President Grover Cleveland Biography
Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and the 24th president of the United States. He was born on March 18, 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey. His father died when he was 16 years old. In school, Cleveland was an average student, but had aspirations to go to college. However, this did not materialize as his father died. Therefore, at the age of 16, Cleveland was forced to find a job and work. |
He worked for a year in New York City, and then decided to go west. However, he made it only to Buffalo where he lived with his uncle. It was at this time that Cleveland showed a desire to study law. So, his uncle made arrangements for him to enroll in a college.
In 1887, Cleveland was elected as the governor of the state of New York. In 1884, he was selected as the Democrat presidential candidate and he won the election. This was the first time in 28 years that a Democrat had been elected president. The victory was not easy for Cleveland because he was not very well known throughout the country. However, people got to know when he took office and showed results.
As the president, Cleveland was responsible for establishing the Interstate Commerce Commission to keep a check on railroad rates, and to fix a limit on the rates. In addition, he advocated a reduction in tariff rates but he was not successful in this as many of his own party members were against this. Cleveland also embarked on modernization of the US navy and canceling any construction contract that built inferior quality ships for the navy.
He is also famous for using his power of veto more than any other president in the history of American politics. He was also responsible for making gold the standard for currency exchange, a decision that was not very popular among both the Democrats and the Republicans.
His downfall in after the first term in office came because of tariff reduction. In 1884, Cleveland narrowly lost the presidential election to Benjamin Harrison. However, four years later, he was again nominated by the Democrats and this time round Cleveland defeated Harrison, who did not campaign as his wife was dying of tuberculosis.
Hardly into his second term as president, the Panic of 1893 started with the crash of the stock market. The country went into an economic depression. The unemployment soared. While trying to tackle all the problems caused due to recession, Cleveland was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth. He underwent a surgery in secrecy to ensure that it would not cause further panic in the stock market.
As the 1896 election neared, the Democrats wanted Cleveland to run for another term. However, he decided not to. After finishing his term in office, he retired to his estate in New Jersey.
In 1907, Cleveland fell grievously ill, and then in 1908 he had a heart attack and died as a result. He was buried in Princeton Cemetery.
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