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Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character
Grover A Study in Character is the first comprehensive study of our 22nd and 24th president in nearly seventy years. This distinguished leader, the only Democrat elected to the presidency between the Civil War and World War I, rose to political prominence through the ranks of mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York before his election to this nation's highest office.
Always concerned with the majority, never the favored few, Cleveland believed his ultimate allegiance was to the nation, not to a political party, and he acted on his strongly-held beliefs throughout his entire political life. At first considered an enemy of labor because of his firm handling of the bloody Chicago Pullman strike, many historians have overlooked Cleveland's numerous accomplishments, including his heroic quest to improve the quality of life for American Indians, his battles against the railroads and big business to prevent the destruction of American land, and his insistence on tariff reduction and remaining on the Gold Standard, which saved the nation from bankruptcy. The only president to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms, Grover Cleveland was the only president to be married in the White House and also the first to have a child in the White House.
Brodsky's engrossing work follows Grover Cleveland through his early life in upstate New York, his career as a trial lawyer, mayor, and governor through to his first and second presidencies and his last years as a lecturer and beloved member of the administration at Princeton University. Each chapter will cause readers to reevaluate our perception of this underrated President who, in his dying words said, "I tried so hard to do right," and to evaluate him in the context of his successors.
Always concerned with the majority, never the favored few, Cleveland believed his ultimate allegiance was to the nation, not to a political party, and he acted on his strongly-held beliefs throughout his entire political life. At first considered an enemy of labor because of his firm handling of the bloody Chicago Pullman strike, many historians have overlooked Cleveland's numerous accomplishments, including his heroic quest to improve the quality of life for American Indians, his battles against the railroads and big business to prevent the destruction of American land, and his insistence on tariff reduction and remaining on the Gold Standard, which saved the nation from bankruptcy. The only president to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms, Grover Cleveland was the only president to be married in the White House and also the first to have a child in the White House.
Brodsky's engrossing work follows Grover Cleveland through his early life in upstate New York, his career as a trial lawyer, mayor, and governor through to his first and second presidencies and his last years as a lecturer and beloved member of the administration at Princeton University. Each chapter will cause readers to reevaluate our perception of this underrated President who, in his dying words said, "I tried so hard to do right," and to evaluate him in the context of his successors.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published September 11, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
December 11, 2011
Brodsky obviously admires Cleveland and argues that he is one of the most underrated presidents, but I would have preferred a more nuanced view. In particular, Brodsky puts Cleveland's attitudes and actions towards African-Americans and Chinese immigrants into appendices at the back instead of integrating them into the main text and dealing with them head on. These issues may not have been as critical during Cleveland's presidencies as, for example, the debate over the tariff and the gold versus silver standard, but saying in an appendix that Cleveland may have been patronizing toward African-Americans and somewhat racist when it came to the Chinese seems like Brodsky is trying to hide less admirable parts of Cleveland's character.
Overall, though, Cleveland is one of the more interesting of the lesser known presidents of this period. I've been reading biographies of the presidents in order and this is the first introduction to the gold standard debate and the rise of William Jennings Bryan.
Overall, though, Cleveland is one of the more interesting of the lesser known presidents of this period. I've been reading biographies of the presidents in order and this is the first introduction to the gold standard debate and the rise of William Jennings Bryan.
December 19, 2014
http://bestpresidentialbios.com/2014/...
Alyn Brodsky’s “Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character” was published in 2000, just months after publication of H. Paul Jeffers’s biography of this president. Brodsky is a former book critic and newspaper columnist and has written several biographies. Two of his most recent subjects include Benjamin Rush and former New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
Of the three biographies of Grover Cleveland I’ve read to date, Brodsky’s is by far the clearest, most colorful and most engaging. It also happens to be the most provocative, opinionated and, at times, bombastic of the group.
Only a few pages into this biography it is clear the author is an enthusiastic supporter of this highly-regarded, but often forgotten, two-term president. In fact, the author’s passion falls only slightly shy of qualifying him as a full-fledged Cleveland disciple.
