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Grover Cleveland stands out from the pack of late nineteenth century presidents in a number of ways. Of all the presidents from Lincoln to Taft, he was the only one elected as a Democrat. From Grant to McKinley, he was the only president who was not a Union veteran. Scanning the photographs of the presidents of this period, Cleveland stands out as the unbearded one. From Lincoln down to the present, Grover Cleveland was the only bachelor elected president, although he remedied his bachelordom once he was in office. And finally, Cleveland was the only president of the late nineteenth century, and in fact the only president in U.S. history, to serve a split term.
Cleveland followed a somewhat unusual path to the White House. He did not serve in Congress or in the president's cabinet, or as a military officer. Early in his career he was a store clerk, teacher, and legal clerk. He also helped to edit a book about cattle. Admitted to the bar, Cleveland spent far more time holding public offices than practicing law. Successively he held the posts of alderman, assistant district attorney, sheriff, and mayor of Buffalo, New York. Finally in 1882 Cleveland was elected governor of New York, which made him prime presidential timber.
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While sheriff of Erie County, Cleveland vowed he would not pass the unpleasant duties on to his subordinates. Accordingly, Cleveland executed several prisoners on the gallows, pulling the lever himself and thus earning himself the nickname The Buffalo Hangman.
Cleveland's split-term odyssey began when he defeated James G. Blaine in 1884, thus winning a first term for himself. The race was a fairly close one, and if Blaine had managed to carry New York he would have won. Some writers believe the Republicans lost the Empire State after a Republican speaker criticized the Democratic Party as the party of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion." When Blaine did not immediately disavow the remark, several thousand New York voters switched sides rather than vote for a perceived religious bigot.
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In running for reelection in 1888, Cleveland won in the popular vote, but lost in the electoral college to his Republican opponent Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland thus had to move out of the White House, but he and his new bride vowed that they would return. Sure enough, in the 1892 rematch between Cleveland and Harrison, Cleveland won both the popular and electoral votes, and so the Buffalo Hangman returned to the White House. Thus Cleveland is both our 22nd and 24th president.
What is not always recognized is that while Cleveland did serve a split term, actually he won all three of his races, in the popular vote. The vagaries of the electoral college were such, however, that Cleveland was forced into a four-year retirement in 1889.
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In his 1892 campaign, Cleveland vowed that he would give restive farmers two things they had long sought: inflationary silver coinage, and a lowering of the tariff. No sooner had Cleveland taken office, however, than the nation descended into the Panic of 1893. A lower tariff was out of the question as the government's income fell during the depression. Moreover, Cleveland's advisors convinced him that the cause of the depression was the nation's flirtation with silver coinage, and thus Cleveland and the Congress saw to the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. In short, Cleveland had broken his two most important campaign promises.
Democratic farmers denounced Cleveland, and many of them defected the People's Party. The Democratic National Convention of 1896 took the unprecedented step of passing a resolution denouncing the party's own incumbent president. With deep divisions in their party, Democrats were forced to give up the White House, and would not regain it until it was the Republicans' turn to experience a schism (when Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912).
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Department of Agriculture achieves cabinet status
First meeting of the Interstate Commerce Commission
Dedication of the Statue of Liberty
U.S. Army fights Indians in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona
American Federation of Labor Founded
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Panic of 1893 hits the nation hard
The Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago
War breaks out in Cuba as the U.S. looks on
American residents of Hawaii overthrow Queen Liluokalani
Cleveland sends troops to the scene of the Pullman Strike
The first thing to note about Cleveland items is that they do not include pinback buttons. The McKinley-Bryan race of 1896 was the first presidential election to see use of celluloid pinbacks. Still, there are a number of 3/4 and 7/8 inch studs that will look nice in any display of buttons.
Some of these studs include a photograph of the candidate printed directly onto a disk of celluloid. Others, like the stud below, are made of printed cloth attached to metal hardware. "CT" stands for Cleveland-Thurman.
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Cleveland collectors like to try to identify items by date, from the 1884, 1888, or 1892 campaigns. This can be tough to do unless, of course, the item has the date included as part of the design. In the case of jugates, however, identification is fairly easy. Fortunately for the collector, Cleveland had a different running mate in each of his three presidential races. Thus we know any Cleveland Hendricks item is from 1884, Cleveland-Thurmond pieces date from 1888, and Cleveland-Stevenson jugates are 1892 items. The collector will need to be able to recognize the three VP running mates, since their names are not always included next to their picture. The bandana shown in part below, for example, is undated, but it is clearly an 1888 item because it pictures Allen G. Thurman on the right.
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Some of the most popular items with collectors are items related to Cleveland's marriage to Frances Folsom, the only time in American history a president was married in the White House. The nation was only mildly scandalized at the couple's age difference (he was 49, she was 21), and the new first lady proved immensely popular. Two jugate tokens are shown below, featuring portraits of Cleveland and his wife. The second one has a very odd reverse showing a winged chubby man and an inscription in pidgin German: "See Dot Oder Side."
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Collecting Cleveland items need not be terribly expensive. While it is true that prices of pre-1896 items have had the fastest percentages gains over the last decade, really this was only because such items were so underpriced in the first place.
One might obtain a collection of at least a couple of dozen Cleveland items without ever spending more than $35 or so per item. Jugate ribbons like the one shown are more expensive, but perhaps still under $100. All in all, Grover Cleveland is an interesting political figure, for whom some fascinating, attractive items were made.
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| © 1999 by Stephen Cresswell |