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Road to the
White House
One of nine children of a Presbyterian
minister and his wife, Stephen Grover Cleveland was
born in Caldwell, New Jersey, on March 18,1837, and
raised in upstate New York. He grew to an imposing
appearance; nearly six feet tall and almost three
hundred pounds, he was distinguished by a bulldog
set of the jaw, piercing eyes, large mustache, and
black business attire. He earned the nickname “Ugly
Honest” for his tough look and his integrity. Admitted to the bar in 1859,
he held a variety of positions before entering politics. In an era of “robber
barons,” burgeoning trusts, railroad empires, discontented farmers, labor
unrest, and the birth of unions, he was determined to make things better. While
rising to a political prominence that would sweep him into the White House, he
served as sheriff of Erie County, New York (1871–74); mayor of Buffalo
(1881); and governor of the state of New York (1882–85). In 1884 Cleveland
became the first Democrat elected to the presidency after the Civil War drawing
the support of “Mugwumps” (a combination of Democrats and reform
Republicans) unhappy with the record of his Republican opponent James G. Blaine.
The 1884 presidential contest was a no-holds-barred fight. The Democratic Party’s
strategy was to create an image of the influential James Blaine as a disreputable
seller of political favors while stressing Cleveland’s appeal as an honest
reformer. He did, however, have skeletons in his closet that his political enemies
used against him. He had hired a substitute to take his place in the Union Army
during the Civil War, a legal and common practice, which nevertheless was often
fatal to a Northern politician’s career. He was tagged “the
hangman of Buffalo” for personally hanging two criminals while sheriff
rather than delegating the job. He was accused of consorting with prostitutes
and it was revealed that in 1874 a young widow had named her son Oscar Folsom
Cleveland, after both Cleveland and Oscar Folsom, his law partner. Cleveland,
a bachelor, refused to deny paternity and supported the child, but he was likely
covering for his married partner. The revelation inspired a famous campaign ditty: “Ma!
Ma! Where’s my pa! Gone to the White House, Ha! Ha! Ha!” Grover Cleveland’s
extraordinary dignity under fire during the campaign was a factor in his election.
Cleveland’s First Term 1885–89
During his first term, President Cleveland maintained a policy barring special
favors to any economic group and repeatedly vetoed private bills and pork-barrel
legislation. In 1887 he angered voters by vetoing the Dependent Pension Bill
of 1887, which would have granted pensions for disabilities not caused by military
service. He also vetoed legislation to appropriate $10,000 for seed distribution
to drought-stricken Texas farmers, writing, "Federal aid in such cases encourages
the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the
sturdiness of our national character . . . " He angered the railroads by
forcing them to return 81 million acres of western lands they held by government
grant and signing the Interstate Commerce Act, the first federal law regulating
the railroads. Calling on Congress to reduce high protective tariffs, he was
told that he had given Republicans an issue for the next campaign. He retorted, "What
is the use of being elected or reelected unless you stand for something?" Cleveland
was defeated in 1888 by Benjamin Harrison a Republican from Indiana.
A Presidential Romance and Wedding
The early Cleveland White House was a bachelor’s household; the president
worked long hours and rarely entertained. Rose Cleveland, the president’s
sister, acted as first lady, managed the affairs of the residence, and spent
much of her time studying. No sooner did the public become accustomed to
the image of a lonely White House, than did the picture change. President
Cleveland had been secretly courting Frances “Frank” Folsom, the
daughter of Oscar Folsom, his late law partner. When Folsom was killed in a carriage
accident, Cleveland became the administrator of his estate and the ward of then
12-year old Frances, devoting himself to the welfare of the girl and her mother.
Intimates of the Clevelands and Folsoms knew that the attachment between the
president and Frank was more than friendship. A year before he went to
the White House, he obtained permission from Mrs. Folsom to correspond with her
daughter. A graduate of Wells College at Aurora, New York, Frances was bright,
had an animated wit, unaffected nature, and natural beauty that left the president
smitten. Their courtship was conducted largely by mail and the president included
his proposal of marriage in a letter. On May 28, 1886, after Frances and her
mother returned from a nine-month tour of Europe, the formal announcement of
the engagement was made; five days later, the 49-year old bachelor married 21-year
old Frances Folsom in a small White House ceremony. The public was captivated.
On Wednesday, June 2, 1886, at 6:30 in the evening, cabinet members and their
wives, selected government officials and close family friends were ushered into
the Blue Room. The state floor was decorated with a profusion of palms, ferns,
and flowers from the White House greenhouses. At the east end of the grand Cross
Hall, the Marine Band, led by John Philip Sousa, played the Wedding March. Cleveland
and his bride, with no attendants, descended the stairs, crossed the hall and
stood beneath the flower-laden chandelier in the Blue Room. Presbyterian
minister, Reverend Byron Sunderlund performed a specially written rite of marriage.
