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Only one historic site bears the names of America’s 22nd and 24th presidents, and it’s not Monticello.
Grover Presidential Library and Museum Cleveland is housed in a one-story building in Caldwell. New Jersey It’s behind the house where the namesake spent the first few years of his life. The museum is the size of a small living room. Dunkin’ sits across the street.
This site fits Cleveland’s legacy. He was a large man but not larger than life. His two terms in the White House were most notable in the four years that separated them.
Until November 5, Cleveland held the distinction of being the president of the United States. Only one regained office after voters fired him: he won the White House in 1884, lost re-election in 1888, and won again in 1888. 1892 Donald Trump is comparable to Cleveland. Success by winning last year’s presidential election Robbed him of his sole claim to history. But it also reignited interest in a president that time has largely forgotten. The two men had little in common. Cleveland reduces government corruption. Adheres to a view that limits presidential power. and resist expansion Trump flouts ethical norms on the left and right. Angry at the limitations of his power. and want to buy Greenland But their new connection could change Cleveland’s legacy.
The grandson of former President George Cleveland has been fielding calls from reporters and history buffs for months. “Anything that shines a light on a dark part of history is a good thing,” he tells me. “It’s a Grover Cleveland renaissance!” joked Louis Picone, a historian who sits on the board of Grover Cleveland Birth Memorial Association
One rainy evening last month The association gathered in Caldwell—a small town. About 20 miles west of New York City—for the annual meeting. The event doubled as a ribbon cutting for a renovated room in the museum that the group is trying to expand. For now, there’s not much on display: photographs, tables, chairs Cleveland used in the White House.
The event was attended by dozens of people who listened to Picone speak about the “extraordinary” presidential election, but he did not mention the past three, which were not at all extraordinary. Picone mentioned Trump only briefly and dismissed the connection. His new with Cleveland
Indeed, Trump is a sensitive topic for Cleveland’s Flame Keepers. Not everyone is happy to see their man join history with the soon-to-be 45th and 47th presidents of the United States. The association’s president, Paul Maloney, politely declined to answer when I asked him how he felt. that Cleveland has lost its unique distinctiveness “We have political figures that I try to keep politics out of. I know how weird that is,” Maloney told me. “I don’t want anyone to infer any point of view. that our organization may have.”
Bunny Jenkins, the group’s vice president, wasn’t very diplomatic: “It has to be Trump?!”
In addition to their comeback relationship, Cleveland and Trump are just as different. with two other presidents Trump was born into the wealth of New York. Cleveland was the son of a minister who helped support his family after his father’s untimely death. He was a hard worker and sometimes a heavy drinker. Trump abstained from both. long hours and alcohol
Both Cleveland and Trump campaigned as anti-corruption populists. But Cleveland followed through on his promise to clean up the government. (His dedication sometimes rings true: As mayor of Buffalo, New York, he helped build a modern sewer system for this smelly city.) Cleveland, a Democratic reformer, fought against Tammanee. All as Governor of New York After he won the presidency in 1884, he insisted on paying his own train fare to Washington. History 2022 By Troy Zenig. He once refused to accept a dog that a sponsor sent him as a gift, deeming it inappropriate.
as president Cleveland has developed a reputation for public honesty. He earned the nickname “Nobleman” and controlled the system of confiscation and patronage prevalent in politics at the time. And Trump began rebuilding.
While Trump has repeatedly expanded presidential authority, Cleveland respected them. He narrowly interpreted the constitutional responsibility of the president. and did not attempt to vote his agenda in Congress. but within his power Instead, Cleveland acted forcefully. He vetoed 414 bills during his first term. This is more than all 21 previous editions combined.
Some of the political controversies Cleveland faced as president are no longer relevant. Civil War veterans’ pensions and the gold standard were major flashpoints in the late 19th century, but one major financial debate continues. That is customs duty. And he and Trump are on opposite sides. Cleveland pushed for lower tariffs even though it was unpopular. A stance that could cost him his first attempt at winning a second term.
Although he is famous for his good governance. But President Cleveland had major flaws. This included a flaw that many of his 19th-century voters overlooked: he opposed women’s suffrage. And he did little to protect blacks in the South from the terror and disenfranchisement of Jim Crow.
