, instead of with business failures, farm
foreclosures, and increasing unemployment. On October 30, 1893, the Sherman Silver
Purchase Act was repealed, and confidence was restored in the American dollar. In spite
of Cleveland’s efforts, the national depression worsened, and the Democratic Party was
divided. When railroad strikers violated an injunction in Chicago, the President sent
Federal troops to break up the strike against the Pullman Company. His blunt treatment
of the railroad company was very unpopular. His party deserted him and nominated
William Jennings Bryan for president, in 1896. At fifty-nine-years-old, Cleveland felt
disgraced as he finished his term in the White House. He retired peacefully in Princeton,
New Jersey, but continued pressing for government reforms. At the age of seventy-one,
Grover Cleveland died on June 24, 1908. Americans were deeply saddened and mourned
the passing of this heavy, robust. man, who was so famous for his tremendous strength
and energy. Grover Cleveland will always be remembered as courageous, hardworking,
and honest, in spite of the outcome. He was a man of his word, a man of honor.