The couple then led their guests through the Green Room into the East Room, where
they promenaded in the shimmering light of the gas chandeliers. The new
Mrs. Cleveland wore an elegant wedding gown of heavy corded satin draped in frail,
pearl white, India silk, edged in real orange blossoms. A pair of silk scarves
criss-crossed the front of the dress covering the low Parisian neckline. Her
long silk veil was held in place with orange blossoms and seed pearls; attached
to the bodice was a 15-foot silk train.
After about a half an hour had passed in promenade, the doors of the Cross Hall
were opened and the bride and groom led the guests to the State Dining Room for
a seated, candlelit dinner. A three-masted ship made of flowers and christened
the Hymen dominated the table. After dinner the bride and groom
disappeared to change into street clothes for traveling and left the White House
by way of the Blue Room where a coach awaited at the foot of the South Portico
stairs. Canvas screens blocked the public’s view. Escorted by mounted
police, coachman Albert Hawkins drove the carriage through a cheering crowd down
Pennsylvania Avenue. The Clevelands traveled by private railroad car to Deer
Park Resort in the mountains of western Maryland for their honeymoon.
Christmas at Red Top
On the same day that the president’s engagement was announced, he signed
the closing papers on an old stone house in northwest Washington. He hired Washington
architect William Poindexter to remodel the place into a picturesque modern Queen
Anne villa, with porches on two levels, dark green woodwork, and a vast roof
of wood shingles stained red. Mrs. Cleveland fondly called the house “Oak
View,” but it came to be known as "Red Top" by the press. From
the vantage point of the many reporters who staked out the house, all that could
be seen was the red roof nestled among old growth trees. The Clevelands
summered at Red Top and used it year-round for short retreats from the White
House as well.
The Clevelands spent their first Christmas together at Red Top with Mrs. Folsom,
Frank’s mother. The Washington Post reported that the cottage
was decorated with English holly and evergreens, “in one of the rooms a
pretty Christmas tree.” Mrs. Cleveland had been seen buying gifts
in the crowded downtown shops; she “gently elbowed her way through, and
had a pleasant word for the tired shop-girls.” President Cleveland
actually worked at the White House on Christmas morning and drove to Red Top
with Mrs. Cleveland in the afternoon. They had a quiet dinner with Mrs. Folsom
and the president’s secretary Colonel Daniel Lamont and his family. The
president personally addressed envelopes for each member of the residence staff
containing a Christmas gift of cash. Mrs. Cleveland participated in a local club
that provided a holiday banquet for the city’s poor children. Official
holiday entertaining began with the public reception on New Year’s Day,
which opened the winter social season.
A Prediction
Not long after losing the 1888 election to Benjamin
Harrison, Cleveland decided to move to New York to enjoy a private life there
and to pursue business opportunities in Manhattan. The 23-acre Red Top
estate was sold and eventually redeveloped; today it is known as the Cleveland
Park neighborhood. On Inauguration day (then March 4), Mrs. Cleveland bid traditional
farewells to the household staff distributing to each her autographed portrait
with a personal note. A teary eyed Jerry Smith, who started his service at the
White House as a stable boy for President Grant, attempted to say goodbye, but
Mrs. Cleveland interrupted: “Now, Jerry,
I want you to take good care of all the furniture and ornaments in the house
and don’t let any of them get lost or broken, for I want to find everything
just as it is now, when we come back.” Surprised, he asked her when
she expected to return. “We are coming back just four years from
to-day,” she smiled. The Clevelands would indeed return to the White
House, four years later.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The water color painting of the White House that appears
on the box lid is by Mrs. Cleveland, and is at the
Grover Cleveland Birthplace State Historic Site,
Caldwell, NJ.
Freidel, Frank and Hugh Sidey. The Presidents of
the United States of America. Washington, D.C:
White House Historical Association, 2006.
Graff, Henry F. Grover Cleveland. New
York: Times Books, 2002.
Lynch, Denis Tilden. Grover Cleveland: A Man Four-Square.
New York: Horace Liveright, 1932.
McElroy, Robert. Grover Cleveland: The Man
and the Statesman: An Authorized Biography. New
York: Harper & Brothers, 1923.
Merrill, Horace Samuel. Bourbon Leader: Grover
Cleveland and the Democratic Party. Boston: Little,
Brown and Company, 1957.
Nevins, Allan. Grover Cleveland: A Study
in Courage. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1933.
Seale, William. The President's House: A History.
Washington, D.C: White House Historical Association,
1986.
Seale, William. The White House: The History of
an American Idea. Washington, D.C: White House
Historical Association, 2002.
ILLUSTRATONS
The watercolor painting of the White House that appears
on the box lid is by Mrs. Cleveland, and is in the
collection of the Grover Cleveland Birthplace State
Historic Site.
The Illustration on the ornament booklet
cover is from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated
Magazine and
titled, The Wedding at the White House, June 2,
The Mother’s Kiss. Mrs. Cleveland is in
the foreground with her mother, Emma Cornelia.
HISTORIC SITES
Grover Cleveland Birthplace State Historic Site,
207 Bloomfield Avenue, Caldwell, N.J.
President
Cleveland's burial site is in the Princeton Cemetery,
Princeton, N.J.
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