Fortunately, this devotion feels less like blind reverence than the affection of someone who has carefully studied his subject and found him worthy of high praise. Brodsky’s assessments of Cleveland are generally persuasive and well-supported and his enthusiasm is balanced by a willingness to criticize the former president for many (if not quite all) of his failures.
The author provides an excellent introduction to Cleveland’s youth and the clearest explanation I’ve yet seen of the gold vs. silver monetary debate. Foreign policy issues facing Cleveland which, in other settings, I’ve found uninteresting and difficult to parse are generally well-explained and clear. And Brodsky often demonstrates a special talent for explaining complex issues using plain but vibrant language.
But Brodsky’s style will not appeal equally to all readers. His narrative ranges from scholarly and serious to informal and almost irreverent. A more consistently refined approach would allow the reader to take more of his analysis at face value, but his style does keep the reader continually engaged.
The occasionally cheeky commentary is most often directed toward presidents who he believes fail to measure up to Cleveland’s high standards of honesty and integrity. The reader will not long wonder, for example, how the author feels about Reagan, Bush or Clinton (the word “deplorable” may have come up). But while historical comparisons can be quite instructive, in Brodsky’s case they sometimes detract from the narrative.
Occasionally the reader is also prone to wondering whether Brodsky feels a bit too smart for his own good. Scattered throughout the book are words that even the most ardent fan of crossword puzzles will have to look up. They are often well-chosen given the context, but seem like elitist wordplay intended to humble most readers.
Also, at times the text dives too deeply into historical context, almost losing sight of the underlying issue as it relates to Cleveland. And in the end, Brodsky provides almost no parting review of Cleveland’s legacy. There is never doubt as to his opinion, but a final critical analysis placing Cleveland’s presidency into context would have been useful.
Despite these blemishes, Alyn Brodsky’s “Grover Cleveland” proves well-written, provocative, passionate and engaging. In all likelihood, it is far more interesting than was Cleveland himself. Comprehensive, colorful and lively, this biography of Cleveland provides an experience the reader will find both educational and instructive – and won’t soon forget.
Overall rating: 4 stars
Alyn Brodsky’s “Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character” was published in 2000, just months after publication of H. Paul Jeffers’s biography of this president. Brodsky is a former book critic and newspaper columnist and has written several biographies. Two of his most recent subjects include Benjamin Rush and former New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
Of the three biographies of Grover Cleveland I’ve read to date, Brodsky’s is by far the clearest, most colorful and most engaging. It also happens to be the most provocative, opinionated and, at times, bombastic of the group.
Only a few pages into this biography it is clear the author is an enthusiastic supporter of this highly-regarded, but often forgotten, two-term president. In fact, the author’s passion falls only slightly shy of qualifying him as a full-fledged Cleveland disciple.
Fortunately, this devotion feels less like blind reverence than the affection of someone who has carefully studied his subject and found him worthy of high praise. Brodsky’s assessments of Cleveland are generally persuasive and well-supported and his enthusiasm is balanced by a willingness to criticize the former president for many (if not quite all) of his failures.
The author provides an excellent introduction to Cleveland’s youth and the clearest explanation I’ve yet seen of the gold vs. silver monetary debate. Foreign policy issues facing Cleveland which, in other settings, I’ve found uninteresting and difficult to parse are generally well-explained and clear. And Brodsky often demonstrates a special talent for explaining complex issues using plain but vibrant language.
But Brodsky’s style will not appeal equally to all readers. His narrative ranges from scholarly and serious to informal and almost irreverent. A more consistently refined approach would allow the reader to take more of his analysis at face value, but his style does keep the reader continually engaged.
The occasionally cheeky commentary is most often directed toward presidents who he believes fail to measure up to Cleveland’s high standards of honesty and integrity. The reader will not long wonder, for example, how the author feels about Reagan, Bush or Clinton (the word “deplorable” may have come up). But while historical comparisons can be quite instructive, in Brodsky’s case they sometimes detract from the narrative.