Allegations of misconduct in his private life nearly derailed his first presidential bid. Buffalo newspapers reported that he had fathered an illegitimate child several years earlier with a widow named Maria Halpin. The story accused Cleveland of hiring detectives to kidnap Halpin, take the baby, and force Halpin into submission. psychotherapy A few months later and before election day The accusations were much worse. According to Senik, Halpin signed an affidavit confirming that Cleveland “Destroy me by force and violence. without my consent.” Days later, however, Halpin denied her own allegations. and said she signed the document without reading it. Cleveland won the election. And his opponents have not raised the allegation in subsequent campaigns.
Whether or not he harmed Halpin remains unclear. “Only two people are known to have died,” Picone told me, but historians, including Zenig, generally “Give Grover Cleveland the benefit of the doubt” given his reputation for honesty, Picone said. “It just doesn’t seem out of the ordinary,” he said of the allegations. Cleveland admitted that he had a romantic relationship with Halpin. And he never denied he was the father of her child, historian Susan Wise Bauer wrote in 2020. atlantic ocean that Cleveland presents itself as He is the “persistent and unfortunate victim” in all relationships. It creates a new path for politicians accused of sexual misconduct.
Republican Benjamin Harrison defeated Cleveland in 1888, in part because of Cleveland’s strong push for lower taxes. It’s a position that unites the GOP in opposition and divides his own party. “What is the benefit of being chosen or re-elected? Unless you stand for something,” he asked employees, according to Senik’s book, Cleveland dismissed him more gracefully than Trump did more than a century later when he tried to overturn the election. When asked why he lost Cleveland responded simply, “It’s mainly because the other side got the most votes,” while Trump skipped his opponent’s inauguration. Cleveland also held an umbrella over Harrison’s head to protect him from the rain as he took the oath of office.
Trump began considering a return bid almost as soon as he left the White House in 2021. Cleveland has not done so, but his wife, Frances Cleveland, has no idea he might return. As the Cleveland family was preparing to leave the White House in early 1889, she told a staff member, “I want to search for everything as it is now. When we come back again?” The confused assistant asked when she planned to visit. “We will be back only four years from today,” she replied with a smile.
Trump is the first former president in decades to attempt to return to the White House. But comeback attempts were more common in the 19th century. Cleveland was inspired to run again in part because Harrison abandoned fiscal constraints. He co-chaired what became known as Called the “Billion Dollar Congress,” Cleveland won a campaign that attracted relatively little public attention. But the mark he set This is the president’s second non-consecutive term. That would last for 132 years.
The Grover Cleveland Birth Memorial Association has been trying to create a proper library and museum for decades. New Jersey who is the owner of this ancient site It has agreed to pay the majority of the money for this location. But the red measures caused delays. A house in Cleveland is still being renovated. And the museum won’t be fully open to the public for at least another few months. “We are giving up trying to keep this place open,” Dave Cowell, 86, the association’s board secretary and former president, told me.
Over the past three decades Visitors to Cleveland’s hometown increased from about 300 a year to about 9,000 a few years ago, he said, which still pales in comparison to the expansive presidential museums dedicated to Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, which attracts hundreds of thousands of people every year But Cleveland is outpacing second-tier presidential contenders such as America’s eighth president, Martin Van Buren, whose historic New York venue hosts about 13,000 people a year, Cowell said.
The association is planning a grand opening of the museum later this year. Trump will be invited, Picone said, but the group will not try to leverage Trump’s connections to garner special attention. No exhibition examining new connections in history is in the works. It’s too soon, Paul Maloney told me, “in 10 years? Fifteen years from now? We might think differently.”
Cleveland fans were quick to find out. His return to the presidential race is only part of his legacy. His story has faded from national memory largely because his presidency did not coincide with any major events. The country is not at war. And he didn’t die in office, said Maloney, a retired social studies teacher. Acknowledging that Cleveland isn’t even in the U.S. history curriculum, Picone argued that “he was a great president.”
Cleveland’s most famous success has been matched. His grandson George admits it is a loss. “Nothing lasts forever,” he tells me, but he takes solace in the thought that Trump’s return to the White House won’t completely erase his grandfather’s record for a comeback. After all, George said, “He’s still the first.”
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