Passed Presidents - # 22 & 24 – Grover Cleveland

Just returned from a grand trip to three western state capitols and the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  Future stories to follow.

We have one more Dead President to do in June and the Final Five next month.  No time to tell a coherent story about Steven Cleveland so I’ll just list a few of his interesting facts...which I guess is what I do anyway.

- Born in New Jersey and moved to New York as a child.  Called ‘Big Steve’, he decided to use his middle name early in life.

S. Grover Cleveland grave, Princeton, NJ [27 November 2006]

- Cleveland was the only president to serve separate, non-consecutive terms...the only guy who was TWO presidents...Numbers 22 and 24.  Since he was two presidents in one, this is a good place to note that one of his nicknames was ‘Uncle Jumbo.’  He lived in a time when the poor were under-nourished and skinny and men with a physique like his were admired and called ‘prosperous.’  Funny how we are now in the ‘Thin is in’ era, yet there is more apparent ‘prosperity’ than ever.  Anyway, ‘Uncle Jumbo’ (think New Jersey again) might have some ‘splainin’ to do if he ran for president today.

- He was a dedicated and honest public servant...apparently at a time when that was rare.  Given the Gilded Age corruption and moneyed interests of the time, this strict conservative, reformer of a Democrat vetoed more bills than all 22 previous presidents combined.  His honesty and steadfast values have no doubt contributed to his solid middle-ground ranking among our presidents.

- I suspect his historical ranking would have jumped a place or two had he not written the following opinion on the burgeoning women’s suffrage movement in 1905:

"Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.

The relative positions to be assumed by men and

women in the working out of our civilization were

assigned long ago by a higher intelligence."

Really?

- Cleveland is probably the only president who has personally killed people (not counting former combat soldiers and Andrew Jackson’s duels).  As the sheriff of Erie County, NY, he was the official executioner and personally hanged a couple of capital criminals.  From there, he was elected Mayor of Buffalo and Governor of New York.

- His likeness is on our old $1000 bills...like we have so many of them lying around.

S. Grover Cleveland grave, Princeton, NJ [27 November 2006]

A rather modest grave with no mention

of his positions or achievements.

- Cleveland was the only president who was married in the White House.  At age 21, Francis Folsom, the daughter of his former law partner, was 27 years younger than the groom but, hey, Uncle Jumbo was the president.  She later became the first presidential widow to remarry and died 39 years after her first husband passed.

- Early in his second term, Cleveland and his doctors traveled secretly to New York City where they repaired to a friend’s yacht and performed surgery offshore in the East River.  A cancerous growth was removed from his jaw and he was fitted with a rubber prosthesis.  After a few weeks of convalescence, he returned to the job.  The public was never informed.  Let’s see a president try that today.

- Cleveland retired to New Jersey and died 106 years ago today in Princeton, where he is buried.  Also buried in the same cemetery - Paul Tulane, who gave so much to a Louisiana university, they named it after him and former VP Aaron Burr, whose father was an early president of Princeton University.

 S. Grover Cleveland

22^nd and 24th President; Served 1885-1889 & 1893-1897

Born: March 18, 1837, Caldwell, NJ

Died: June 24, 1908, Princeton, NJ

Grave Location: Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, NJ

Date Visited: 11/27/2006

PS – A ‘When I Am King’ footnote.  In order to make it easier to remember where the Last Resting Places of our presidents are, I will switch two grave sites.  Cleveland should be in Cleveland.  It would be so much easier to remember that way.

“Who was Grover Cleveland?”

“I don’t know but I’m certain he’s buried in Cleveland!”

The trade will send James Garfield from Cleveland to New Jersey where he died anyway.

Seems reasonable to me.