Occasionally the reader is also prone to wondering whether Brodsky feels a bit too smart for his own good. Scattered throughout the book are words that even the most ardent fan of crossword puzzles will have to look up. They are often well-chosen given the context, but seem like elitist wordplay intended to humble most readers.
Also, at times the text dives too deeply into historical context, almost losing sight of the underlying issue as it relates to Cleveland. And in the end, Brodsky provides almost no parting review of Cleveland’s legacy. There is never doubt as to his opinion, but a final critical analysis placing Cleveland’s presidency into context would have been useful.
Despite these blemishes, Alyn Brodsky’s “Grover Cleveland” proves well-written, provocative, passionate and engaging. In all likelihood, it is far more interesting than was Cleveland himself. Comprehensive, colorful and lively, this biography of Cleveland provides an experience the reader will find both educational and instructive – and won’t soon forget.
Overall rating: 4 stars
May 20, 2019
Of all the Presidents that I have read about so far, Cleveland provided perhaps the greatest challenge in choosing a book. It seems that as one of the most obscure presidents authors have mostly focused on "uncovering" him for the public, and I couldn't seem to find one that was 1. well reviewed, 2. relatively unbiased, and 3. about Cleveland's whole life and not just his presidencies. Maybe I'm too picky.
I had hopped that Brodsky's single volume bio would be a good match for me, and maybe it is the best available (as I haven't read the others, I won't stand by that statement.) Brodsky really likes Cleveland. The only person he seems to like more than Grover is possibly Grover's wife, who Brodsky spend quit a bit of time lauding. His conclusions and theses are not surprisingly very pro-Cleveland. Still, Brodsky manages a good biography here, which is thorough and surprisingly blunt and open about Cleveland's strengths and weaknesses. Brodsky even usually gives Cleveland the blame he deserves for his political naivety or mistakes. It's just that once he gets through with that he's still thinks Cleveland is pretty damn great.
I really enjoyed several sections of this biography. I loved the section on Samoa and the run-in with newly Imperial Germany, as well as the argument over Venezuela and Cleveland's stand on the Monroe doctrine. I think that Brodsky makes a pretty good argument about Cleveland's honesty and integrity, and the weaknesses it engendered in his politics. On the other hand it is difficult to come out of this book, where Brodsky spend 450 pages being complimentary, and not thinking the guy is pretty decent. I wish that Brodsky had left his personal feelings about the moral standing or recent presidents out entirely. I don't care if he thinks Clinton and Bush are less honest than Cleveland.
The thing I disliked the most about this book is that Brodsky, in making his tone somewhat conversational, kind of steps over the line from "easy narrative" to "historian trying to be funny over a beer". "Ben Butler did not earn enough votes to swing a cat, much less an election." "It perpetuated the hostility between Cleveland and Tammany Hall that at time threatened to inflict on the Democratic party what Humpty Dumpty inflicted on himself through egregious carelessness." These kind of passages are unfortunately common. They add... color, I guess. But mostly just.. ugh. He also just writes some sentences that drip too much with pretentiousness for me (and I'm famous for choosing long words where short words would do.)"Be it of a nation or a corporation, unless he had abundant confidence and does not fear comparison a leader of limited cerebral aptitude can no more be expected to surround himself with men of intellect than a morally pusillanimous man can be expected to surround himself with morally puissant underlings." I think most of us would agree that that sentence is a bit much. And honestly not saying much anyway.
