Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland ( March 18 , 1837June 24 , 1908 ) was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States ; as such , he is the only president to serve two non - consecutive terms ( 1885 – 1889 and 1893 – 1897 ) and to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents . He was the winner of the popular vote for president three times — in 1884 , 1888 , and 1892 — and was the only Democrat elected to the presidency in the era of Republican political domination dating from 1861 to 1913 . Cleveland was the leader of the pro - business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs , Free Silver , inflation , imperialism and subsidies to business , farmers or veterans . His crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era . Cleveland won praise for his honesty , self - reliance , integrity , and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism . He relentlessly fought political corruption , patronage and bossism . Indeed , as a reformer his prestige was so strong that the like - minded wing of the Republican Party , called " Mugwump s " , largely bolted the GOP presidential ticket and swung to his support in the 1884 election . As his second term began , disaster hit the nation when the Panic of 1893 produced a severe national depression , which Cleveland was unable to reverse . It ruined his Democratic Party , opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian and silverite seizure of the Democratic Party in 1896 . The result was a political realignment that ended the Third Party System and launched the Fourth Party System as well as the Progressive Era . Cleveland was a formidable policymaker and drew a corresponding criticism . His intervention in the Pullman Strike of 1894 to keep the railroads moving angered labor unions nationwide in addition to the party in Illinois ; his support of the gold standard and opposition to Free Silver also alienated the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party . Furthermore , critics complained that he had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation ' s economic disasters — depressions and strikes — in his second term . Even so , his reputation for probity and good character survived the troubles of his second term . Biographer Allan Nevins wrote : " in Grover Cleveland the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities . He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have . He possessed honesty , courage , firmness , independence , and common sense . But he possessed them to a degree other men do not . " Family and early life . Childhood and family history . Stephen Grover Cleveland was born on March 18 , 1837 , in Caldwell , New Jersey to Richard Falley Cleveland and Ann Neal Cleveland . Cleveland ' s father was a Presbyterian minister , originally from Connecticut . and his mother was from Baltimore , the daughter of a bookseller . On his father ' s side , Cleveland was descended from English ancestors , the first Cleveland having emigrated to Massachusetts from northeastern England in 1635 . On his mother ' s side , he was descended from Anglo - Irish Protestants and German Quakers from Philadelphia . He was distantly related to General Moses Cleaveland after whom the city of Cleveland , Ohio , was named . Cleveland , the fifth of nine children , was named Stephen Grover in honor of the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell , where his father was pastor at the time ; he became known as Grover in his adult life . In 1841 , the Cleveland family moved to Fayetteville , New York , where Grover spent much of his childhood . Neighbors later described him as " full of fun and inclined to play pranks " , and fond of outdoor sports . In 1850 , Cleveland ' s father took a pastorate in Clinton , Oneida County , New York , and the family relocated there . Despite his father ' s dedication to his missionary work , the income was insufficient for the large family . Financial conditions forced him to remove Grover from school into a two - year mercantile apprenticeship in Fayetteville . The experience was valuable but without permanence , and the living conditions quite austere . Grover returned to Clinton and his schooling at the completion of the contract . When the Clinton pastorate proved too arduous , in 1853 Grover ' s father took an assignment in Holland Patent , New York , near Utica and the family moved again . Not long thereafter Cleveland ' s father died . Education and moving west . Cleveland received his elementary education at the Fayetteville Academy and the Clinton Liberal Academy . After his father died in 1853 , he again left school so as to help support his family . Later that year , Cleveland ' s brother William was hired as a teacher at the New York Institute for the Blind in New York City , and William obtained a place for Cleveland as an assistant teacher . He returned home to Holland Patent at the end of 1854 and an elder in his church offered to pay for his college education if he would promise to become a minister ; but Cleveland declined , and in 1855 he decided to move west . He stopped first in Buffalo , New York , where his uncle , Lewis W . Allen gave him a clerical job . Allen was an important man in Buffalo , and he introduced his nephew to influential men there , including the partners in the law firm of Rogers , Bowen , and Rogers . Cleveland later took a clerkship with the firm , began to read the law , and was admitted to the bar in 1859 . Early career and the Civil War . Cleveland worked for the Rogers firm for three years , then left the firm in 1862 to start his own practice . In January 1863 , he was appointed assistant district attorney of Erie County . With the American Civil War raging , Congress passed the Conscription Act of 1863 , requiring able - bodied men to serve in the army if called upon , or else to hire a substitute . Cleveland chose the latter course , paying George Benninsky , a thirty - two year - old Polish immigrant , $ 150 to serve in his place . As a lawyer , Cleveland became known for his single - minded concentration and dedication to hard work . In 1866 , he successfully defended some participants in the Fenian raid free of charge . In 1868 , Cleveland attracted professional attention for his winning defense of a libel suit against the editor of Buffalo ' s " Commercial Advertiser " . During this time , Cleveland assumed a lifestyle of simplicity , taking residence in a plain boarding house ; Cleveland dedicated his growing income instead to the support of his mother and younger sisters . While his personal quarters were austere , Cleveland nevertheless enjoyed an active social life and " the easy - going sociability of hotel - lobbies and saloons . " He shunned the circles of higher society of Buffalo in which his uncle ' s family traveled . Political career in New York . Sheriff of Erie County . From his earliest involvement in politics , Cleveland aligned