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Best Edition Grover Cleveland: The American Presidents Series: The 22nd and 24th President, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897 with FREE PDF EDITION Download Now!
A fresh look at the only president to serve nonconsecutive terms.Though often overlooked, Grover Cleveland was a significant figure in American presidential history. Having run for President three times and gaining the popular vote majority each time -- despite losing the electoral college in 1892 -- Cleveland was unique in the line of nineteenth-century Chief Executives. In this book, presidential historian Henry F. Graff revives Cleveland's fame, explaining how he fought to restore stature to the office in the wake of several weak administrations. Within these pages are the elements of a rags-to-riches story as well as an account of the political world that created American leaders before the advent of modern media.
At this time of writing, The Audiobook Grover Cleveland: The American Presidents Series: The 22nd and 24th President, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897 has garnered 8 customer reviews with rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Not a bad score at all as if you round it off, it’s actually a perfect TEN already. From the looks of that rating, we can say the Audiobook is Good TO READ!
Best Edition Grover Cleveland: The American Presidents Series: The 22nd and 24th President, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897 with FREE PDF EDITION!
How did the post-Civil War Democratic party survive its past associations with the Confederacy, rebellion and slavery? At the time, it didn't disband, re-brand or even rename itself. It continued to win governorships, Congressional seats and other offices, but, following the surrender at Appomattox, none of its members occupied the White House via popular election for decades. Samuel Tilden came very close in 1876, losing to Rutherford Hayes by only a single electoral vote after the contentious "compromise of 1877." In 1880, Republican James Garfield defeated Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock by a popular vote margin just shy of 10,000 votes. Not until 1884, with the Republican party violently split and rife with controversy, did a Democrat succeed in winning the nation's top office. Though not a landslide, Grover Cleveland won on an anti-corruption reform platform. Many frustrated Republicans, abandoning old Civil War loyalties following the heavily publicized scandals of the Grant administration and Republican abuses of the spoils system, switched sides and voted Democrat. In the interim, the Democratic party never completely dissolved possibly because it felt empowered by the Andrew Johnson administration and by the rather anti-climactic end of military occupation and Reconstruction under Hayes in 1877. Not only that, things hadn't really changed too much in the South, ex-Confederates still held positions of power and freed blacks probably felt like victims of a new form of slavery. Industrialization had also run rampant and workers began demanding more from their often sumptuously wealthy employers. The gap between rich and poor, something that endures to this day in the United States, became a vast chasm. Cleveland, never wealthy but still "well-to-do," arguably resuscitated the Democratic party and helped point it in a new direction. Though he shared many of the prejudices of his time, he also laid the foundation for twentieth century progressivism and for the redefinition of the Democratic party. Often remembered only as the one president to serve two non-consecutive terms, many far more important things occurred during his time in office. The twenty-second volume of "The American Presidents Series" attempts to rescue the now largely forgotten Cleveland from reduction to that single worn out factoid.Born in 1837, during "the age of Jackson," the third son of an ordained Presbyterian Minister, the family moved often during Cleveland's youth. "Muscular Christianity" served as the moral framework for his upbringing. When his father's health declined, the family moved to Clinton and Cleveland worked as a store clerk back in Fayetteville, and they then moved to Utica where his father died just weeks after their arrival. As such, Cleveland never attended college and his brother hired him as an assistant in the New York Institution for the Blind. A neighbor loaned him money to travel to Cleveland, Ohio to study law, where a well-connected uncle directed him to Buffalo, New York and helped establish him in the law firm that Millard Fillmore had once joined. Admitted to the bar in 1859 and busy supporting his family, Cleveland paid $150 for a substitute to serve in his place during the Civil War (the substitute survived the war). A rising name, he found himself appointed assistant district attorney of Erie County in 1863. Business connections poured in, but he lost his bid for district attorney, running as a Democrat in a Republican county. After founding his own firm, in 1869 he decided to join another very prosperous firm and in 1870 he won the then lucrative position of County Sheriff, thinking it would allow him more leisure time than law practice. In this post he also served as executioner and pulled the gallows lever himself numerous times. As his circle increased, he began giving speeches in taverns using simple, easily understandable language. He continued to live well within his means even after joining yet another prosperous law firm. Around this time he became involved with the Democratic party, then still known as "the party of the Rebellion," but tides had turned and the party found itself newly invigorated after its extremely narrow presidential loss in 1880. Cleveland ran for mayor of Buffalo and won in 1882 with reform speeches and plans to run the city "like a business." His reputation for honest clean politics grew after he exposed a scam and excluded graft from city contracts. The book cites his career's mantra as "good and pure government lies at the foundation of the wealth and progress of every community." Sadly, his mother died