The two main subjects that Celveland supported that were unpopular, but that he believed were ultimately in the people's best interest, were tariff reform and a return to the gold standard. Brodsky does an excellent job, I feel, exposing the dangers of "bimetallism" or even full silver-backed money. The unequal values of the metals and the weak financial health of the country seemed to require the gold standard, but silver interests were busy being financed by great mines in the west. He makes some good points on the problems of tariff reform, too, so that ultimately, on those two things I can stand behind Cleveland. Cleveland didn't do a good job politicking for those though, and he made quite a few mistakes on the way there. Brodsky admits Cleveland was not an intellectual, but a thorough investigator and a hard worker. Cleveland just wasn't always very good at statecraft. It is interesting, though, to see in the man the changing attitudes of the people. Unlike some other presidents who ran for terms well after their first (like Van Buren) Cleveland's beliefs and basic policies and proposals changed very little, and yet after being pushed out of office, they brought him back in, kicked him back out, and then very nearly asked him to go into the ring AGAIN in 1904. Cleveland stuck by his principles in a way that reminded me of Buchanan's belief that he would only act in ways he believed the constitution allowed him to. At least Cleveland was an honest administrator, a committed if not always successful reformer, and scrupulous with the public's money.
The thing is, for all of the nice things that Brodsky has to say about the president, and how much credit Cleveland is given for bringing "honesty back to the American government", and even despite Cleveland being the only Democratic President elected between the Civil War and World War I, he can't quite convince me that Cleveland wasn't a fairly middling president, in legacy similar to many of the others on either side of him. Still, the book does provide a good read of Cleveland's life, with some poignant moments and a pretty strong sense of narrative even if it gets a little too colorful sometimes.
I had hopped that Brodsky's single volume bio would be a good match for me, and maybe it is the best available (as I haven't read the others, I won't stand by that statement.) Brodsky really likes Cleveland. The only person he seems to like more than Grover is possibly Grover's wife, who Brodsky spend quit a bit of time lauding. His conclusions and theses are not surprisingly very pro-Cleveland. Still, Brodsky manages a good biography here, which is thorough and surprisingly blunt and open about Cleveland's strengths and weaknesses. Brodsky even usually gives Cleveland the blame he deserves for his political naivety or mistakes. It's just that once he gets through with that he's still thinks Cleveland is pretty damn great.
I really enjoyed several sections of this biography. I loved the section on Samoa and the run-in with newly Imperial Germany, as well as the argument over Venezuela and Cleveland's stand on the Monroe doctrine. I think that Brodsky makes a pretty good argument about Cleveland's honesty and integrity, and the weaknesses it engendered in his politics. On the other hand it is difficult to come out of this book, where Brodsky spend 450 pages being complimentary, and not thinking the guy is pretty decent. I wish that Brodsky had left his personal feelings about the moral standing or recent presidents out entirely. I don't care if he thinks Clinton and Bush are less honest than Cleveland.
The thing I disliked the most about this book is that Brodsky, in making his tone somewhat conversational, kind of steps over the line from "easy narrative" to "historian trying to be funny over a beer". "Ben Butler did not earn enough votes to swing a cat, much less an election." "It perpetuated the hostility between Cleveland and Tammany Hall that at time threatened to inflict on the Democratic party what Humpty Dumpty inflicted on himself through egregious carelessness." These kind of passages are unfortunately common. They add... color, I guess. But mostly just.. ugh. He also just writes some sentences that drip too much with pretentiousness for me (and I'm famous for choosing long words where short words would do.)"Be it of a nation or a corporation, unless he had abundant confidence and does not fear comparison a leader of limited cerebral aptitude can no more be expected to surround himself with men of intellect than a morally pusillanimous man can be expected to surround himself with morally puissant underlings." I think most of us would agree that that sentence is a bit much. And honestly not saying much anyway.
