Presidents of the United States (POTUS)

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Grover Cleveland

22nd and 24th President of the United States
(March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1889 and March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1897)

Nickname: "Veto Mayor"; "Veto President"

Born: March 18, 1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey
Died: June 24, 1908, in Princeton, New Jersey

Father: Richard Falley Cleveland
Mother: Anne Neal Cleveland
Married: Frances Folsom (1864-1947), on June 2, 1886
Children: Ruth Cleveland (1891-1904); Esther Cleveland (1893-1980); Marion Cleveland (1895-1977); Richard Folsom Cleveland (1897-1974); Francis Grover Cleveland (1903-1995)

Religion: Presbyterian
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Lawyer
Political Party: Democrat
Other Government Positions:

Sheriff of Erie County, NY, 1870-73
Mayor of Buffalo, NY, 1882
Governor of New York, 1883-85

Presidential Salary: $50,000/year

**Presidential Election Results:**
Year		Popular Votes	Electoral Votes
1884	Grover Cleveland	4,879,507	219
	James G. Blaine	4,850,293	182
1888	Benjamin Harrison	5,447,129	233
	Grover Cleveland	5,537,857	168
1892	Grover Cleveland	5,555,426	277
	Benjamin Harrison	5,182,690	145
	James B. Weaver	1,029,846	22

Vice President: Thomas A. Hendricks (1885-89); Adlai E. Stevenson (1893-97)

Cabinet:

Secretary of State: Thomas F. Bayard (1885-89); Walter Q. Gresham (1893-95); Richard Olney (1895-97)
Secretary of the Treasury: Daniel Manning (1885-87); Charles S. Fairchild (1887-89); John G. Carlisle (1893-97)
Secretary of War: William C. Endicott (1885-89); Daniel S. Lamont (1893-97)
Attorney General: Augustus H. Garland (1885-89); Richard Olney (1893-95); Judson Harmon (1895-97)
Postmaster General: William F. Vilas (1885-88); Donald M. Dickinson (1888-89); Wilson S. Bissell (1893-95); William L. Wilson (1895-97)
Secretary of the Navy: William C. Whitney (1885-89); Hilary A. Herbert (1893-97)
Secretary of the Interior: Lucius Q. C. Lamar (1885-88); William F. Vilas (1888-89); Hoke Smith (1893-96); David R. Francis (1896-97)
Secretary of Agriculture: Norman J. Colman (1889); Julius Sterling Morton (1893-97)

Supreme Court Appointments:

Chief Justice: Melville Weston Fuller (1888-1910)
Associate Justice: Lucius Quintus C. Lamar (1888-93); Edward Douglass White (1894-1910); Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1896-1909)

Notable Events:

1886
- Dedication of the Statue of Liberty
- Presidential Succession Act
- Geronimo surrendered, ending Apache wars of New Mexico and Arizona
1887
- Interstate Commerce Act
- Anti-Polygamy Act
- Dawes Severalty Act
- Tenure of Office Act repealed
1888
- New Chinese Exclusion Act
1893
- Panic of 1893
- Pullman Strike
- Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 repealed
1895
- Controversy with Great Britain over Venezuela

Internet Biographies:

Grover Cleveland -- from The Presidents of the United States of America: Compiled by the White House.
Grover Cleveland -- from American Presidents: Life Portraits -- C-SPAN: Biographical information, trivia, key events, video, and other reference materials. Website created to accompany C-SPAN's 20th Anniversary Television Series, American Presidents: Life Portraits.
Grover Cleveland -- from The American President: From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in addition to information on the Presidents themselves, they have first lady and cabinet member biographies, listings of presidential staff and advisers, and timelines detailing significant events in the lives of each administration.
Grover Cleveland's Obituary -- from The New York Times: Abstract and full text PDF download of Cleveland's obituary from The New York Times, June 25, 1908. HTML version available from Dead Presidents.

Historical Documents:

First Inaugural Address (1885)
Second Inaugural Address (1893)
President Cleveland's Message on Relations with the Nation of Hawaii (1893)
Ex-President Grover Cleveland on the Philippine Problem (1904)

Media Resources:

Audio
First minute of his 1892 campaign speech. Begins with the music "Hail to the Chief" (1:21): MP3 (636K); From the Vincent Voice Library at Michigan State University.

Other Internet Resources:

Points of Interest:

He was born Stephen Grover Cleveland.
Cleveland is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.
Cleveland discovered a cancerous growth on the roof of his mouth in the middle of the economic crisis of 1893. So that his illness would not cause a greater panic, he and several doctors snuck aboard a pleasure boat and removed the growth. The public thought he was on a fishing trip and never knew the truth until 1917.
While sheriff of Erie County, New York, Cleveland was also the public executioner and personally hanged two murderers.
Cleveland was the first executive movie star. In 1895, Alexander Black came to Washington and asked Cleveland to appear in "A Capital Courtship", his photoplay. He agreed to be filmed while signing a bill into law. "A Capital Courtship" was a big hit on the Lyceum Circuit.
Since Cleveland was the sole supporter of his family during the Civil War, he paid a substitute to take his place.
Cleveland answered the White House phone, personally.
Cleveland vetoed 414 bills in his first term, more than double the 204 vetoes cast by all previous presidents. Cleveland used his veto powers 584 times during his two terms. This is the highest total of any president except Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served three terms.
"Death and Destruction" was the name that Grover Cleveland gave to his favorite hunting rifle.
He was the only president married in the White House.
According to the Curtiss Candy Company (and now Nestle ®), the Baby Ruth candy bar was named after Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth. Snopes.com, the Urban Legends Reference Pages, argues that this is false and that the candy bar was named after famous baseball player Babe Ruth.
The only president's child born in the White House was Cleveland's daughter Esther.

First Term
Previous President: Chester Alan Arthur | Next President: Benjamin Harrison

Second Term
Previous President: Benjamin Harrison | Next President: William McKinley