Grover Cleveland
Overview
 
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897) and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents. He was the winner of the popular vote for president three times—in 1884
United States presidential election, 1884
The United States presidential election of 1884 saw the first election of a Democrat as President of the United States since the election of 1856. New York Governor Grover Cleveland narrowly defeated Republican former United States Senator James G. Blaine of Maine to break the longest losing streak...

, 1888
United States presidential election, 1888
The 1888 election for President of the United States saw Grover Cleveland of New York, the incumbent president and a Democrat, try to secure a second term against the Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison, a former U.S. Senator from Indiana...

, and 1892
United States presidential election, 1892
In the United States presidential election of 1892, former President Grover Cleveland ran for re-election against the incumbent President Benjamin Harrison, who was also running for re-election. Cleveland defeated Harrison, thus becoming the only person in American history to be elected to a...

—and was the only Democrat elected to the presidency in the era of Republican political domination that lasted from 1860 to 1912.

Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver
Free Silver
Free Silver was an important United States political policy issue in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Its advocates were in favor of an inflationary monetary policy using the "free coinage of silver" as opposed to the less inflationary Gold Standard; its supporters were called...

, inflation, imperialism and subsidies to business, farmers or veterans.
Timeline

1886    U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.

1886    In New York Harbor, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.

1889    President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.

1893    Grover Cleveland undergoes secret, successful surgery to remove a large, cancerous portion of his jaw; operation not revealed to US public until 1917, nine years after the president's death.

1894    The troops sent by Grover Cleveland to Chicago to end the Pullman Strike are recalled.

Quotations

I'm only waiting for my wife to grow up.

Teasing comment about 8 year old Frances Folsom Cleveland|Frances Clara Folsom, after being asked when he might be expected to find a wife. As quoted in An Honest President (2000) by H. Paul Jeffers, p. 37

Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.

Letter accepting the nomination for governor of New York (October 1882)

WHATEVER YOU DO, TELL THE TRUTH.

Telegram to his friend Charles W. Goodyear (23 July 1884), in response to a query as to what the Democratic Party should say about reports that he fathered a child out of wedlock. As quoted in An Honest President (2000), by H. Paul Jeffers, p. 108

After an existence of nearly twenty years of almost innocuous desuetude, these laws are brought forth.

Message to the US Senate on laws constraining the discretionary powers of the President to remove or suspend officials. (1 March 1886)

Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters. Not only is their time and labor due to the Government, but they should scrupulously avoid in their political action, as well as in the discharge of their official duty, offending by a display of obtrusive partisanship their neighbors who have relations with them as public officials.

Message to the heads of departments in the service of the US Government (14 July 1886)

 
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