The two main subjects that Celveland supported that were unpopular, but that he believed were ultimately in the people's best interest, were tariff reform and a return to the gold standard. Brodsky does an excellent job, I feel, exposing the dangers of "bimetallism" or even full silver-backed money. The unequal values of the metals and the weak financial health of the country seemed to require the gold standard, but silver interests were busy being financed by great mines in the west. He makes some good points on the problems of tariff reform, too, so that ultimately, on those two things I can stand behind Cleveland. Cleveland didn't do a good job politicking for those though, and he made quite a few mistakes on the way there. Brodsky admits Cleveland was not an intellectual, but a thorough investigator and a hard worker. Cleveland just wasn't always very good at statecraft. It is interesting, though, to see in the man the changing attitudes of the people. Unlike some other presidents who ran for terms well after their first (like Van Buren) Cleveland's beliefs and basic policies and proposals changed very little, and yet after being pushed out of office, they brought him back in, kicked him back out, and then very nearly asked him to go into the ring AGAIN in 1904. Cleveland stuck by his principles in a way that reminded me of Buchanan's belief that he would only act in ways he believed the constitution allowed him to. At least Cleveland was an honest administrator, a committed if not always successful reformer, and scrupulous with the public's money.
The thing is, for all of the nice things that Brodsky has to say about the president, and how much credit Cleveland is given for bringing "honesty back to the American government", and even despite Cleveland being the only Democratic President elected between the Civil War and World War I, he can't quite convince me that Cleveland wasn't a fairly middling president, in legacy similar to many of the others on either side of him. Still, the book does provide a good read of Cleveland's life, with some poignant moments and a pretty strong sense of narrative even if it gets a little too colorful sometimes.
May 13, 2014
There's nothing sexy about Grover Cleveland. Study Lincoln, you get the Civil War; study Nixon, you get Watergate. Study Grover Cleveland and you get tarriff battles and the repeal of the Sherman Silver Act. Not quite the stuff they make Hollywood movies about. Yet Alyn Brodsky's charming pro-Cleveland biography is out to argue that we should all be giving America'as 22nd / 24th President a lot more credit. To Mr. Brodsky, there is something sexy about Cleveland's presidency. "He insisted on doing what was morally expedient," writes Mr. Brodsky. "Even if by doing so...it meant placing his political career in jeopardy." This, according to Mr. Brodsky, made Cleveland a "political freak." Cleveland, in other words, is the epitome of the Hollywood president - moral, idealistic, incorruptible - the sort found in blockbusters and rarely in the White House.
To enjoy the story of Grover Cleveland, one needs to possess an interest in both the Gilded Age and America's domestic affairs. Cleveland presided over the White House on the eve of a new American foreign policy that would see the country become entangled in international disputes; he was against this direction and sought to avoid it at all costs (still, even he couldn't keep from being dragged into the global village to stop the annexation of Hawaii and to face off against England during the Venezuelan Boundry Dispute). But for the most part, this is an American story about American issues: the divided Democrats, their political rivalries, a country's economic woes, labor problems. Most dominant is the issue of currency: Mr. Brodsky makes a convincing case that Cleveland is largely responsible for keeping America on the gold standard at a time when silver fans tried to get things to go the other way.
It's an engaging story that has a refreshing, distinctive viewpoint: Mr. Brodsky does not try to hide his agenda here, which is to rehabilitate Cleveland in the eyes of the world. To him, Cleveland is the moral hero who spent twelve years (eight in the White House) holding firm against a country whose political system threatened to destroy him at every turn. And it almost succeeded - Cleveland left Washington in 1896 as a reviled President and it took just under a decade for him to be rehabilitated in the eyes of his successors. Then he was promptly forgotten again, overshadowed by the 20th century's more dynamic leaders - Wilson, FDR, Kennedy, etc. This view of Cleveland can certainly be disputed (and no doubt has been), but Mr. Brodsky's stance is both passionate and well-researched, which makes for an entertaining read.
Still, this is more a biography of Cleveland's presidency, then Cleveland himself. His personal life gets very little attention and we are left to read between the lines if we hope for any facts of Mr. Cleveland behind the scenes. His children get very little print time, as does his wife. Perhaps this is because at the time of writing, Mr. Brodsky was planning a biography of Frances Folsom, who Cleveland married during his first term. It's possible he was saving the personal details for that book, which doesn't seem to have ever been written (Mr. Brodsky sadly died in April, 2011). This is unfortunate as there is something intriguing about the Grover - Frances relationship, a May / December romance that led to Cleveland becoming the only President to be married in the White House and to Frances Folsom becoming the country's youngest first lady. There are also several charming anecdotes about her, including the fact that when they left the White House for the first time, Folsom apparently told the servants to keep the place safe until their return, which she predicted would happen four years later - which of course they did.
