Page 10 - Presidential Profiles

?C The Sentinel-Record, Monday, Month 00, 2008
The Sentinel-Record, Sunday, February 16, 2020
Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
PRESIDENTIALPROFILES | CLEVELAND
GROVER CLEVELAND 22nd and 24th President, Only President to Serve Non-Consecutive Terms
Stephen Grover Cleveland was a New Jersey native who was raised in New York. He won the popular vote in three presidential elections, 1884, 1888 and 1892, and served from 1885-1889 and again from 1893-1897.
FIRST PRESIDENCY
Cleveland was previously mayor of Buffalo, New York, and the governor of New York before running for presi- dent. When he took office, he filled and reformed federal jobs, declining to use the spoils system and choosing candidates by merit. Domestically, he also created the Interstate Commerce Commission and advocated for the gold standard.
Cleveland also modernized the U.S. Navy, fought for lower protective tar- iffs, opposed expansion and imperial- ism, and thought immigrants and Native Americans should assimilate rather than keep their cultural identi- ties.
While in his first term, Cleveland married Frances Folsom, a student at Wells College. They married in the Blue Room of the White House. At age 21, she was the youngest first lady in history. The Clevelands had five chil- dren: Ruth, Esther, Marion, Richard and Frances.
Cleveland was succeeded by William McKinley.
FOUR YEARS A CITIZEN
The Clevelands left the White House for New York City where he took a job at the law firm of Bangs, Stetson,
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Tracy, and MacVeigh. In 1891, Cleveland criticized President McKinley over the aggressively protec- tionist McKinley Tariff and an increase in money backed by silver.
SECOND TERM
Cleveland was elected again in 1892 and took office just before the Panic of 1893 caused a depression. He fought to reverse the McKinley Tariff and fought labor strikes and protest fueled
by the 1893 recession, including the Pullman Strike in 1894. Abroad, Cleveland supported the Monroe Doctrine of American influence. He also continued his previous term’s modernization of the U.S. military, constructing coastal fortifications, adopting a bolt-action repeating rifle for the Army, and ordering give new battleships and 16 torpedo boats.
In 1893, amid the panic and result- ing unrest, Cleveland found a tumor and ulcer on the roof of his mouth. The subsequent surgery was kept secret so as not to worsen the panic, and parts of his upper left jaw and hard palate were removed. He had another surgery to fix his now impaired speech and improve his appearance. At the time, doctors said the tumor was not malignant, but sub- sequent testing found it to be verru- cous carcinoma, a low-grade skin can- cer.
RETIREMENT
Cleveland’s adherence to the gold standard lost him the nomination in 1896 and he retired to New Jersey. He was a trustee of Princeton University and spoke on political matters, includ- ing women’s suffrage. He died in 1908 at the age of 71.