#24. Cleveland, Stephen Grover

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was the 24th president of the United States, from 1893 to 1897. He was also the 22nd president of the United States, we talked about him just two days ago. It’s tempting to reference Jack Nicholson’s famous line in The Shining when we think about the Cleveland’s return to the White House – “Honey I’m Home!” But it was a far different White House than they’d left, due to Caroline Harrison’s non-stop renovation and clean-up buzz. Frances Cleveland must have been pleased with more bathrooms, and fewer rats. Grover however, was faced with a political disaster. And lots more rats. The Panic of 1893 struck the stock market, and the economic downturn was laid squarely and unfairly at Grover’s feet. Twelve days before he was inaugurated the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad went bankrupt, that was one clear sign the nation’s economy was already in serious trouble. The 1892 cotton crop had been poor, the cash flow from foreign investors was down due to financial crises in Europe and South America. There was no central banking system in the US, so the government had little control over the money supply. It’s a wonder Grover didn’t turn around before he even unpacked.

But They Like Me

He did have some things to smile about though. Three times in a row he’d won the popular vote in a nationwide presidential election! He knew for sure he had supporters out there, somewhere. And two of those times he’d won the most ELECTORAL votes, the last by huge margins – 277 to 145. He had a nice family by his side this time around; daughter Ruth was 17 months old, and Frances, pregnant for the second time, was as pretty as ever, but with a softer, more maternal glow. Now she was aware of the responsibilities of being the wife of a president, though one role was reversed. This time she was the protector in their relationship. Frances recognized how much more difficult things were for Grover. As panic spread across the country, she witnessed a steady decline in his health. He tired more easily, and shockingly, was diagnosed with oral cancer just three months after being back on the job. Frances took responsibility for keeping his condition secret; his doctors agreed and performed the complex operation on a yacht moored off Cape Cod. The tumor on the roof of his mouth, his left jawbone, and five teeth were removed; his speech was affected. Frances wrote letters on his behalf, blaming “rheumatism” for his absences.

The science of the day was able to make a prothesis that corrected the most obvious problems – the shape of his face was brought back into alignment, his famous mustache was untouched, and he was able to speak clearly. Amazingly, that surgery remained a secret until sometime after Grover’s death in 1908.

Escaping

Privacy is hard to come by when you are famous. Back in Term 1, when the press clung to Frances like white on rice, Grover bought an “Escape House” for occasional relief. Woodley Mansion, situated on a hill with a sweeping view of its 29-acre grounds, was built back in 1802 and wasn’t too far from the White House. If you’ve ever been in DC in the summertime, you know how humid and miserable the lower parts of the city can be, so imagine those days before centralized air conditioning. A house on a hill is more apt to catch a breeze, and if you’re one of those folks who can’t leave town in the summer (or if you’re pregnant), you need a breeze. Martin Van Buren escaped to Woodley during his presidency; Grover and Frances took advantage of its cool spaciousness twice; the first time was to protect Frances, the second was more about protecting Grover, and the children. Frances was not in favor of exposing the Cleveland children to public view! And since she wound up being not only the first (and youngest) person to marry in the White House, and then the first to have a baby in the White House (Esther was born September 9, 1893), and then a third pregnancy (Marion was born July 7, 1895 at Gray Gables) the pressure simply never let up. For her, or for Grover.

Spiraling

Let’s cut straight to the chase. Grover couldn’t fix the country. He didn’t mind hard work. He hated wastefulness and corruption. And he wasn’t afraid to say, and do, what he believed to be right. So why didn’t that work? American historian Henry Graff  (1921-2020) wrote this about Grover’s actions during his presidency:

“…his reluctance to provide the country with a clear, ideological direction or to bend Congress to his will indicated his conception of his duties. In his mind, it was enough for him to be hard working, honest, and independent.”

I call to your attention a poem I studied in high school (we all did) written in 1895 while Grover was in office: “If” by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). Remember it?

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don’t deal in lies.…”

Rudyard could have been speaking directly to Grover, it seems. But Kipling, a British poet born in India, was writing to his son, inspired by an event during the Boer wars in South Africa. As what we now dub the Victorian Age was coming to an end, the entire world was undergoing drastic changes. And in the United States, as hundreds of banks and businesses failed and unemployment rates rose to 20%, Grover distanced himself from party machines, made decisions he believed were good, and was endlessly pelted. When offered the opportunity for a third term, he refused.

