U.S. Pres. Grover Cleveland's nonconsecutive terms
britannica reference online encyclopedia encyclopaedia store dictionary thesaurus
An overview of Grover Cleveland.
/favicon.png
Encyclopedia Britannica
Transcript

Grover Cleveland is the only U.S. president to have served nonconsecutive terms – he was both the 22nd and the 24th president. His first term saw the creation of the country’s first regulatory agency, and his second term was marked by the Panic of 1893 and the Pullman Strike.

Stephen Grover Cleveland was born in New Jersey in 1837. His father died when he was 16, leaving the family unable to afford college. Instead, Grover taught himself law while clerking in a law office in Buffalo, New York. He passed the bar exam in 1859, at the age of 22.

Four years later he became assistant district attorney of Erie County, New York. He also served several years as county sheriff. In 1881 the Democratic party nominated him for mayor of Buffalo as a reform candidate. He won and became known for attacking dishonesty in city government. After only one year, he was nominated for governor of New York, to tackle corruption at the state level. He won that election easily.

In 1884 – just three years after entering politics – Cleveland was nominated to be the Democratic party’s presidential candidate. His Republican opponent was Senator James Blaine, who had been associated with the spoils system. Throughout the hostile campaign, Blaine was accused of political corruption while Cleveland’s personal morality was questioned. In a close election, Cleveland won the presidency.

One of the major events during Cleveland’s first term as president was the Haymarket Riot. Labor organizers and workers across the country had been rallying and striking for an 8-hour workday. In May 1886 labor protesters and police clashed in Chicago, resulting in the deaths of 7 police officers and several civilians. The Haymarket Riot became a symbol of the international struggle for workers’ rights.

Cleveland’s first term also saw the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887. The act created a commission to regulate railroads – the country’s first regulatory agency.

In 1888 Cleveland ran for reelection. He captured the most votes, but the Republican candidate, Benjamin Harrison, won the electoral vote, and therefore, the presidency. Cleveland moved to New York City and resumed practicing law.

Four years later, in 1892, the Democrats again nominated Cleveland to run against Harrison for the presidency. The country was on the verge of an economic crisis, and Cleveland won in a landslide.

Two months after his second inauguration, the Panic of 1893 struck. Banks in the U.S. closed their doors, causing people to hoard gold. As the treasury’s gold reserve dwindled, Cleveland worked with Wall Street bankers to sell government bonds abroad in exchange for gold.

Meanwhile, the railroad industry struggled. The Pullman Palace Car Company, which built and ran passenger railroad cars, cut wages as a result of the depression. But it did not cut prices in the company town near Chicago, Illinois, where most of its workers lived. Workers went on strike in May 1894, and the American Railway Union led a nationwide boycott. When the Pullman Company responded by firing workers, violence broke out. President Cleveland sent federal troops in July, and within a week the strike ended. Labor Day was created as a national holiday because of the Pullman Strike.

Amid this national turmoil, Cleveland also battled a personal health crisis. A cancerous tumor had developed on the roof of his mouth and needed to be removed. Cleveland was worried about the impact this news would have on the already troubled country, so he decided to have the surgery in secret. Under the guise of a fishing trip, the president underwent surgery on a friend’s boat – while it was moving – and he was fitted with an artificial jaw. Despite early rumors, the American public did not learn the truth about Cleveland’s surgery until after his death.

By the end of his second term, President Cleveland had lost the support of the Democratic party, and he was not nominated for another term. He retired to New Jersey, where he served as a lecturer and a trustee at Princeton University until his death on June 24, 1908.