himself with the Democratic Party . ; he had a decided aversion to Republicans John Fremont and Abraham Lincoln , and the heads of the Rogers law firm were solid Democrats . In 1865 , he ran for District Attorney , losing narrowly to his friend and roommate , Lyman K . Bass , the Republican nominee . In 1870 , with the help of his friend Oscar Folsom , he secured the Democratic nomination for Sheriff of Erie County . He won the election by a 303 - vote margin and took the office of Sherif on January 1 , 1871 at age 33 . While this new career took him away from the practice of law , it was rewarding in other ways : the fees were said to yield up to $ 40 , 000 ( US $ in present terms ) over the two - year term . Cleveland ' s service as sheriff was unremarkable ; biographer Rexford Tugwell described Cleveland ' s time in the office as a waste politically . Cleveland was aware of graft in the sheriff ' s office during his tenure but chose not to confront it . A notable incident of his term took place on September 6 , 1872 , and involved the execution of Patrick Morrissey , who had been convicted of murdering his mother . As sheriff , Cleveland was responsible for either personally carrying out the execution or paying a deputy $ 10 to perform the task . Cleveland , in spite of reservations about the hanging , opted to carry out the duty himself . ; he hanged another murderer , John Gaffney , on February 14 , 1873 . After his term as sheriff ended , Cleveland returned to his law practice , opening a firm with his friends Lyman K . Bass and Wilson S . Bissell . Bass did not spend much time at the firm , being elected to Congress in 1873 , but Cleveland and Bissell soon found themselves at the top of Buffalo ' s legal community . Up to that point , Cleveland ' s political career had been honorable but unexceptional . As biographer Allan Nevins wrote , " probably no man in the country , on March 4 , 1881 , had less thought than this limited , simple , sturdy attorney of Buffalo that four years later he would be standing in Washington and taking the oath as president of the United States . " It was during this period that Cleveland began a brief relationship with a widow , Maria Crofts Halpin , and later assumed responsibility for supporting her and a child born at the time . The matter drew notable attention later in his first presidential campaign . Mayor of Buffalo . In the 1870s , the municipal government in Buffalo had grown increasingly corrupt , with Democratic and Republican political machines cooperating to share the spoils of political office . In 1881 the Republicans nominated a slate of particularly disreputable machine politicians ; the Democrats saw the opportunity to gain the votes of disaffected Republicans by nominating a more honest candidate . The party leaders approached Cleveland , and he agreed to run for Mayor of Buffalo , provided that the rest of the ticket was to his liking . When the more notorious politicians were left off the Democratic ticket , Cleveland accepted the nomination . Cleveland was elected mayor with 15 , 120 votes , as against 11 , 528 for Milton C . Beebe , his opponent . He took office January 2 , 1882 . Cleveland ' s term as mayor was spent fighting the entrenched interests of the party machines . Among the acts that established his reputation was a veto of the street - cleaning bill passed by the Common Council . The street - cleaning contract was open for bids , and the Council selected the highest bidder at $ 422 , 000 , rather than the lowest of $ 100 , 000 less , because of the political connections of the bidder . While this sort of bipartisan graft had previously been tolerated in Buffalo , Mayor Cleveland would have none of it , and replied with a stinging veto message : " I regard it as the culmination of a most bare - faced , impudent , and shameless scheme to betray the interests of the people , and to worse than squander the public money " . The Council reversed themselves and awarded the contract to the lowest bidder . Cleveland also asked the state legislature to form a Commission to develop a plan to improve the sewer system in Buffalo at a much lower cost than previously proposed locally ; this was successfully adopted . For this , and other actions safeguarding public funds , Cleveland ' s reputation as a leader willing to purge government corruption began to spread beyond Erie County . Governor of New York . New York Democratic party officials began to consider Cleveland a possible nominee for governor . Daniel Manning , a party insider who admired Cleveland ' s record , was instrumental in his candidacy . With a split in the state Republican party in 1882 , the Democratic party was considered to be at an advantage ; indeed there were several contenders for that party ' s nomination . The two leading Democratic candidates were Roswell P . Flower and Henry W . Slocum ; however , their factions deadlocked , and the convention could not agree on a nominee . Cleveland , in third place on the first ballot , picked up support in subsequent votes and emerged as the compromise choice . The Republican party remained divided against itself , and in the general election Cleveland emerged the victor , with 535 , 318 votes to Republican nominee Charles J . Folger ' s 342 , 464 . Cleveland ' s margin of victory was , at the time , the largest in a contested New York election ; the Democrats also picked up seats in both houses of the New York State Legislature . Cleveland brought his opposition to needless spending to the governor ' s office ; he promptly sent the legislature eight vetos in his first two months in office . The first to attract attention was his veto of a bill to reduce the fares on New York City elevated trains to five cents . The bill had broad support because the trains ' owner , Jay Gould , was unpopular , and his fare increases were widely denounced . Cleveland saw the bill as unjust — Gould had taken over the railroads when they were failing and had made the system solvent again . Moreover , Cleveland believed that altering Gould ' s franchise would violate the Contract Clause of the federal Constitution . Despite the initial popularity of the measure , the newspapers praised Cleveland ' s veto . Theodore Roosevelt , then a member of the Assembly , had reluctantly voted for the otherwise objectionable bill , in a desire to punish the unscrupulous railroad barons . After the veto , Roosevelt reversed himself , as did many legislators , and the veto was sustained . Cleveland ' s defiance of political corruption won him popular acclaim , but also gained him the enmity of the influential Tammany Hall organization in New York City . Tammany , under its boss , John Kelly , had disapproved Cleveland ' s nomination as governor , and their resistance intensified after Cleveland openly opposed and prevented the re - election of their point man in the State Senate , Thomas F . Grady . Cleveland also steadfastly opposed nominees of the