Or being lied about…

Two stories niggled at Grover’s craw to the last – you can believe the worst versions, or dismiss them as mud-slinging meanness. The “Illegitimate Child” story was cartooned during his first run for President in 1884 as the juicy tidbit “Ma Ma, Where’s My Pa?” It referred to an event ten years earlier when Grover was practicing law in Buffalo. A 38-year-old widow named Maria Halpin claimed he was the father of her child. Admitting the child “could have been” his, he made provisions for the boy’s care. From that point the stories go in vastly different directions. Grover took advantage of her. Took the child away from her. Had her committed to an insane asylum. OR: Lots of fellows visited Maria including Grover’s law partner Oscar Folsom, but all the other guys were married. Grover was a 37-year old bachelor with no wife to upset, so he shouldered the blame. Whatever is true, and to what degree, the boy’s name was recorded as Oscar Folsom Cleveland.

The “Unpaid Veteran” story involves a man named George Brinski. Born in Poland, George arrived in America in 1851. He worked shipping lines in the Atlantic until 1860, then switched to the Great Lakes route between Chicago and Buffalo. In 1863 Grover’s name was pulled for the Union draft. A provision of the Enrollment Act of 1863 allowed the hiring of a substitute, and about 10% of the 290,000 whose name was drawn did just that. Grover was Assistant District Attorney in Erie County at the time, at age 26 single and supporting his mother and younger sisters. On August 5 he hired George Brinski to take his place and George was sworn in to Company F of the 76^th New York Infantry. Before he saw action he was injured while working on a supply train, and reassigned as a hospital handyman. On August 11, 1865 he was mustered out of the army and returned to working on the lakes. It was 1885 when George came to the newly inaugurated president and asked for help, which Grover reportedly refused. George died in 1887. Which is true – in 1863 did Grover honor duty to his mother or shirk duty to his country? In 1885 did Grover ignore a sick old man or was George just asking for a handout? It is true that on February 11, 1887 Grover vetoed House bill 10457 “An act for the relief of …honorably discharged soldiers and sailors who are now disabled…” which would have provided pensions to veterans who became disabled in the years after their military service and not because of it. A hot issue.

If you can keep your head…

It’s much easier to measure the size of a lake when you’re not sitting in the middle of the puddle. Analyzing Grover’s character (would I invite this man to my party?) is easier now than back when all the squabbling was going on. When Grover and Frances left the White House on March 4, 1897, they moved to Princeton; son Richard was born that October. For a time Grover was a trustee at Princeton University. When Theodore Roosevelt took office in 1901, Grover often consulted with him. Another son, Francis, was born in 1903. In 1906 a group of New Jersey Democrats considered Grover a possible candidate for the Senate. But his health had worsened, and on June 24, 1908 he died after suffering a heart attack. He was 71. Out of all that has been said about Grover, I think his deathbed words explain him best – “I have tried so hard to do right.”

When Grover died, Frances was 44 years old and the four children were ages 5 to 15 – the oldest, Ruth, had died of diphtheria 4 years earlier. Frances and the oldest two children attended the memorial service for Grover at Carnegie Hall in March 1909; President William Howard Taft, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Melville Fuller, New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes, and New York City Mayor George McClellan were among the speakers at this tribute. The New York Times headlines read: CARNEGIE HALL FILLED AS NATIONAL LEADERS EULOGIZE CLEVELAND: CALLED IDEAL AMERICAN.

Frances. And Then.

Refusing the widow’s pension she was legally entitled to, in September Frances headed for Europe with her children, where they stayed till the following May. Three years later she married Thomas Preston, a professor of archaeology and acting president at Wells College where she still served as a trustee. The Prestons moved to London in 1914, but when World War I began, they returned to the United States. Frances was appointed head of the speakers bureau of the National Security League where she was responsible for organizing rallies and other events to support the war effort.

Frances became more outspoken in her political beliefs as she grew older. She was an opponent of women’s suffrage; however she did begin voting after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. She supported Franklin Roosevelt as president in 1932, and then Harry Truman. During the Truman presidency she was invited to a luncheon at the White House where she met General Dwight Eisenhower. As the story goes, Eisenhower didn’t recognize her and asked where in the city she used to live. Her answer (and don’t you know she was hiding a mischievous smile): “The White House.”

Frances died in her sleep October 29, 1947 at son Richard’s home in Baltimore, where she’d come to help him celebrate his 50^th birthday. She was 83. Three graves rowed side by side in Princeton’s Nassau Cemetery bear the Cleveland name today: Ruth Cleveland 1904, Grover Cleveland 1908, and Frances Cleveland 1947.

My favorite “Frances Story” is how she wowed the White House staff because she’d get down on the floor to play with her children, something they’d never seen a First Lady do. I think I’d want those kids to come to my party too. Stories to tell?