unCovered review by Frank Tomasello, ACLS
Mays Landing Branch
Grover Cleveland served as the 22nd and 24th President of the United States and today is generally remembered for that fact alone. Yet, sadly, there is much to the life and career of this remarkable man.
Grover Cleveland was born the fifth of nine children, in Caldwell, New Jersey, to a Congregationalist Minister. He dropped out of school at age 16 when his father died and he needed to support his family. Through family connections, he worked as a clerk in a law office and became a lawyer through a sort of apprenticeship. As a lawyer, Cleveland developed a reputation for unscrupulous honesty and 18-to 20-hour workdays. Most of his earnings went to support his family (including funding the college education denied him for one of his sisters). As one can imagine, this left no time for social life (not to mention the development of social skills), and Cleveland remained a bachelor until age 49 when he became the first President to be married in the White House. Difficult to believe is the fact that Cleveland’s political career, before being elected President, spanned a mere three years (Sheriff of Erie County, Mayor of Buffalo, and Governor of New York). The fact that Cleveland served non-consecutive terms is due to the inherent quirks of the Electoral College as he won the popular vote in three consecutive elections. The debate over the shortcomings of the Electoral College is still hotly debated today.
Elected as President based upon his reputation for honesty, he found that same quality and a strict constructionist policy towards the Constitution (along with the aforementioned lack of social skills), as a constant source of friction with Congress and his own political party. Fortunately, his marriage to Frances Folsom seemed to have mellowed him and his second term was marked by a somewhat more willingness to compromise. Despite the fact of severe economic depression and a growing trend away from conservatism and towards progressivism in his second term, Cleveland’s legacy has been consigned to the dustbin of history. He surely deserves better and there are lessons for the present in the life and Presidency of Grover Cleveland as well.
This book, by Troy Senik, was interesting and readable. My only criticism is the author’s overuse of obscure vocabulary as though his target audience is a Ph.D. committee on the English language and not the average historian.
A Dangerous Business, by Jane Smiley, is mash-up of a Western, a serial killer mystery and a feminist erotic romp. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt, is a noir story about an octopus.
(Image credit: Ecco)
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