Finally defeating Benjamin Harrison on his second attempt, Grover Cleveland returned to the White House, but times had changed.

As Grover Cleveland returned to the White House after a four year absense (making him the only President in American History to have served two non-consecutive terms), he faced a nation which was still facing the same issues that had been most prevalent when he left.

Where fifty years earlier every Presidential election had practically been decided wholly on the issue of slavery, the end of the Civil War had brought the public consciousness around to the issue of the economy. Consant fluctuations in the markets left many feeling uneasy and desing a more steadfast economic policy.

To Cleveland and the Democrats, this meant fighting inflation by installing a policy of "hard money" to the national economy. His opponents, however, including his two-time opponent Benjamin Harrison and the Republican Party, favored an inflationist policy of silver coinage, which they hoped would stimulate the economy.

Also on the economic horizon was the issue of the high protective tariff, which had been the most important part of Harrison's first campaign. During his time in office he had passed two major economic bills - the McKinnley Teriff Act and the Sherman Silver Act

Another Panic

It was this last act, that which forced the government to buy more silver each month - silver which could be purchased by consumers with notes. However, these notes could also be used to buy gold, which is what most consumers did, thus depleting the nation's gold reserves to dangerous levels.

Fortunately for Grover Cleveland, he had been ardently opposed to this measure, and had said as much prior to his renomination for the Presidency. Unfortunately, however, by the time he had arrived in office it already seemed too late.

The panic of 1893 hit the nation hard, resulting in one out of ten banks closing down, lower railroad construction, intense labor unrest throughout the nation, and the worst depression the nation had ever seen.

Cleveland did not believe that the depression could be solved by any federal intervention, though he did respond in part by sending federal troops to some centers of striking railroad workers in order to keep the peace.

Mostly, however, Cleveland's response to the economic crisis was to blame the Sherman Silver Act and the Republicans. As a result, the depression lasted throughout his entire term in office, causing the democrats to lose terribly in the off-year election of 1894, and giving the White House to a Republican in 1896 - William McKinley.

McKinley, a pro-gold, high-tariff Republican faced up against a pro-silver, low tariff Democrat in William Jennings Bryan in a good example of the fact that the debate over "bimetalism" which raged during the final decades of the nineteenth century was not entirely a result of party politics, as both major parties were divided on the issue.

Other Aspects of Cleveland's Presidency

Debate over what to do with the newly-annexed territory of Hawaii also raged during Cleveland's term (Harrison had accepted the takeover of the islands only months before his term expired), though he himself opposed it on the grounds that the Hawaiians themselves did not seem to want to join the union.

During the first year of his Presidency, while he was still dealing with the panic of 1893, Cleveland was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his mouth. In July of that year, under the guise of a vacation, a doctor performed major surgery on Cleveland's mouth on board a yacht off Long Island in New York, removing the tumor and permanently leaving the President disfigured (though they explained that he had merely had to have teeth removed).

It wasn't until 1917 that the full story finally came out regarding what had transpired aboard that yacht.

Cleveland refused to run for a third term in office in 1896, retiring to Princeton, New Jersey, where he was a trustee of Princeton University (under the Presidency of Future U.S. President Woodrow Wilson) and continued to make his political opinions known.

Cleveland died of a heart attack in 1908 and was buried in Princeton. Today, he is generally regarded as having been a President who did some things well, but not others. His rise to power was certainly admirable and expidited, and while he served to strengthen the still hurting southern states and clean up Government corruption to a point, there is not very much one can point to in terms of actual accomplishments.

He was a decent President, but certainly not a great one.

For more information see:

The Rise of Grover Cleveland

President Cleveland's First Term

References:

"Grover Cleveland." American Presidents: An Online Reference Resource.

"Biography of Grover Cleveland." The White House.