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Early
Political Career
In 1884, Grover Cleveland was the first Democrat
to be elected president since the Civil War. He
was also the second, elected again in 1892 after
the White House had returned to Republican rule
for four years in the 1888 election. Cleveland
is generally considered one of the more important
presidents between Abraham Lincoln and Theodore
Roosevelt. Although Cleveland often indulged in
negativity, part of his perceived success was
in his firmness in not allowing the government
to do harmful things to the country.
Grover Cleveland emerged from humble origins
in New Jersey and New York. An uncle paid for
him to study law, and Cleveland passed the bar
exam at the age of twenty-two. Cleveland became
active in politics as a Democrat, having been
elected country sheriff, and mayor of Buffalo.
In 1882, Cleveland used his popularity |
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as an honest man to successfully run for state
governor. During the next two years, he continued to use his authority to fight against corruption
and waste. Governor Cleveland used his power
to take on the New York City-based political
machinery known as Tammany Hall, even though
this group had supported him in the election.
A big man of 280 pounds, Cleveland, was affectionately
nicknamed "Big Steve" and even "Uncle
Jumbo." In 1884, Cleveland was nominated
to be the Democrat Party's candidate for the
presidency. |
The
Election of 1884
In the election of 1884, Cleveland appealed to
middle class voters of both parties as someone
who would fight political corruption and big-money
interests. Cleveland had the popularity to carry
New York, a state crucial to Democratic victory.
Luckily, Cleveland's Republican opponent, James
G. Blaine, was seen by many as a puppet of Wall
Street and the powerful railroads. The morally
upright Mugwumps, a group of reform-minded businessmen
and professionals, hated Blaine, but supported
Cleveland for his attempts to battle railroad
giant Jay Gould. Ever since 1868, presidential
candidates had relied on a strong Civil War resume
to help win popular approval. The election of
1884 marked a departure from this, as both Cleveland
and Republican candidate James G. Blaine has taken
advantage of a provision in the draft law that
allowed for the hiring of a substitute. But Cleveland
had a sex-scandal to live down. Maria Halpin accused
Cleveland of fathering her son out of wedlock,
a charge that he admitted might be accurate, since
he had had an affair with Halpin in 1874. Cleveland
admitted to paying child support in 1874 to Halpin,
but she |
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| was involved with several men at the time,
including Cleveland's law partner and mentor,
Oscar Folsom, for whom the child was named. (Cleveland
may not have been the father and is believed to have assumed responsibility because he
was the only bachelor among them.) By honestly confronting
the charges, Cleveland retained the loyalty of his supporters,
winning the election by the narrowest of margins. After
Cleveland's election as President, Democratic newspapers
added a line to the chant used against Cleveland during
the campaign and made it: "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?
Gone to the White House! Ha Ha!" [1885
inaugural address]. |
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Marriage
After his first two years in office as a bachelor
president, Cleveland announced his marriage
to his twenty-two-year-old ward, Francis Folsom,
the daughter of his former law partner. The
press had a field day satirizing the relationship
between the old bachelor and the recent Wells
graduate, who quickly became the most popular
first lady since Dolly Madison. Frances adhered
to the prevailing ideal that separated the private
lives of women from the public lives of men.
Respecting the wishes of her husband, she never
used her popularity to advance the political
causes of her day, such as social reform and
women's suffrage.
Philosophy
Grover Cleveland believed strongly in a limited
government. He was especially against the government
providing paid to citizens in need for fear
that such aid would weaken the national character.
As he said at the |
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time that he vetoed a bill
that would have provided relief for drought-stricken
farmer, "the lesson should be constantly
enforced that though the people should support
the government, the government should not support
the people."
Issue: Labor
This attitude extended to Cleveland's stand on key
labor issues of the time. Cleveland's two terms encompassed
several of the more infamous events in labor history.