Tammanyites , as well as bills passed as a result of their deal making . The loss of Tammany ' s support was offset by support of Theodore Roosevelt and other reform - minded Republicans who helped Cleveland to pass several laws reforming municipal governments . Election of 1884 . Nomination for president . The Republicans convened in Chicago and nominated former Speaker of the House James G . Blaine of Maine for president on the fourth ballot . Blaine ' s nomination alienated many Republicans who viewed Blaine as ambitious and immoral . The GOP standard bearer was weakened not only by the alienation of the Mugwumps , but also the Conkling faction , recently disenfranchised by President Arthur . Democratic party leaders saw the Republicans ' choice as an opportunity to win the White House for the first time since 1856 if the right candidate could be found . Among the Democrats , Samuel J . Tilden was the initial front - runner , having been the party ' s nominee in the contested election of 1876 . Tilden , however , was in poor health , and after he declined to be nominated , his supporters shifted to several other contenders . Cleveland was among the leaders in early support , but Thomas F . Bayard of Delaware , Allen G . Thurman of Ohio , Samuel Freeman Miller of Iowa , and Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts also had considerable followings , along with various favorite son s . Each of the other candidates had hindrances to his nomination : Bayard had spoken in favor of secession in 1861 , making him unacceptable to Northerners ; Butler , conversely , was reviled throughout the South for his actions during the Civil War ; Thurman was generally well liked , but was growing old and infirm , and his views on the silver question were uncertain . Cleveland , too , had detractors — Tammany remained opposed to him — but the nature of his enemies made him still more friends . Cleveland led on the first ballot , with 392 votes out of 820 . On the second ballot , Tammany threw its support behind Butler , but the rest of the delegates shifted to Cleveland , and he was nominated . Thomas A . Hendricks of Indiana was selected as his running mate . Campaign against Blaine . Corruption in politics was the central issue in 1884 ; indeed , Blaine had over the span of his career been involved in several questionable deals . Cleveland ' s reputation as an opponent of corruption proved the Democrats ' strongest asset . William C . Hudson created Cleveland ' s contextual campaign slogan " A public office is a public trust . " Reform - minded Republicans called " Mugwump s " denounced Blaine as corrupt and flocked to Cleveland . The Mugwumps , including such men as Carl Schurz and Henry Ward Beecher , were more concerned with morality than with party , and felt Cleveland was a kindred soul who would promote civil service reform and fight for efficiency in government . At the same time the Democrats gained support from the Mugwumps , they lost some blue - collar workers to the Greenback - Labor party , led by ex - Democrat Benjamin Butler . In general , Cleveland abided by the precedent of minimizing presidential campaign travel and speechmaking ; Blaine became one of the first to break with that tradition . The campaign focused on the candidates ' personalities , as each candidate ' s supporters cast aspersions on their opponents . Cleveland ' s supporters rehashed the old allegations that Blaine had corruptly influenced legislation in favor of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad and the Union Pacific Railway , later profiting on the sale of bonds he owned in both companies . Although the stories of Blaine ' s favors to the railroads had made the rounds eight years earlier , this time Blaine ' s correspondence was discovered , making his earlier denials less plausible . On some of the most damaging correspondence , Blaine had written " Burn this letter , " giving Democrats the last line to their rallying cry : " Blaine , Blaine , James G . Blaine , the continental liar from the state of Maine , ' Burn this letter ! " To help neutralize the effects of his own past , Blaine relied on surrogates as well as Tammany to counter Cleveland ' s image of superior morality . Republicans , aided by sermons from an opportunistic preacher named George H . Ball , resurrected allegations that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child while he was a lawyer in Buffalo , and chanted " Ma , Ma , where ' s my Pa ? " . When confronted with the emerging scandal , Cleveland ' s immediately instructed his supporters to " Above all , tell the truth . " Cleveland admitted to paying child support in 1874 to Maria Crofts Halpin , the woman who claimed he fathered her child , named Oscar Folsom Cleveland . Halpin was involved with several men at the time , including Cleveland ' s friend and law partner , Oscar Folsom , for whom the child was also named . Cleveland did not know which man was the father , and is believed to have assumed responsibility because he was the only bachelor among them . Both candidates believed that the states of New York , New Jersey , Indiana , and Connecticut would determine the election . In New York , the Tammany Hall Democrats , after vacillating , decided that they would gain more from supporting a Democrat they disliked than a Republican who would do nothing for them . Blaine hoped that he would have more support from Irish Americans than Republicans typically did ; while the Irish were mainly a Democratic constituency in the 19th century , Blaine ' s mother was Irish Catholic , and he had been supportive of the Irish National Land League while he was Secretary of State . The Irish , a significant group in three of the swing states , did appear inclined to support Blaine until a spokesman , Samuel D . Burchard , gave a speech pivotal for the Democrats , denouncing them as the party of " Rum , Romanism , and Rebellion " . The Democrats spread the word of this implied Catholic insult on the eve of the election ; Blaine also attended a well publicized dinner with many of New York City ' s wealthiest at the lavish Delmonico ' s restaurant - considered importune during the economic downturn . After the votes were count , Cleveland narrowly won all four of the swing states , including New York by 1200 votes . While the popular vote total was close , with Cleveland winning by just one - quarter of a percent , the electoral votes gave Cleveland a majority of 219 – 182 . Following the electoral victory , the " Ma , Ma . . . " attack phrase gained a classic rejoinder : " Gone to the White House . Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! " First term as president ( 1885 – 1889 ) . Reform . Soon after taking office , Cleveland was faced with the task of filling all the government jobs for which the president had the power of appointment . These jobs were typically filled under the spoils system , but Cleveland announced that he would not fire any Republican who was doing his job well , and would not appoint anyone solely on the basis of party service . He also used his appointment powers to reduce the number of federal employees , as many departments had become bloated with political time - servers . Later in his term , as his fellow Democrats chafed at being excluded from the spoils , Cleveland began to replace more of the partisan Republican officeholders with Democrats . ; this was especially the case with policy making positions . While some of his decisions were influenced by party concerns , more of Cleveland ' s appointments were decided by merit alone than was the case in his predecessors ' administrations . Cleveland also reformed other parts of the government . In 1887 , he signed an act creating the Interstate Commerce Commission . He and Secretary of the Navy William C . Whitney undertook to modernize the navy and canceled construction contracts that had resulted in inferior ships . Cleveland angered railroad investors by ordering an investigation of western lands they held by government grant . Secretary of the Interior Lucius Q . C . Lamar charged that the rights of way for this land must be returned to the public because the railroads failed to extend their lines according to agreements . The lands were forfeited , resulting in the return of approximately . Cleveland was the first Democratic President subject to the Tenure of Office Act which originated in 1867 ; the act purported to require the Senate to approve the dismissal of any presidential appointee who was originally subject to its advice and consent . Cleveland objected to the act in principle and his steadfast refusal to abide by it prompted its fall into disfavor and led to its ultimate repeal in 1887 . Vetoes . Cleveland faced a Republican Senate and often resorted to using his veto powers . He vetoed hundreds of private pension bills for American Civil War veterans , believing that if their pensions requests had already been rejected by the Pension Bureau , Congress should not attempt to override that decision . When Congress , pressured by the Grand Army of the Republic , passed a bill granting pensions for disabilities not caused by military service , Cleveland also vetoed that . Cleveland used the veto far more often than any president up to that time . In 1887 , Cleveland issued his most well - known veto , . After a drought had ruined crops in several Texas counties , Congress appropriated $ 10 , 000 to purchase seed grain for farmers there . Cleveland vetoed the expenditure . In his veto message , he espoused a theory of limited government : Silver . One of the most volatile issues of the 1880s was whether the currency should be backed by gold and silver , or by gold alone . The issue cut across party lines , with western Republicans and southern Democrats joining together in the call for the free coinage of silver , and both parties ' representatives in the northeast holding firm for the gold standard . Because silver was worth less than its legal equivalent in gold , taxpayers paid their government bills in silver , while international creditors demanded payment in gold , resulting in a depletion of the nation ' s gold supply . Cleveland and Treasury Secretary Daniel Manning stood firmly on the side of the gold standard , and tried to reduce the amount of silver that the government was required to coin under the Bland - Allison Act of 1878 . Cleveland even appealed to Congress to repeal this law before he was inaugurated , but his proposal was rejected . Angered Westerners and Southerners advocated for cheap money to help their poorer constituents . In reply , one of the foremost silverites , Richard P . Bland , introduced a bill in 1886 that would require the government to coin unlimited amounts of silver , inflating the then - deflating currency . While Bland ' s bill was defeated , so was a bill the administration favored that would repeal any silver coinage requirement . The result was a retention of the status quo , and a postponement of the resolution of the Free Silver issue . Tariffs . Another contentious financial issue at the time was the protective tariff . While it had not been a central point in his campaign , Cleveland ' s opinion on the tariff was that of most Democrats : that the tariff ought to be reduced . Republicans generally favored a high tariff to protect American industries . American tariffs had been high since the Civil War , and by the 1880s the tariff brought in so much revenue that the government was running a surplus . In 1886 , a bill to reduce the tariff was narrowly defeated in the House . The tariff issue was emphasized in the Congressional elections that year , and the forces of protectionism increased their numbers in the Congress . Nevertheless , Cleveland continued to advocate tariff reform . As the surplus grew , Cleveland and the reformers called for a tariff for revenue only . His message to Congress in 1887 ( quoted at right ) pointed out the injustice of taking more money from the people than the government needed to pay for its operating expenses . Republicans , as well as protectionist northern Democrats like Samuel J . Randall , believed that without high tariffs American industries would fail , and continued to fight reformers ' efforts . Roger Q . Mills , the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means , proposed a bill that would reduce the tariff burden from about 47 % to about 40 % . After significant exertions by Cleveland and his allies , the bill passed the House . The Republican Senate , however , failed to come to agreement with the Democratic House , and the bill died in the conference committee . Dispute over the tariff would carry over into the 1888 presidential election . Foreign policy , 1885 – 1889 . Cleveland was a committed non - interventionist who had campaigned in opposition to expansion and imperialism . He refused to promote the previous administration ' s Nicaragua canal treaty , and generally was less of an expansionist in foreign relations . Cleveland ' s Secretary of State , Thomas F . Bayard , negotiated with Joseph Chamberlain of the United Kingdom over fishing rights in the waters off Canada , and struck a conciliatory note , despite the opposition of New England ' s Republican Senators . Cleveland also withdrew from Senate consideration the Berlin Conference treaty which guaranteed an open door for U . S . interests in the Congo . Civil rights . Cleveland , like a growing number of Northerners ( and nearly all white Southerners ) saw Reconstruction as a failed experiment , and was reluctant to use federal power to enforce the 15th Amendment of the U . S . Constitution , which guaranteed voting rights to African Americans . Cleveland initially appointed no black Americans to patronage jobs , but did allow Frederick Douglass to continue in his post as recorder of deeds in Washington , D . C . When Douglass later resigned , Cleveland appointed another black man to replace him . Although Cleveland had condemned the " outrages " against Chinese immigrants , he believed that Chinese immigrants were unwilling to assimilate into white society . Secretary of State Bayard negotiated an extension to the Chinese Exclusion Act , and Cleveland lobbied the Congress to pass the Scott Act , written by Congressman William Lawrence Scott , which would prevent Chinese immigrants who left the United States from returning . The Scott Act easily passed both houses of Congress , and Cleveland signed it into law on October 1 , 1888 . Indian policy . Cleveland viewed Native Americans as wards of the state , saying in his first inaugural address that " [ t ] his guardianship involves , on our part , efforts for the improvement of their condition and enforcement of their rights . " He encouraged the idea of cultural assimilation , pushing for the passage of the Dawes Act , which provided for distribution of Indian lands to individual members of tribes , rather than having them continued to be held in trust for the tribes by the federal government . While a conference of Native leaders endorsed the act , in practice the majority of Native Americans disapproved of it . Cleveland believed the Dawes Act would lift Native Americans out of poverty and encourage their assimilation into white society , but its ultimate effect was to weaken the tribal governments and allow individual Indians to sell land and keep the money . In the month before Cleveland ' s 1885 inauguration , President Arthur opened four million acres of Winnebago and Crow Creek Indian lands in the Dakota Territory to white settlement by executive order . Tens of thousands of settlers gathered at the border of these lands and prepared to take possession of them . Cleveland believed Arthur ' s order to be in violation of treaties with the tribes , and rescinded it on April 17 of that year , ordering the settlers out of the territory . Cleveland sent in Eighteenth Army troops to enforce the treaties and ordered General Philip Sheridan to investigate the matter . Marriage and children . Cleveland entered the White House as a bachelor . His sister , Rose Cleveland , moved into the White House and acted as hostess for the first two years of his administration . In 1885 the daughter of Cleveland ' s friend Oscar Folsom visited him in Washington . Frances Folsom was a student at Wells College ; when she returned to school , President Cleveland received her mother ' s permission to correspond with her . They were soon engaged to be married . On June 2 , 1886 , Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room at the White House . He was the second president to marry while in office , and the only president to have a wedding in the White House . This marriage was unusual because Cleveland was the executor of Oscar Folsom ' s estate and had supervised Frances ' upbringing after her father ' s death , but the public did not take exception to the match . At twenty - one years old , Frances Folsom Cleveland remains the youngest First Lady , and the public soon warmed to her beauty and warm personality . The Clevelands had five children : Ruth ( 1891 – 1904 ) ; Esther ( 1893 – 1980 ) ; Marion ( 1895 – 1977 ) ; Richard Folsom ( 1897 – 1974 ) ; and Francis Grover ( 1903 – 1995 ) . British philosopher Philippa Foot was their granddaughter . Judicial appointments . Supreme Court appointments . During his first term , Cleveland successfully appointed two justices to the Supreme Court of the United States . The first , Lucius Q . C . Lamar , was a former Mississippi Senator then serving in Cleveland ' s Cabinet as Interior Secretary . When William Burnham Woods died , Cleveland nominated Lamar to his seat in late 1887 . While Lamar had been well liked as a Senator , his service under the Confederacy two decades earlier caused many Republicans to vote against him . Lamar ' s nomination was confirmed by the narrow margin of 32 to 28 . Chief Justice Morrison Waite died a few months later , and Cleveland nominated Melville Fuller to his seat on April 30 , 1888 . Cleveland had previously offered to nominate Fuller to the Civil Service Commission , but Fuller had declined to leave his Chicago law practice . Fuller accepted the Supreme Court nomination , and the Senate Judiciary Committee spent several months examining the little - known nominee . The Senate confirmed the nomination 41 to 20 . Other judicial appointments . Cleveland appointed a total of 45 federal judges . In addition to his four Supreme Court appointments , these included two judges to the United States circuit court s , nine judges to the United States Courts of Appeals , and 30 judges to the United States district courts . Because Cleveland served terms both before and after Congress eliminated the circuit courts in favor of the Courts of Appeals , he is one of only two presidents to have appointed judges to both bodies . The other , Benjamin Harrison , was in office at the time that the change was made . Thus , all of Cleveland ' s appointments to the circuit courts were made in his first term , and all of his appointments to the Courts of Appeals were made in his second . Election of 1888 and return to private life . Defeated by Harrison . The debate over tariff reduction continued into the 1888 presidential campaign . The Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison of Indiana for president and Levi P . Morton of New York for vice president . Cleveland was easily renominated at the Democratic convention in St . Louis . Vice President Hendricks died in 1885 , so the Democrats chose Allen G . Thurman of Ohio to be Cleveland ' s running mate . The Republicans campaigned heavily on the tariff issue , turning out protectionist voters in the important industrial states of the North . Further , the Democrats in New York were divided over the gubernatorial candidacy of David B . Hill , weakening Cleveland ' s support in that swing state . As in 1884 , the election focused on the swing states of New York , New Jersey , Connecticut , and Indiana . Unlike that year , when Cleveland triumphed in all four , in 1888 he won only two , losing his home state of New York by 14 , 373 votes . More notoriously , the Republicans were victorious in Indiana , largely as the result of fraud . Republican victory in that state , where Cleveland lost by just 2 , 348 votes , was sufficient to propel Harrison to victory , despite his loss of the nationwide popular vote . Cleveland continued his duties diligently until the end of the term and began to look forward to return to private life . Private citizen for four years . As Frances Cleveland left the White House , she told a staff member , " Now , Jerry , I want you to take good care of all the furniture and ornaments in the house , for I want to find everything just as it is now , when we come back again . " When asked when she would return , she responded , " We are coming back four years from today . " In the meantime , the Clevelands moved