the year of his mayoral election.As the reform movement gained momentum, many, including Democrat "kingmaker" Daniel Manning, saw promise in Cleveland's spotless reputation. At the end of 1882, Cleveland won the governorship of New York by an enormous majority. Democrats also swept the state Congress and some began to see presidential potential in the new governor. He promised small government, the abolition of "unnecessary offices" and fair taxes. The massive Erie Canal project also brought him national attention and he had very little political baggage. Almost immediately, he earned the nickname "the veto governor" as he stopped numerous pork barrel projects. He spoke of improving the condition of "the workingman" and "the laboring classes" against "aggregated capital" and prohibited child labor. Yet he did not support a mandatory 8-hour work day because he thought it would limit workers' choices. A proposed "policing of corporations" ended up having little teeth, but, despite this, discussions began around the human costs of unregulated laissez-faire capitalism. He supported veteran's affairs and education, curbed excessive punishments for criminals and set aside Niagara Falls for land conservation. His gubernatorial term felt like the perfect prelude to higher office. By 1884 Chester Arthur had fallen out with Republicans and they instead nominated the polarizing James Blaine. Cleveland won the Democratic nomination by a large amount, despite an active "stop Cleveland" contingent. Both candidates supported limiting Chinese immigration, but the campaign largely ignored the nearly genocidal policies toward Native Americans and heavy prejudices against blacks, Irish and Eastern Europeans. "Moral Character" became the central focus and Blaine's past scandals soon surfaced, but Republicans unearthed a whopper that surprisingly didn't wreck Cleveland: a newspaper story claimed that he had fathered a baby out of wedlock to Maria Halpin, a New York widow. He never admitted the child as his, but he did provide Halpin monetary support. Cleveland told his party to "tell the truth." The book theorizes that many men, the only legal voters at the time, may have actually sympathized with Cleveland's predicament. Blaine had to distance himself from a reverend who introduced one of his campaign speeches by disparaging Catholics, the Irish and Democrats. In addition, negative publicity from a luxurious dinner at Delmonico's, where Blaine hosted some of the country's richest men, didn't boost his credibility as a true reform candidate. In the end, Cleveland won 219 to 182 electoral votes with a very tight popular vote margin. A very divided country had spoken.His cabinet included some old friends, such as Manning, and two ex-Confederates, one a defender of white supremacy. Reactions to his selections seemed neutral. Some considered his inaugural "undistinguished," but he did recite it from memory. It promised government reform, the "application of business principles to public affairs," fair treatment of the Indians, no polygamy in the territories and enforcement of immigration laws to help limit "habits and customs repugnant to our civilization." The first inaugural ball occurred in the old Pension building. As for the press, Cleveland hated them and they found themselves banished, so reporters could only interview people as they left the White House. He invited the Chicago White Stockings baseball team, but Cleveland didn't think it proper for a president to attend a baseball game. Though he remained an isolationist, he wanted to expand the Navy as a defensive measure against the era's rampant imperialism. With an insatiable diet, the only thing excessive about his lifestyle, Cleveland soon weighed about 300 pounds, which increased his ominous presence. Unknown to the public, in 1885 Cleveland became engaged to Frances Folsom, a woman almost thirty years his junior. They celebrated the first marriage ever performed in the White House the following year. The press tracked down and followed the couple to their honeymoon site and gave them no peace, which began a long tradition of publicizing the personal lives of presidents. Frances, far more personable than Cleveland, remained a strong public relations asset. He needed it, especially after vetoing a veterans pension bill, ordering the return of all captured Civil War banners and flags, ignoring freed blacks and making no effort to visit or honor notable Civil War monuments, not even Lincoln's tomb. Upon vetoing a drought relief bill for farmers, he said "though the people support the government, the government should not support the people." An Interstate Commerce Act regulated railroad rates, but he didn't succeed in lowering the tariff, something the public supported but business and Congress largely opposed. Cleveland didn't push very hard for the reduction and it died in a Senate committee. Labor relations deteriorated with the deadly 1886 Haymarket massacre, but the government remained focused on the now polarizing tariff.By the 1888 elections, likenesses of Cleveland and his wife unofficially appeared on numerous products, which some considered distasteful. Democrats easily, and almost automatically, renominated Cleveland. Blaine stepped down and Republicans nominated the relatively unknown Benjamin Harrison and his very patriotic pedigree on the eighth ballot. The campaign revolved around the tariff and free trade and included the usual uprooted scandals. With Democrats running a lifeless campaign, Harrison defeated Cleveland 233 to 168 electoral votes, but Cleveland won the popular vote by over 100,000. Imperialism invaded American waters as Germany declared war on Samoa in 1888, but Britain and the United States retaliated and calmed the situation. Cleveland didn't enjoy this episode whatsoever. His last written message to Congress of his first term vanished into the Congressional record, but it spoke of the growing gap between rich and poor, the problems of trusts and monopolies and it even called wealth and capital a "dangerous communism" that undermined free institutions. Before they left the White House, an undeterred Frances said that her and