Grover Cleveland

Links immediately following the image of the American Flag ( ) are links to other POTUS sites. All other links lead to sites elsewhere on the Web.

Jump to: Presidential Election Results | Cabinet Members | Notable Events | Internet Biographies | Historical Documents | Media Resources | Other Internet Resources | Points of Interest

Grover Cleveland 22nd and 24th President of the United States (March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1889 and March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1897) 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 Mother: Anne Neal Cleveland Married: Frances Folsom Cleveland (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:

Year		Popular Votes	Electoral Votes
1884	Grover Cleveland	4,879,507	219
	James G. Blaine	4,850,293	182
1888	Benjamin Harrison	5,447,129	233
	Grover Cleveland	5,537,857	168
1892	Grover Cleveland	5,555,426	277
	Benjamin Harrison	5,182,690	145
	James B. Weaver	1,029,846	22

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 Appointments:

Chief Justice

Melville Weston Fuller (1888-1910)

Associate Justice

Lucius Quintus C. Lamar (1888-93)

Edward Douglass White (1894-1910)

Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1896-1909)

Notable Events:

• 1886
  • Dedication of the Statue of Liberty
  • Presidential Succession Act
  • Geronimo surrendered, ending Apache wars of New Mexico and Arizona
• 1887
  • Interstate Commerce Act
  • Anti-Polygamy Act
  • Dawes Severalty Act
  • Tenure of Office Act repealed
• 1888
  • New Chinese Exclusion Act
• 1893
  • Panic of 1893
  • Pullman Strike
  • Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 repealed
• 1895
  • Controversy with Great Britain over Venezuela

Internet Biographies:

Grover Cleveland — from The Presidents of the United States of America

Compiled by the White House.

Grover Cleveland — from American Presidents: Life Portraits — C-SPAN

Biographical information, trivia, key events, video, and other reference materials. Website created to accompany C-SPAN’s 20th Anniversary Television Series, American Presidents: Life Portraits.

Grover Cleveland — from U.S. Presidents

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’s Obituary — from The New York Times

Abstract and full text PDF download of Cleveland’s obituary from The New York Times, June 25, 1908.

Historical Documents:

First Inaugural Address (1885)

Second Inaugural Address (1893)

President Cleveland’s Message on Relations with the Nation of Hawaii (1893)

Ex-President Grover Cleveland on the Philippine Problem (1904)

Media Resources:

Audio

First minute of his 1892 campaign speech. Begins with the music “Hail to the Chief” (1:21)

MP3 (636K)

From the Vincent Voice Library at Michigan State University.

Other Internet Resources: Points of Interest:

• He was born Stephen Grover Cleveland.
• 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.
• 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.
• First Lady Frances Cleveland was the daughter of President Cleveland’s former law partner, Oscar Folsom.

First Term Previous President: Chester Alan Arthur | Next President: Benjamin Harrison Second Term Previous President: Benjamin Harrison | Next President: William McKinley

©1996-2008. Robert S. Summers. All rights reserved.