to New York City where Cleveland took a position with the law firm of Bangs , Stetson , Tracy , and MacVeigh , a predecessor to the present - day firm Davis Polk & Wardwell . Cleveland ' s income with the firm was not high , but neither were his duties especially onerous . While they lived in New York , the Clevelands ' first child , Ruth , was born in 1891 . The Harrison administration worked with Congress to pass the McKinley Tariff and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act , two policies Cleveland deplored as dangerous to the nation ' s financial health . At first he refrained from criticizing his successor , but by 1891 Cleveland felt compelled to speak out , addressing his concerns in an open letter to a meeting of reformers in New York . The " silver letter " thrust Cleveland ' s name back into the spotlight just as the 1892 election was approaching . Election of 1892 . Democratic nomination . Cleveland ' s stature as an ex - president and recent pronouncements on the monetary issues made him a leading contender for the Democratic nomination . His leading opponent was David B . Hill , who was by that time a Senator for New York . Hill united the anti - Cleveland elements of the Democratic party — silverites , protectionists , and Tammany Hall — but was unable to create a coalition large enough to deny Cleveland the nomination . Despite some desperate maneuvering by Hill , Cleveland was nominated on the first ballot at the convention in Chicago . For vice president , the Democrats chose to balance the ticket with Adlai E . Stevenson of Illinois , a silverite . Although the Cleveland forces preferred Isaac P . Gray of Indiana for vice president , they accepted the convention favorite . As a supporter of using greenbacks and Free Silver to inflate the currency and alleviate economic distress in the rural districts , Stevenson balanced the ticket headed by Cleveland , the hard - money , gold - standard supporter . Campaign against Harrison . The Republicans re - nominated President Harrison , making the 1892 election a rematch of the one four years earlier . Unlike the turbulent and controversial elections of 1876 , 1884 and 1888 , the 1892 election was , according to Cleveland biographer Allan Nevins , " the cleanest , quietest , and most creditable in the memory of the post - war generation " , in part because Harrison ' s wife , Caroline , was dying of tuberculosis . Harrison did not personally campaign at all . Following Caroline Harrison ' s death on October 25 , two weeks before the national election , Cleveland and all of the other candidates stopped campaigning , thus making Election Day a somber and quiet event for the whole country as well as the candidates . The issue of the tariff had worked to the Republicans ' advantage in 1888 , but the revisions of the past four years had made imported goods so expensive that now many voters shifted to the reform position . Many westerners , traditionally Republican voters , defected to James Weaver , the candidate of the new Populist Party . Weaver promised Free Silver , generous veterans ' pensions , and an eight - hour work day . Finally , the Tammany Hall Democrats adhered to the national ticket , allowing a united Democratic party to carry New York . The end result was a victory for Cleveland by wide margins in both the popular and electoral votes , and it was Cleveland ' s third consecutive popular vote plurality win . Second term as president ( 1893 – 1897 ) . Economic panic and the silver issue . Shortly after Cleveland ' s second term began , the Panic of 1893 struck the stock market , and he soon faced an acute economic depression . The panic was worsened by the acute shortage of gold that resulted from the increased coinage of silver , and Cleveland called Congress into session early to deal with the problem . The debate over the coinage was as heated as ever , but the effects of the panic had driven more moderates to support repealing the coinage provisions of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act . Even so , the silverites rallied their following at a convention in Chicago , and the House of Representatives debated for fifteen weeks before passing the repeal by a considerable margin . In the Senate , the repeal of silver coinage was equally contentious , but Cleveland convinced enough Democrats to stand by him that they , along with eastern Republicans , formed a 48 – 37 majority . With the passage of the repeal , depletion of the Treasury ' s gold reserves continued , but at a lesser rate and subsequent bond issues replenished supplies of gold . At the time the repeal seemed a minor setback to silverites , but it marked the beginning of the end of silver as a basis for American currency . Tariff reform . Having succeeded in reversing the Harrison administration ' s silver policy , Cleveland sought next to reverse the effects of the McKinley tariff . What would become the Wilson - Gorman Tariff Act was introduced by West Virginian Representative William L . Wilson in December 1893 . After lengthy debate , the bill passed the House by a considerable margin . The bill proposed moderate downward revisions in the tariff , especially on raw materials . The shortfall in revenue was to be made up by an income tax of two percent on income above $ 4 , 000 ( US $ in present terms ) . The bill was next considered in the Senate , where opposition was stronger . Cleveland faced opposition from key Democrats led by Arthur Pue Gorman of Maryland , who insisted on more protection for their states ' industries than the Wilson bill allowed . Morgan and Hill voted partly out of a personal enmity toward Cleveland . By the time the bill passed the Senate , it had more than 600 amendments attached that nullified most of the reforms . The Sugar Trust in particular lobbied for changes that favored it at the expense of the consumer . Cleveland was outraged with the final bill , and denounced it as a disgraceful product of the control of the Senate by trusts and business interests . Even so , he believed it was an improvement over the McKinley tariff and allowed it to become law without his signature . Voting rights . In 1892 , Cleveland had campaigned against the Force Bill , a bill which would have strengthened the voting rights protections of the Enforcement Act of 1871 . " The 1871 Act ( ch . 99 , 16 Stat . 433 ) provided for a detailed federal supervision of the electoral process , from registration to the certification of returns . It was repealed in 1894 ( ch . 25 , 28 Stat . 36 ) . " The pendulum thus swung from attempting to protect voting rights more strongly to repealing protections of voting rights ; this swing in turn led to unsuccessful attempts to have the federal courts protect voting rights in " Giles v . Harris " , 189 U . S . 475 ( 1903 ) , and " Giles v . Teasley " , 193 U . S . 