Grover Cleveland

22nd & 24th President Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 & 1893-189722nd & 24th President Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 & 1893-189722nd & 24th President Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 & 1893-189722nd & 24th President Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 & 1893-189722nd & 24th President Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 & 1893-189722nd & 24th President Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 & 1893-1897

22nd & 24th President Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 & 1893-1897

22nd and 24th President of the United States
(March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1889 and March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1897)

Full Name: Stephen Grover Cleveland
Nickname: "Veto Mayor"; "Veto President"

Born: March 18, 1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey
Died: June 24, 1908, in Princeton, New Jersey

Father: Richard Falley Cleveland (1804-1853)
Mother: Ann Neal Cleveland (1806-1882)
Married: Frances Folsom (1864-1947), on June 2, 1886
Children: Ruth Cleveland (1891-1904); Esther Cleveland (1893-1980); Marion Cleveland (1895-1977); Richard Folsom Cleveland (1897-1974); Francis Grover Cleveland (1903-1995)

Religion: Presbyterian
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Lawyer
Political Party: Democrat
Other Government Positions:

  • Sheriff of Erie County, NY, 1870-73
  • Mayor of Buffalo, NY, 1882
  • Governor of New York, 1883-85

Presidential Salary: $50,000/year

Presidential Election Results:

YearCandidatePopular VotesElectoral Votes
1884Grover Cleveland4,879,507219
(map)James G. Blaine4,850,293182

YearCandidatePopular VotesElectoral Votes
1888Benjamin Harrison5,447,129233
(map)Grover Cleveland5,537,857168

YearCandidatePopular VotesElectoral Votes
1892Grover Cleveland5,555,426277
(map)Benjamin Harrison5,182,690145
James B. Weaver1,029,84622

Vice President: Thomas A. Hendricks (1885-89); Adlai E. Stevenson (1893-97)

Cabinet:

Secretary of State
Thomas F. Bayard (1885-89)
Walter Q. Gresham (1893-95)
Richard Olney (1895-97)
Secretary of the Treasury
Daniel Manning (1885-87)
Charles S. Fairchild (1887-89)
John G. Carlisle (1893-97)
Secretary of War
William C. Endicott (1885-89)
Daniel S. Lamont (1893-97)
Attorney General
Augustus H. Garland (1885-89)
Richard Olney (1893-95)
Judson Harmon (1895-97)
Postmaster General
William F. Vilas (1885-88)
Donald M. Dickinson (1888-89)
Wilson S. Bissell (1893-95)
William L. Wilson (1895-97)
Secretary of the Navy
William C. Whitney (1885-89)
Hilary A. Herbert (1893-97)
Secretary of the Interior
Lucius Q. C. Lamar (1885-88)
William F. Vilas (1888-89)
Hoke Smith (1893-96)
David R. Francis (1896-97)
Secretary of Agriculture
Norman J. Colman (1889)
Julius Sterling Morton (1893-97)

Supreme Court Justices:
Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II (1888-1893)
Melville Fuller (1888-1910)
Edward Douglass White (1894-1910)
Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1896-1909)

Notable Events:
  • 1885
  • 1886
    • On January 19, Cleveland signed the Presidential Succession Act.
    • On May 8, Cleveland votes the first of several bills granting military pensions to Civil War Union veterans. Hundreds of these claims were bogus and had already been rejected by the Pensions Bureau.
    • On October 28, Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty
  • 1887
  • 1893
    • On May 4, the National Cordage Company and the Philadelphia and Reading railroads declared bankruptcy leading to the Panic of 1893.
    • On July 1, Cleveland underwent oral surgery to remove a cancerous growth. This was performed in secret aboard a yacht in New York's East River.
  • 1894
    • On July 3, Cleveland sent federal troops to Chicago to break up the two-month old Pullman railroad strike.
    • On August 8, the U.S. government recognized the Republic of Hawaii.
  • 1895
Internet Biographies:
Grover Cleveland -- from The Presidents of the United States of America
Compiled by the White House.
Grover Cleveland -- from The American President
From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in addition to information on the Presidents themselves, they have first lady and cabinet member biographies, listings of presidential staff and advisers, and timelines detailing significant events in the lives of each administration.
Grover Cleveland -- from Encyclopaedia Britannica
Facts about Tyler and his presidency.
Videos:
Other Internet Resources:
The Best Biographies of Grover Cleveland
In 2012, Stephen Floyd started his search for the best biography of each president. He usually has reviews of multiple biographies for each president.
Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Association
The goal is to increase awareness and support of the Grover Cleveland birthplace and its heritage. Activities include support of educational programs and lectures, interpretation and preservation of the birthplace and its collection of historic objects, and history-themed social activities.
Health and Medical History of Grover Cleveland
Medical background of each president with references. Compiled by John Sotos, MD.
Westland - Grover Cleveland Home
Cleveland’s house in Princeton is a private residence.
Points of Interest:
Additional Facts:
  • Cleveland is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.
  • Cleveland discovered a cancerous growth on the roof of his mouth in the middle of the economic crisis of 1893. So that his illness would not cause a greater panic, he and several doctors snuck aboard a pleasure boat and removed the growth. The public thought he was on a fishing trip and never knew the truth until 1917.
  • While sheriff of Erie County, New York, Cleveland was also the public executioner and personally hanged two murderers.
  • Cleveland was the first executive movie star. In 1895, Alexander Black came to Washington and asked Cleveland to appear in "A Capital Courtship", his photoplay. He agreed to be filmed while signing a bill into law. "A Capital Courtship" was a big hit on the Lyceum Circuit.
  • Since Cleveland was the sole supporter of his family during the Civil War, he paid a substitute to take his place.
  • Cleveland answered the White House phone, personally.
  • Cleveland vetoed 414 bills in his first term, more than double the 204 vetoes cast by all previous presidents. Cleveland used his veto powers 584 times during his two terms. This is the highest total of any president except Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served three terms.
  • "Death and Destruction" was the name that Grover Cleveland gave to his favorite hunting rifle.
  • He was the only president married in the White House. At the time of his marriage he was 49 years old making him the oldest president to be married for the first time.
  • According to the Curtiss Candy Company (and now Nestle ®), the Baby Ruth candy bar was named after Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth. Snopes.com, the Urban Legends Reference Pages, argues that this is false and that the candy bar was named after famous baseball player Babe Ruth.
  • The only president's child born in the White House was Cleveland's daughter Esther.
Quotes:

“It is better to be defeated standing for a high principle than to run by committing subterfuge.”

“A man is known by the company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out.”

“Above all, tell the truth.”

“It is the responsibility of the citizens to support their government. It is not the responsibility of the government to support its citizens.”

“What is the use of being elected or re-elected, unless you stand for something?”

“No man has ever yet been hanged for breaking the spirit of a law.”

1st Term Previous President: Chester A. Arthur
2nd Term Previous President: Benjamin Harrison
1st Term Next President: Benjamin Harrison
2nd Term Next President: William McKinley