Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland’s first term made him the 22nd president. He served from 1885 to 1889. He was a Democrat from New York — mayor of Buffalo, then governor, then president. People called the big man Uncle Jumbo. He was the first Democrat elected president after the Civil War. From Lincoln through Arthur, Republicans had held the White House; Cleveland broke that streak in 1884. His motto was “A public office is a public trust.” He meant the job belongs to the people, not to the man holding it.

He treated the White House as a job with rules — honesty first — not a prize to hand to friends. He was called a veto king because he vetoed more bills than all the presidents before him combined. He said no to many private bills, including pension bills he thought were unfair or fraudulent uses of public money. In 1887 he signed the Interstate Commerce Act, which began federal rules for railroads that crossed state lines. In 1886 France’s gift, the Statue of Liberty, was dedicated in New York Harbor. That same year he married Frances Folsom at the White House — the only president to wed there.

Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks died in 1885, and the vice presidency stayed vacant. In 1888 Cleveland won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College to Benjamin Harrison. He came back and won in 1892. That is why we also call him the 24th president: he served two terms that were not in a row. A president can lose, leave, and be elected again later. Term 22 is chapter one of that story.