The New York World endorsed him for 4 reasons, according to its publisher, Joseph Pulitzer: "1. He is an honest man. 2. He is an honest man. 3. He is an honest man. 4. He is an honest man." How honest was he? He managed to win public offices in the State of New York despite resisting the efforts of Tammany Hall, the State's Manhattan-based Democratic political machine.
At the Democratic Convention in Chicago, Representative Edward S. Bragg of Wisconsin, who had been a Union General during the Civil War, told the delegates, "They love him, gentlemen, and they respect him, not only for himself, for his character, for his integrity and judgment and iron will. But they love him most of all for the enemies he has made."
Apparently, he made enemies at the Buffalo Evening Telegraph. On July 21, that newspaper published a story that he had fathered a child out of wedlock, institutionalizing the mother to keep her quiet, and putting the kid up for adoption. Republicans began singing, "Ma! Ma! Where's my Pa?" And political cartoons lampooned the father/mother/son relationship.
Note the "Grover the Good" tag on Cleveland's coat,
as the kid screams, "I want my Pa!"
Presumably, irony on the part of the artist.
Cleveland's advisers asked him what to do. He said, "Above all, tell the truth." Given that this answer was completely vague, they did the wisest possible thing with it: They said nothing, and let the charge flow, implying that it was true.
In contrast, the Republican nominee was, as the song went, "Blaine! Blaine! James G. Blaine! The continental liar from the State of Maine!" At 54, he was a U.S. Senator, and had been Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Secretary of State under President James Garfield. Indeed, he was standing next to Garfield when he was shot. Had shooter Charles Guiteau's aim been a little off, Garfield would likely have been running for re-election against Cleveland, and, without Blaine's many scandals (which had nothing to do with Garfield), Garfield might have won easily.
James Gillespie Blaine
In spite of Blaine being, most likely, the American politician who had the most of what would now be called "political IOUs," many Republicans really wanted General William Tecumseh Sherman, hero of the Civil War, and brother of an 1880 candidate, Senator John Sherman of Ohio. He flat-out refused: "I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected." What became known as a "Shermaneseque Declaration" is sometimes incorrectly written as, "If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve."
William Tecumseh Sherman, circa 1884
Cleveland's Vice Presidential nominee was Thomas A. Hendricks, who served Indiana as Governor and in both houses of Congress, and had been Samuel Tilden's Vice Presidential nominee in 1876. Blaine's running mate was John A. Logan, a Civil War General and a U.S. Senator from Illinois.
Mark Twain, the most popular author in America, was weeks away from publishing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He was well-known to be a Republican, but, this time, he was one of the "Mugwumps": Republicans supporting Cleveland, because, for them, Blaine's corruption had gone too far. He said:
This present campaign is too delicious for anything. To see grown men, apparently in their right mind, seriously arguing against a bachelor's fitness for President because he has had private intercourse with a consenting widow! These grown men know what the bachelor's other alternative was -- & tacitly they seem to prefer that to the widow. Isn't human nature the most consummate sham & lie that was ever invented?
Moorfield Storey, a prominent Boston lawyer who later served as President of the American Bar Association, and as the 1st President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (though he was white), noted:
We are told that Mr. Blaine has been delinquent in office but blameless in private life; while Mr. Cleveland has been a model of official integrity, but culpable in his personal relations. We should therefore elect Mr. Cleveland to the public office which he is so well qualified to fill, and remand Mr. Blaine to the private station which he is admirably fitted to adorn.
(Historians seem to disagree on whether Blaine was faithful to this wife, Harriet Stanwood.)
On October 29, 6 days before the election, Blaine had attended a dinner at the famed Delmonico's restaurant in Lower Manhattan. One of the speakers, a Presbyterian minister named Samuel Burchard, called the Democrats "the Party of Rum, Romanism and Rebellion!"
In other words: They were against the movement for the Prohibition of alcohol, they had great support among Roman Catholics (and thus, it was believed, would be puppets of the Pope in a country dominated by Protestants), and supported slavery and the South during the Civil War.
That line hit the newspapers, including Pulitzer's World. If Rev. Burchard intended it as a hit piece, what would now be called an "October Surprise," it backfired completely: It cost Blaine the State of New York, which had a lot of Catholic and anti-Prohibition voters, and was wobbling on Cleveland, even though he had been popular as Governor and as Mayor of Buffalo.
And the speech hitting the papers made all the difference: By winning New York, Cleveland took the Electoral Vote, 219 to 182. He won just 48.9 percent of the popular vote, to Blaine's 48.3. In fact, Cleveland ran for President 3 times, and won the popular vote all 3 times (though he lost the Electoral Vote in 1888, winning it again in 1892), but on none of those occasions did he win a majority of it.
When Cleveland was beaten in 1888, under dubious circumstances, his opponent, Benjamin Harrison, returned Blaine to the State Department, but he resigned due to ill health in 1892, and died just before the term ended in 1893.