Having taken it upon myself to brush up on my Gilded Age political history, I can say that Mr. Brodsky's contribution is a valuable continuation of the narrative that (for me) began with Kenneth Ackerman's Dark Horse and continued with Thomas Reeve's biography of Chester Arthur. Taken as a trilogy, one gets a frank depiction of the behind-the-scenes working of American's two political parties, complete with re-occurring characters and re-emerging themes (Cleveland, for instance, continued the work of reforming the civil service that was started by President Arthur). It's becoming an intriguing way to study a historical period and I'd have to say that Mr. Brodsky's book may be of value to those who not only are interesting in Cleveland himself, but also in the era in which he lived.
To enjoy the story of Grover Cleveland, one needs to possess an interest in both the Gilded Age and America's domestic affairs. Cleveland presided over the White House on the eve of a new American foreign policy that would see the country become entangled in international disputes; he was against this direction and sought to avoid it at all costs (still, even he couldn't keep from being dragged into the global village to stop the annexation of Hawaii and to face off against England during the Venezuelan Boundry Dispute). But for the most part, this is an American story about American issues: the divided Democrats, their political rivalries, a country's economic woes, labor problems. Most dominant is the issue of currency: Mr. Brodsky makes a convincing case that Cleveland is largely responsible for keeping America on the gold standard at a time when silver fans tried to get things to go the other way.
It's an engaging story that has a refreshing, distinctive viewpoint: Mr. Brodsky does not try to hide his agenda here, which is to rehabilitate Cleveland in the eyes of the world. To him, Cleveland is the moral hero who spent twelve years (eight in the White House) holding firm against a country whose political system threatened to destroy him at every turn. And it almost succeeded - Cleveland left Washington in 1896 as a reviled President and it took just under a decade for him to be rehabilitated in the eyes of his successors. Then he was promptly forgotten again, overshadowed by the 20th century's more dynamic leaders - Wilson, FDR, Kennedy, etc. This view of Cleveland can certainly be disputed (and no doubt has been), but Mr. Brodsky's stance is both passionate and well-researched, which makes for an entertaining read.
Still, this is more a biography of Cleveland's presidency, then Cleveland himself. His personal life gets very little attention and we are left to read between the lines if we hope for any facts of Mr. Cleveland behind the scenes. His children get very little print time, as does his wife. Perhaps this is because at the time of writing, Mr. Brodsky was planning a biography of Frances Folsom, who Cleveland married during his first term. It's possible he was saving the personal details for that book, which doesn't seem to have ever been written (Mr. Brodsky sadly died in April, 2011). This is unfortunate as there is something intriguing about the Grover - Frances relationship, a May / December romance that led to Cleveland becoming the only President to be married in the White House and to Frances Folsom becoming the country's youngest first lady. There are also several charming anecdotes about her, including the fact that when they left the White House for the first time, Folsom apparently told the servants to keep the place safe until their return, which she predicted would happen four years later - which of course they did.
Having taken it upon myself to brush up on my Gilded Age political history, I can say that Mr. Brodsky's contribution is a valuable continuation of the narrative that (for me) began with Kenneth Ackerman's Dark Horse and continued with Thomas Reeve's biography of Chester Arthur. Taken as a trilogy, one gets a frank depiction of the behind-the-scenes working of American's two political parties, complete with re-occurring characters and re-emerging themes (Cleveland, for instance, continued the work of reforming the civil service that was started by President Arthur). It's becoming an intriguing way to study a historical period and I'd have to say that Mr. Brodsky's book may be of value to those who not only are interesting in Cleveland himself, but also in the era in which he lived.
