He became known as Grover in his adult life. Ĭleveland, the fifth of nine children, was named Stephen Grover in honor of the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell, where his father was pastor at the time. Cleveland was distantly related to General Moses Cleaveland, after whom the city of Cleveland, Ohio, was named. On his mother's side, Cleveland was descended from Anglo-Irish Protestants and German Quakers from Philadelphia. His father's maternal grandfather, Richard Falley Jr., fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and was the son of an immigrant from Guernsey. On his father's side, Cleveland was descended from English ancestors, the first of the family having emigrated to Massachusetts from Cleveland, England, in 1635. His mother was from Baltimore and was the daughter of a bookseller. Cleveland's father was a Congregational and Presbyterian minister who was originally from Connecticut. Stephen Grover Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey, to Ann (née Neal) and Richard Falley Cleveland. 8 1896 election and retirement (1897–1908)Ĭaldwell Presbyterian parsonage, birthplace of Grover Cleveland in Caldwell, New Jersey.7.1 Economic panic and the silver issue.5 Election of 1888 and return to private life (1889–1893). Today, Cleveland is considered by most historians to have been a successful leader, and has been praised for honesty, integrity, adherence to his morals and defying party boundaries, and effective leadership. presidents, and he was by then rejected even by most Democrats. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not." By the end of his second term, public perception showed him to be one of the most unpopular U.S. He possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have. Biographer Allan Nevins wrote, "n Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. Even so, his reputation for probity and good character survived the troubles of his second term. Critics complained that Cleveland had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters- depressions and strikes-in his second term. His intervention in the Pullman Strike of 1894 to keep the railroads moving angered labor unions nationwide in addition to the party in Illinois his support of the gold standard and opposition to free silver alienated the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party. Ĭleveland was a formidable policymaker, and he also drew corresponding criticism. The result was a political realignment that ended the Third Party System and launched the Fourth Party System and the Progressive Era. It ruined his Democratic Party, opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian and silverite seizure of the Democratic Party in 1896. As his second administration began, disaster hit the nation when the Panic of 1893 produced a severe national depression. As a reformer, Cleveland had such prestige that the like-minded wing of the Republican Party, called " Mugwumps", largely bolted the GOP presidential ticket and swung to his support in the 1884 election. He fought political corruption, patronage, and bossism. Cleveland won praise for his honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism. His crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era. He was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs, free silver, inflation, imperialism, and subsidies to business, farmers, or veterans. In 1881, Cleveland was elected mayor of Buffalo and later governor of New York. He won the popular vote for three presidential elections-in 1884, 1888, and 1892-and was one of two Democrats (followed by Woodrow Wilson in 1912) to be elected president during the era of Republican presidential domination dating from 1861 to 1933. Cleveland is the only president in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office. Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897.
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