her husband would return in four years. Before fulfilling that prophecy, Cleveland returned to law in New York, met J.P. Morgan and watched in frustration as the Harrison administration, known as "the businessman's cabinet," passed pork barrel bills, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, the largely unenforced Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the largest tariff in US history, the McKinley tariff. Times became horrible for farmers, who created the Farmer's Alliance and deemed Wall Street and bankers as "the enemy." They called for currency, which silver coins could provide, a graduated income tax, government ownership of railroads and the obliteration of National Banks. Cleveland must have sensed an opportunity and he began making public speeches, even to the Farmer's Alliance in 1890. At the 1892 Democratic convention, he earned two-thirds of the votes on the first ballot. The unpopular Harrison, whose wife also died during the campaign, lost 277 to 145 electoral votes to Cleveland, with the new "Populist" party earning 22 electoral votes. Cleveland's public disavowal of the breaking of the union during the 1892 Carnegie Steel Strike seemed to bolster his public standing. Democrats also took both houses of Congress. True to Frances' prediction, the Clevelands would return to the White House. Everything seemed perfect.A rainy, slushy and poorly attended inaugural set the tone for Cleveland's second term. A depression struck in 1893 and many people converted less valuable silver into gold and hoarded it, threatening gold reserves. Cleveland wanted to replace the 16:1 silver and gold bimetallic standard with a single gold standard. To obtain more gold, he negotiated "the gold deal" with J.P. Morgan, from which Morgan profited. This turned public perception against Cleveland as a conspirator with the "money trust" and "a tool of Wall Street." Then Cleveland had surgery to remove a potentially malignant tumor from his jaw, which afterward required him to wear a corrective prosthesis. The public didn't know about this heavily guarded procedure until 1917. More bad years followed as Cleveland's attempts to lower the tariff failed and he seemed more concerned about business and banking than farmers and workers. The violent 1894 Pullman Strike only increased tensions, as Cleveland sent in national troops, Eugene V. Debs went to prison and an injunction, a maneuver later outlawed, broke the union. Then the Supreme Court dismissed an Anti-Trust case, the Sugar Trust Case, in 1895, further alienating the administration's supporters. Believing in "self-government for all," Cleveland withdrew Harrison's treaty to annex Hawaii in 1893, keeping to his anti-imperialist and isolationist agenda. Cleveland and Secretary of State Olney also threatened Britain with retaliation over obtaining holdings in Venezuela against the Monroe Doctrine. The US acted like an emerging world power, but the British Navy would have easily defeated the still fledgling US military. Disputes continued until 1899. Around the same time, many called for war with Spain over Cuba, but Cleveland once again repulsed hawkish demands. He defended "American character," in that "right, not might should be the rule of its conduct." Republicans nominated William McKinley on the first ballot in 1896. Democrats pushed Cleveland aside and instead nominated William Jennings Bryan, an eloquent supporter of silver. This repudiated Cleveland's gold standard stance, since Bryan sought a return to the 16:1 bimetallic standard. When McKinley defeated Bryan, many called it a victory for Cleveland.Following the transfer of power, Cleveland moved the family to Princeton, New Jersey where he involved himself with University affairs. This included meeting, and falling out with, Woodrow Wilson, who would later become the only other Democrat elected president between the Civil War and the Great Depression. Cleveland wrote magazine articles and books and enjoyed abundant leisure time. His letters showed deep dissatisfaction with McKinley's administration and he couldn't comprehend why Democrats renominated Bryan in 1900. Upon McKinley's assassination in 1901, Cleveland remained the only living president. Service on Life Insurance boards brought hefty salaries, but gout and kidney troubles took their toll and he died of a heart attack in 1908. "I have tried so hard to do what is right" remained his final words. President Theodore Roosevelt attended the funeral. Historians have ranked Cleveland consistently toward the upper middle, but his numbers have decreased slightly over time, placing him alongside presidents such as Van Buren, Hayes, Taft, Coolidge and Carter. He sits neither among the best nor the worst. Today, he seems more like a melange of liberal and conservative, as if either side could claim him. Perhaps he didn't ultimately do much for the laboring classes, but he did bring their concerns into the political arena through various speeches and writings. Hawaiians still remember him standing up for their independence in 1893, but all that changed during the McKinley administration. He also kept company with top businessmen, such as J.P. Morgan and often supported their interests. His lifestyle, apart from his diet, showed a Spartan simplicity that never spilled over into excess. Plus, the book says that he "never shook off the prejudices of his era toward black people." Perhaps "fairly conservative Democrat" would best describe him, though progressives also see him as a foundational figure. In the end, he played an enormous role in rejuvenating, redefining and reviving the Democratic party from the stigma of its own past. Following just one additional Democratic president, Woodrow Wilson, the party would later produce the highly acclaimed Franklin Delano Roosevelt and solidify, for better or worse, America's current two-party system. The twenty-second volume of "The American Presidents Series" makes a good case that Cleveland, despite his obvious shortcomings, deserves recognition well beyond the clichéd soundbite "the only president who served two non-consecutive terms."
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