When Cleveland was beaten in 1888, under dubious circumstances, his opponent, Benjamin Harrison, returned Blaine to the State Department, but he resigned due to ill health in 1892, and died just before the term ended in 1893.
Had Burchard -- not related to another Republican activist by that name, a Congressman from Wisconsin -- kept his mouth shut at that dinner late in the 1884 campaign, Blaine would have become the 22nd President of the United States, and Cleveland would only be remembered for, "Ma! Ma! Where's my Pa?" Instead, the Democrats' answer was, "Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!"
So what was the truth? In 1874, between offices and in private law practice (he had been Sheriff, but not yet Mayor), Cleveland paid child support for Maria Halpin and her son, named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Maria was, apparently, mentally ill, and was indeed institutionalized, though there is no evidence that it was on Cleveland's request. The boy was adopted, was given the name James E. King Jr., and became a doctor like his adoptive father.
The thing was, in those days, long before DNA or even blood tests would have shed some light on the subject, Grover Cleveland was not the only possible father. Another possible father was Cleveland's law partner, whose name was... Oscar Folsom. But of the several possible fathers, Cleveland was the only one who was not married at the time, and thus would be the one least scandalized if the story got out -- or so he thought.
By today's standards, we would find what Cleveland did next to be much worse: He married Frances Folsom, the daughter of Oscar Folsom, who had died and left her guardianship to him. She was 21 when they married in 1886, making her easily the youngest First Lady ever (next is Julia Tyler, 24), and their wedding ceremony was the 1st ever held in the White House itself.
Cleveland statue at Buffalo City Hall
So what was the truth? In 1874, between offices and in private law practice (he had been Sheriff, but not yet Mayor), Cleveland paid child support for Maria Halpin and her son, named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Maria was, apparently, mentally ill, and was indeed institutionalized, though there is no evidence that it was on Cleveland's request. The boy was adopted, was given the name James E. King Jr., and became a doctor like his adoptive father.
The thing was, in those days, long before DNA or even blood tests would have shed some light on the subject, Grover Cleveland was not the only possible father. Another possible father was Cleveland's law partner, whose name was... Oscar Folsom. But of the several possible fathers, Cleveland was the only one who was not married at the time, and thus would be the one least scandalized if the story got out -- or so he thought.
By today's standards, we would find what Cleveland did next to be much worse: He married Frances Folsom, the daughter of Oscar Folsom, who had died and left her guardianship to him. She was 21 when they married in 1886, making her easily the youngest First Lady ever (next is Julia Tyler, 24), and their wedding ceremony was the 1st ever held in the White House itself.
But as icky as their relationship sounds, it lasted for the rest of his life, until 1908. Grover and Frances Cleveland had 5 children: Ruth, Esther, Marion, Richard and Francis. Ruth was not, as the legend says, the namesake of the Baby Ruth candy bar. She died of diphtheria at age 12. The rest all lived until at least 1974, and Francis lived until 1995, 111 years after his father was first elected President. (It would be as if, in 2022, a child of Woodrow Wilson were still alive, or if Malia or Sasha Obama were to live until 2119.)
Rev. Burchard died in 1891, Blaine in 1893, and Harrison in 1901. Frances Cleveland died in 1947 -- as did Oscar Folsom Cleveland/Dr. James E. King Jr.
Cleveland and the other President who lived most of his life in Buffalo, Millard Fillmore, both have statues in front of City Hall, facing Niagara Square. The Square's centerpiece is the McKinley Monument, a memorial to President William McKinley, who was assassinated there.
There are high schools named for Cleveland in his birthplace of Caldwell, New Jersey; in Ridgewood, Queens, New York City; in his adopted hometown of Buffalo, New York; and in St. Louis, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle. In 1928 and 1934, gold certificates standing in for $1,000 bills were issued with Cleveland's portrait. These would be America's last bills with a value above $100.
Cleveland remains the only President born in New Jersey, although he lived most of his life in New York State, before returning to New Jersey, to Princeton, where he lived his post-Presidential life.
Cleveland has been played by Stuart Holmes in The Monroe Doctrine and The Oklahoma Kid, both in 1939; William Davidson in Lillian Russell in 1940; Carroll O'Connor in Profiles in Courage in 1965; Pat McCormick in Buffalo Bill and the Indians in 1976; A.J. Freeman in Timestalkers in 1987; and Richard Herd in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. in 1994.
William Hoke Smith, usually known by his middle name, served as Secretary of the Interior during Cleveland's 2nd term. Hoke Smith was publisher of the Atlanta Journal, the South's largest newspaper, and promoted Cleveland's candidacy in 1892. So the Cabinet appointment was basically a payoff for his support, something that seems out of character for Cleveland. Smith was a progressive on many issues, but, like most major Southern politicians of his time, he was a white supremacist. He turned out to be the last surviving member of Cleveland's Cabinet, living until 1931.
*
November 4, 1884 was a Tuesday. The baseball season was over. There were no college football games played that day. Hockey was still all-amateur and all in Canada. And basketball hadn't been invented yet. So there were no scores on this historic day.
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