Grover Cleveland Essay, Research Paper
Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland , the twenty-second and twenty-fourth President of the United States, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey on March 18, 1837. He was the first Democratic President who served two terms that did not directly follow each other. He also was the first President who was elected after the Civil War.
Grover Cleveland was born the son of a country minister whose name was Richard Falley Cleveland. His mothers name was Ann Neal Cleveland, the daughter of a publisher. Grover Cleveland was the fifth child in a family of four brothers and five sisters.
Grover Cleveland’s family let a hard life, having little money and moving around alot. After Grover Cleveland’s father died, he had to help support the family of nine on his wages as a clerk. He earned only $4.00 a week! He was unable to go to law school like he wanted to do, so he studied by himself and became an attorney in l859. Grover Cleveland became interested in politics and held several small offices, including sheriff. He became Mayor of Buffalo, New York, in 1881 and attacked corruption and dishonesty in govwenment. He then became Governor in 1882 and was a huge success because of his reputation for honesty.
Grover Cleveland got married in 1886 to Frances Folsom. He was the first President to get married in the White House. Reporters pried into every detail of Grover Cleveland’s life which he called “colossal impertinence”. Grover Cleveland had five children. Esther, his second daughter, was the first and only child of a President to ever be born in the White House.
In 1884, Grover Cleveland’s supporters suggested that he run for President of the United States. His motto was “a public office is a public trust”. He was elected as the twenty-second President from 1885 until 1889. He served for four years and then barely lost the next election to Benjamin Harrison, even though he had the majority of the popular vote. In 1892, he was persuaded to seek office again and he returned to Washington as the twenty-fourth President in 1893 for four more years.
This President, called “Uncle Jumbo” by his relatives, was a hard-working President. He liked to do much of the work himself instead of assigning tasks to other people. Mr. Cleveland often stayed up until 2 or 3 a.m. going over official business, and sometimes answered the White House Telephone himself.
Grover Cleveland worked hard at reducing taxes on products that came into the United States, he refused easy money to farmers so that they could reduce their debt, and he refused bigger pensions to Veterans. These “no” answers made him unpopular at the time, but have caused him to have respect now.
People think that they would rate Grover Cleveland at a 9 out of a possible 10, with 10 being the highest score. This is because he was the only President to be elected one year, loose the next (even though winning the popular vote), and then win the next year. He was respected for his honesty and hard workmanship.
In 1879, after Grover Cleveland’s second term in office, he returned to New Jersey where he lived a private life with his family. Occassionally he gave lectures at Universities. He died in 1908 at the age of 71.