page_title: Grover Cleveland 1884 presidential campaign
section_title: The nomination fight
hierarchical_section_title: Grover Cleveland 1884 presidential campaign / The nomination fight
caption_attribution_description: English: 1884 US political cartoon showing James G. Blaine covered in his scandals, (based on J.-L. Gerome's painting of Phryne; see File:Jean-Léon Gérôme, Phryne revealed before the Areopagus (1861) - 01.jpg)
context_page_description: The 1884 election was the first Presidential campaign in which Grover Cleveland participated and the first of two nonconsecutive terms that he won. This election pitted Grover Cleveland against James G. Blaine and the campaign for this election centered on corruption, civil service reforms, and scandals. In this election, Cleveland portrayed himself as the clean and honest candidate in contrast to the corrupt James G. Blaine.
context_section_description: In the years leading up to 1884, the Republican Party was divided into two factions—the Stalwarts and the Reformers. In 1884, Reformer James G. Blaine was able to defeat incumbent Stalwart U.S. President Chester A. Arthur's attempt at renomination. In Arthur's place, Blaine himself was nominated as the Republican Party candidate for President in 1884. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator and former general John A. Logan was selected as Blaine's running mate after Robert Todd Lincoln withdrew his name from consideration.
  1876 Democratic candidate and former New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden was initially the 1884 front-runner for the Democrats. Due to his poor health, however, Tilden withdrew his name from consideration for the 1884 Democratic nomination. After Tilden's withdrawal, then-current New York Governor and former Buffalo Mayor Grover Cleveland (known as "Grover the Good") emerged as the front-runner for the Democrats. As Governor, Cleveland was notable for implementing civil service reform in New York as well as for preserving Niagara Falls as a state park. In addition, Cleveland's position on the tariff issue was unclear—thus allowing him to appeal to both high tariff supporters and low tariff supporters. Plus, the fact that he was from a swing state (New York) further strengthened Cleveland's appeal among Democrats. Finally, Cleveland won a lot of support for cutting off the patronage of the corrupt New York City political machine known as Tammany Hall while he was New York Governor.
  On the first ballot at the 1884 Democratic National Convention, Cleveland won 392 delegates to 170 delegates for his closest rival, Delaware U.S. Senator Thomas F. Bayard. Afterwards, Cleveland's campaign managers worked behind the scenes to prevent opponents of Cleveland's from consolidating around any single candidate. This strategy was successful as Cleveland won the nomination with 683 delegates at the second ballot. For Vice President, Indiana U.S. Senator Thomas A. Hendricks (previously the 1876 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee) was chosen (as Cleveland's running mate). During the campaign, Hendricks would serve as an attack dog for Cleveland and constantly hammer the Republican ticket and Republican Party for their record, agenda, and character.
caption: An 1884 cartoon which ridicules Blaine as the tattooed-man with many indelible scandals.
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