146 ( 1904 ) . Labor unrest . The Panic of 1893 had damaged labor conditions across the United States , and the victory of anti - silver legislation worsened the mood of western laborers . A group of workingmen led by Jacob S . Coxey began to march east toward Washington , D . C . to protest Cleveland ' s policies . This group , known as Coxey ' s Army , agitated in favor of a national roads program to give jobs to workingmen , and a weakened currency to help farmers pay their debts . By the time they reached Washington , only a few hundred remained , and when they were arrested the next day for walking on the grass of the United States Capitol , the group scattered . Coxey ' s Army was never a threat to the government , but it showed a growing dissatisfaction in the West with Eastern monetary policies . Pullman Strike . The Pullman Strike had a significantly greater impact than Coxey ' s Army . A strike began against the Pullman Company over low wages and twelve - hour workdays , and sympathy strikes , led by American Railway Union leader Eugene V . Debs , soon followed . By June 1894 , 125 , 000 railroad workers were on strike , paralyzing the nation ' s commerce . Because the railroads carried the mail , and because several of the affected lines were in federal receivership , Cleveland believed a federal solution was appropriate . Cleveland obtained an injunction in federal court , and when the strikers refused to obey it , he sent in federal troops to Chicago and 20 other rail centers . " If it takes the entire army and navy of the United States to deliver a postcard in Chicago , " he proclaimed , " that card will be delivered . " Most governors supported Cleveland except Democrat John P . Altgeld of Illinois , who became his bitter foe in 1896 . Leading newspapers of both parties applauded Cleveland ' s actions , but the use of troops hardened the attitude of organized labor toward his administration . Just before the 1894 election , Cleveland was warned by an advisor : The warning was appropriate , for the Republicans won their biggest landslide in decades , taking full control of the House , while the Populists lost most of their support . However , Cleveland ' s factional enemies gained control of the Democratic Party in state after state , including full control in Illinois and Michigan , and made major gains in Ohio , Indiana , Iowa and other states . Wisconsin and Massachusetts were two of the few states that remained under the control of Cleveland ' s allies . The opposition Democrats were close to controlling two thirds of the vote at the 1896 national convention , which they needed to nominate their own candidate . They were not united , however , and had no national leader , as Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld had been born in Germany and was ineligible to be nominated for president . Foreign policy , 1893 – 1897 . Hawaii . When Cleveland took office he faced the question of Hawaiian annexation . In his first term , Cleveland had supported free trade with Hawai ' i and accepted an amendment that gave the United States a coaling and naval station in Pearl Harbor . In the intervening four years , Honolulu businessmen of European and American ancestry had denounced Queen Liliuokalani as a tyrant who rejected constitutional government ; in early 1893 they overthrew her , set up a republican government under Sanford B . Dole , and sought to join the United States . The Harrison administration had quickly agreed with representatives of the new government on a treaty of annexation and submitted it to the Senate for approval . Five days after taking office on March 9 , 1893 , Cleveland withdrew the treaty from the Senate and sent former Congressman James Henderson Blount to Hawai ' i to investigate the conditions there . Cleveland agreed with Blount ' s report , which found the populace to be opposed to annexation . Liliuokalani initially refused to grant amnesty as a condition of her reinstatement , saying that she would either execute or banish the current government in Honolulu , and Dole ' s government refused to yield their position . By December 1893 , the matter was still unresolved , and Cleveland referred the issue to Congress . In his message to Congress , Cleveland rejected the idea of annexation and encouraged the Congress to continue the American tradition of non - intervention ( see excerpt at right ) . The Senate , under Democratic control but hostile to Cleveland , produced the Morgan Report , which contradicted Blount ' s findings and found the overthrow was a completely internal affair . Cleveland dropped all talk of reinstating the Queen , and went on to recognize and maintain diplomatic relations with the new Republic of Hawaii . Venezuela : crisis with Britain . Closer to home , Cleveland adopted a broad interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine that did not simply forbid new European colonies , but declared an American interest in any matter within the hemisphere . When Britain and Venezuela disagreed over the boundary between the latter nation and the colony of British Guiana , Cleveland and Secretary of State Richard Olney protested . British prime minister Lord Salisbury and the British ambassador to Washington , Julian Pauncefote misjudged the importance the American government placed on the dispute , prolonging the crisis before ultimately accepting the American demand for arbitration . A tribunal convened in Paris in 1898 to decide the matter , and in 1899 awarded the bulk of the disputed territory to British Guiana . By standing with a Latin American nation against the encroachment of a colonial power , Cleveland improved relations with the United States ' southern neighbors , but the cordial manner in which the negotiations were conducted also made for good relations with Britain . Cancer . In the midst of the fight for repeal of Free Silver coinage in 1893 , Cleveland sought the advice of the White House doctor , Dr . O ' Reilly , about soreness on the roof of his mouth and a crater - like edge ulcer with a granulated surface on the left side of Cleveland ' s hard palate . Samples of the tumor were sent anonymously to the army medical museum . The diagnosis was not a malignant cancer , but instead an " epithelioma " . Cleveland decided to have surgery secretly , to avoid further panic that might worsen the financial depression . The surgery occurred on July 1 , to give Cleveland time to make a full recovery in time for the upcoming Congressional session . Under the guise of a vacation cruise , Cleveland and his surgeon , Dr . Joseph Bryant , left for New York . The surgeons operated aboard the " Oneida " , a yacht owned by Cleveland ' s friend E . C . Benedict , as it sailed off Long Island . The surgery was conducted through the president ' s mouth , to avoid any scars or other signs of surgery . The team , sedating Cleveland with nitrous oxide and ether , successfully removed parts of his upper left jaw and hard palate . The size of the tumor and the extent of the operation left Cleveland ' s mouth disfigured . During another surgery , Cleveland was fitted with a hard rubber dental prosthesis that corrected his speech and restored his appearance . A cover story about the removal of two bad teeth kept the suspicious press placated . Even when a newspaper story appeared giving details of the actual operation , the participating surgeons discounted the severity of what transpired during Cleveland ' s vacation . In 1917 , one of the surgeons present on the " Oneida , " Dr . William W . Keen , wrote an article detailing the operation . Cleveland enjoyed many years of life after the tumor was removed , and there was some debate as to whether it was actually malignant . Several doctors , including Dr . Keen , stated after Cleveland ' s death that the tumor was a carcinoma . Other suggestions included ameloblastoma or a benign salivary mixed tumor ( also known as a pleomorphic adenoma ) . In the 1980s , analysis of the specimen finally confirmed the tumor to be verrucous carcinoma , a low - grade epithelial cancer with a low potential for metastasis . Judicial appointments . Cleveland ' s trouble with the Senate hindered the success of his nominations to the Supreme Court in his second term . In 1893 , after the death of Samuel Blatchford , Cleveland nominated William B . Hornblower to the Court . Hornblower , the head of a New York City law firm , was thought to be a qualified appointee , but his campaign against a New York machine politician had made Senator David B . Hill his enemy . Further , Cleveland had not consulted the Senators before naming his appointee , leaving many who were already opposed to Cleveland on other grounds even more aggrieved . The Senate rejected Hornblower ' s nomination on January 15 , 1894 , by a vote of 30 to 24 . Cleveland continued to defy the Senate by next appointing Wheeler Hazard Peckham another New York attorney who had opposed Hill ' s machine in that state . Hill used all of his influence to block Peckham ' s confirmation , and on February 16 , 1894 , the Senate rejected the nomination by a vote of 32 to 41 . Reformers urged Cleveland to continue the fight against Hill and to nominate Frederic R . Coudert , but Cleveland acquiesced in an inoffensive choice , that of Senator Edward Douglass White of Louisiana , whose nomination was accepted unanimously . Later , in 1896 , another vacancy on the Court led Cleveland to consider Hornblower again , but he declined to be nominated . Instead , Cleveland nominated Rufus Wheeler Peckham , the brother of Wheeler Hazard Peckham , and the Senate confirmed the second Peckham easily . States admitted to the Union . In Cleveland ' s first term , no new states had been admitted in more than a decade , owing to Congressional Democrats ' reluctance to admit states that they believed would send Republican members . When Harrison took office , he and the Republican Congress admitted six states — North Dakota , South Dakota , Montana , Washington , Idaho , and Wyoming — all of which were expected to send Republican delegations . Utah , however , was believed to be Democratic . This , combined with uncertainty about Mormon polygamy ( disavowed in 1890 ) , led it to be excluded from the new states . When Cleveland won election to a second term , he and the Democratic majority in the 53rd United States Congress passed an Enabling Act in 1894 that permitted Utah to apply for statehood . Utah joined the Union on January 4 , 1896 . 1896 election and retirement . Cleveland ' s agrarian and silverite enemies gained control of the Democratic party in 1896 , repudiated his administration and the gold standard , and nominated William Jennings Bryan on a Silver Platform . Cleveland silently supported the Gold Democrats ' third - party ticket that promised to defend the gold standard , limit government , and oppose high tariffs , but declined to accept their nomination for a third term . The party won only 100 , 000 votes in the general election , and William McKinley , the Republican nominee , triumphed easily over Bryan . Agrarians would later nominate Bryan again in 1900 , but in 1904 the conservatives , with Cleveland ' s support , regained control of the Democratic Party and nominated Alton B . Parker . After leaving the White House on March 4 , 1897 , Cleveland lived in retirement at his estate , Westland Mansion , in Princeton , New Jersey . For a time he was a trustee of Princeton University , and was one of the majority of trustees who preferred Dean West ' s plans for the Graduate School and undergraduate living over those of Woodrow Wilson , then president of the university . Cleveland consulted occasionally with President Theodore Roosevelt ( 1901 – 1909 ) , but was financially unable to accept the chairmanship of the commission handling the Coal Strike of 1902 . Cleveland still made his views known in political matters . In a 1905 article in " The Ladies Home Journal , " Cleveland weighed in on the women ' s suffrage movement , writing that " 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 . " Cleveland ' s health had been declining for several years , and in the autumn of 1907 he fell seriously ill . In 1908 , he suffered a heart attack and died . His last words were " I have tried so hard to do right . " He is buried in the Princeton Cemetery of the Nassau Presbyterian Church . Honors and memorials . In his first term in office , Cleveland sought a summer house to escape the heat and smells of Washington , D . C . , but needed to remain near the capital . Acting in secret , he located a house , Oak View ( or Oak Hill ) , in a rural upland part of the District of Columbia , and bought it in 1886 . Although he sold Oak View upon leaving the White House ( the first time ) , the area became known as Cleveland Park , which name it still bears . The Clevelands are depicted in local murals . Grover Cleveland Hall at Buffalo State College in Buffalo , New York . Cleveland Hall houses the offices of the college president , vice presidents , and other administrative functions and student services . Cleveland was a member of the first board of directors of the then Buffalo Normal School . Grover Cleveland Middle School in his birthplace , Caldwell , New Jersey , was named for him , as is Grover Cleveland High School in Buffalo , New York , and the town of Cleveland , Mississippi . Mount Cleveland , a volcano in Alaska , is also named after him . In 1895 he became the first U . S . President who was filmed . Cleveland ' s portrait was on the U . S . $ 1000 bill of series 1928 and series 1934 . He also appeared on the first few issues of the $ 20 Federal Reserve Note s from 1914 . Since he was both the 22nd and 24th president , he was featured on two separate dollar coins released in 2012 as part of the Presidential $ 1 Coin Act of 2005 . In 2006 , Free New York , a nonprofit and nonpartisan research group , began raising funds to purchase the former Fairfield Library in Buffalo , New York and transform it into the Grover Cleveland Presidential Library & Museum .