There was the 1886 general strike when workers demanded
an eight-hour workday that resulted in the brutal
Haymarket Riot in Chicago, followed a few years labor
in the Pullman strike of 1894, when Cleveland used
federal troops to end a train boycott organized by
Eugene V. Debs.
Issue: The Economy
At the end of 1887, Cleveland called for a reduction
in tariffs, arguing that high tariffs were contrary
to the American ideal of fairness. Cleveland would
later campaign on this issue for reelection in 1888.
His opponents argued that high tariffs protected US
businesses from foreign competition and Cleveland
lost that election. Cleveland would be back again
in 1892 for another four years. In 1888, when Cleveland ran for reelection,
the Republicans spent lavish funds to insure victory
for their candidate, Benjamin Harrison, raising three
million dollars from the nation's manufacturers. This
marked the beginning of a new era in campaign financing.
Again, New York was the deciding factor, and Harrison
carried the day.
In 1892, however, after four years
of Republican leadership, Cleveland won against Harrison,
who had alienated ethnic voters in the Midwest, possibly
due to his support for temperance. Cleveland became
the only president to come back from defeat and be reelected
after losing the office. |
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c.1884 Grover Cleveland Coat Button
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"What Are The Wild Waves Saying, Sister?", Puck, October 1, 1884, by Bernard Gillam |
"Between Scylla and Charybdis," Puck, November 26, 1884, by F. Graetz |
"The Knight of the Wind-Bag Enters The Senatorial Field," Puck, December 31, 1884, by Bernard Gilliam |
"Grand Triumph of Brains Over 'Boodle'!," Puck, January 28, 1885, by Bernard Gillum |
"How Do They Like It Themselves?", Puck, February 11, 1885, by Bernard Gillum |
"The Old Lion and The Ass," Puck, February 25, 1885, by Bernard Gillum |
"The Cruel Secretary of the Navy and the Patriotic Contractor," Puck, April 1, 1885, Eugene Zimmerman |
"Consistent Civil Service Reform," Puck, April 8, 1885, by Frederick Opper |
"The World's Plunderers," Harper's Weekly, June 20, 1885, by Thomas Nast |
"A Flirtation That May Lead To Serious Results In The Fall," Puck, July 29, 1885, by Frederick Opper |
"A Petty Annoyance," Puck, August 5, 1885, by Eugene Zimmerman |
"The Only Plumber Busy In The Hot Season," Puck, August 19, 1885, by Eugene Zimmerman |
"Two Retired Bar'ls," Puck, October 7, 1885, by Eugene Zimmerman |
"The Rival Sand-Which Men," Puck, October 28, 1885, by Eugene Zimmerman |
"At It Again," Puck, November 18, 1885, by Eugene Zimmerman |
"It Works Both Ways," Puck, November 25, 1885, by Eugene Zimmerman |
"'Change About'--The Monkey The Master," Puck, December 23, 1885, by Bernard Gillum |
1886 Painting, The Strike, by Robert Koehler |
"Her Resolute Opposition," Puck, February 10, 1886, by G.E. Ciani |
"Innocents Abroad," Puck, September 29, 1886, by Frederick Opper |
Sheet Music: "Kansas City Exposition March" (1887) |
"The Senate of the Future--A Close Corporation of Millionaires," Puck, January 19, 1887, by Frederick Opper |
"The Medium and His Dupes," Puck, April 6, 1887, by Frederick Opper |
"Public Office Is a Public Trust," Harper's Weekly, June 20, 1885 |
"On The Sly," Puck, April 4, 1888, by Frederick Opper |
"The Two Silly Billies and The Hard Stone Wall," May 16, 1888, by Frederick Opper |
"The Bigger The Bar'l, The Smaller The Man," Puck, June 20, 1888, by Frederick Opper |
"It Won't Do," Puck, August 15, 1888, by Frederick Opper |
"A Trustworthy Beast," Harper's Weekly, October 20, 1888, by William A. Rogers |
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