William McKinley
Search results
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was an American politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He is the only president in U.S. history to serve non-consecutive presidential terms.
- David B. Hill
- William McKinley
- Overview
- Early life and career
- Presidency
Grover Cleveland (born March 18, 1837, Caldwell, New Jersey, U.S.—died June 24, 1908, Princeton, New Jersey) 22nd and 24th president of the United States (1885–89 and 1893–97) and the only president ever to serve two discontinuous terms. Cleveland distinguished himself as one of the few truly honest and principled politicians of the Gilded Age. His...
Cleveland was the son of Richard Falley Cleveland, an itinerant Presbyterian minister, and Ann Neal. The death of Grover Cleveland’s father in 1853 forced him to abandon school in order to support his mother and sisters. After clerking in a law firm in Buffalo, New York, he was admitted to the bar in 1859 and soon entered politics as a member of the Democratic Party. During the Civil War he was drafted but hired a substitute so that he could care for his mother—an altogether legal procedure but one that would make him vulnerable to political attack in the future. In 1863 he became assistant district attorney of Erie county, New York, and in 1870–73 he served as county sheriff. With this slight political background and only modest success as a lawyer, the apparently unambitious Buffalo attorney launched one of the most meteoric rises in American politics.
In 1881, eight years after stepping down as sheriff, Cleveland was nominated for mayor by Buffalo Democrats who remembered his honest and efficient service in that office. He won the election easily. As Buffalo’s chief executive, he became known as the “veto mayor” for his rejection of spending measures he considered to be wasteful and corrupt. In 1882, without the support of the Tammany Hall Democratic machine in New York City, Cleveland received his party’s nomination for governor, and he went on to crush his Republican opponent by more than 200,000 votes.
As governor of New York, Cleveland again used the veto frequently, even to turn down measures that enjoyed wide public support. His devotion to principle and his unstinting opposition to Tammany Hall soon earned him a national reputation—particularly among Americans disgusted with the frequent scandals of Gilded Age politics.
Britannica Quiz
U.S. Presidential Firsts
In the 1884 presidential election, the Democrats sought a candidate who would contrast sharply with Republican nominee James G. Blaine, a longtime Washington insider whose reputation for dishonesty and financial impropriety prompted the Republican Mugwump faction to bolt their party. Cleveland’s image was the opposite of Blaine’s, and he seemed likely to draw Mugwump votes to the Democratic ticket. As a result, Cleveland won the Democratic nomination with ease.
As president, Cleveland continued to act in the same negative capacity that had marked his tenures as mayor and governor. He nullified fraudulent grants to some 80 million acres (30 million hectares) of Western public lands and vetoed hundreds of pension bills that would have sent federal funds to undeserving Civil War veterans. Once again, Cleveland’s rejection of wasteful and corrupt measures endeared the president to citizens who admired his honesty and courage. He also received credit for two of the more significant measures enacted by the federal government in the 1880s: the Interstate Commerce Act (1887), which established the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first regulatory agency in the United States, and the Dawes General Allotment Act (1887), which redistributed Native American reservation land to individual tribe members.
In 1886 Cleveland, a lifelong bachelor, married Frances Folsom, the daughter of his former law partner. Frances Cleveland, 27 years younger than her husband, proved to be a very popular first lady. To all appearances the marriage was a happy one, though during the 1888 presidential campaign she was forced to publicly refute Republican-spread rumours that Cleveland had beaten her during drunken rages.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Oct 27, 2009 · Learn about Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th U.S. president, who served two non-consecutive terms and was a political reformer. Find out about his early career, his achievements and challenges, his family and his legacy.
- 3 min
Apr 3, 2014 · Learn about the life and presidency of Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States who served two nonconsecutive terms and was the first to be married in the White House. Find out his achievements, challenges, controversies, and legacy in this comprehensive biography.
Learn about the life and achievements of Grover Cleveland, the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms in office. Find out how he pursued a policy of reform, vetoed special favors, and faced economic and international challenges.
People also ask
What is Grover Cleveland best known for?
When did Grover Cleveland become president?
How many terms did Grover Cleveland have?
Did Stephen Grover Cleveland run for a third term?
Presidencies of Grover Cleveland. Grover Cleveland was president of the United States first from March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1889, and then from March 4, 1893, to March 4, 1897. The first Democrat elected after the Civil War, Cleveland is the only US president to leave office after one term and later return for a second term.
The Life and Presidency of Grover Cleveland. The White House Christmas Ornament 2007 Historical Essay. William Bushong Chief Historian. ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE. One of nine children of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, Stephen Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, on March 18,1837, and raised in upstate New York.