January 26, 2016
A president that has a meteoric rise, a deeply divided country, a party threatened to fall apart because of strong-willed section of the party, a bad economy, a signature legislation “rammed” (author’s words not mine) through Congress that leads to the paralysis of the rest of the president’s agenda, and labor issues. 2013? No , late 1800’s.
Grover Cleveland had a meteoric rise going from sheriff to mayor, to governor, and president within 3-1/2 years. At a time when Democrats were desperate to overcome its losing record since the closing of the Civil War, Cleveland never served a full term of any office until the presidency, being tapped for higher office because of his reputation as a reform candidate.
I had to really slog through this read. It is not because Brodsky’s work is not readable. For a book with 65 chapters, it is actually quite readable. It is more about Brodsky’s approach. Brodsky is a HUGE Cleveland fan. I have little patience for bias from a historian at any time, but my sensitivity for finger pointing and bias has exponentially increased over the past two weeks. I get that to write a biography, with the amount of time spent on a subject, an author would probably need to adore or loathe the subject. But, most authors are able to at least provide some analysis and admit some shortcomings. The praise Brodsky heaps on Cleveland deserves the eye rolling I couldn’t control, and he made some flat out inaccurate statements in an attempt to make Grover Cleveland the hero of every decent law and constituency of the time. That’s a shame because I’m sure there are some good qualities in Cleveland. But, because of the errors and lack of analysis on those areas where I am uneducated on Cleveland, his claims are suspect.
I’m hoping that our Benjamin Harrison, since he served as president for a term between Cleveland’s two terms, provides more insight. At least it will be something to compare Brodsky’s work to.
Grover Cleveland had a meteoric rise going from sheriff to mayor, to governor, and president within 3-1/2 years. At a time when Democrats were desperate to overcome its losing record since the closing of the Civil War, Cleveland never served a full term of any office until the presidency, being tapped for higher office because of his reputation as a reform candidate.
I had to really slog through this read. It is not because Brodsky’s work is not readable. For a book with 65 chapters, it is actually quite readable. It is more about Brodsky’s approach. Brodsky is a HUGE Cleveland fan. I have little patience for bias from a historian at any time, but my sensitivity for finger pointing and bias has exponentially increased over the past two weeks. I get that to write a biography, with the amount of time spent on a subject, an author would probably need to adore or loathe the subject. But, most authors are able to at least provide some analysis and admit some shortcomings. The praise Brodsky heaps on Cleveland deserves the eye rolling I couldn’t control, and he made some flat out inaccurate statements in an attempt to make Grover Cleveland the hero of every decent law and constituency of the time. That’s a shame because I’m sure there are some good qualities in Cleveland. But, because of the errors and lack of analysis on those areas where I am uneducated on Cleveland, his claims are suspect.
I’m hoping that our Benjamin Harrison, since he served as president for a term between Cleveland’s two terms, provides more insight. At least it will be something to compare Brodsky’s work to.
January 26, 2019
This book covers the life and times of Grover Cleveland our 22nd and 24th President. From the onset of the book, Brodsky makes it clear that he is a big fan of Cleveland and judges many of Cleveland's predecessors as severely lacking many things. I find reading a biography of an author who is a huge fan of his subject can have many positives and negatives; the theme of this book is a "Study in Character" where Brodsky literally finds almost everything Cleveland did to be the mark of just being a really great guy. At times it seems like the author lays this on a little too thick but in general it's hard to dislike Cleveland.
In most things, it seems like Cleveland lived a good life and tried to be a positive influence in politics. Politically Cleveland was something of a moderate to conservative Democrat. In the late nineteenth century America, the Republicans and Democrats seemed ideologically quite similar in that both parties were broadly conservative by our standards and even more corrupt. While there were significant ideological divides, both parties top concern was winning juicy patronage deals. This is not to say that both parties hard distinct views and they had a wide range of liberals, moderates and conservatives. For all the corruption and petty grift, Cleveland made a name for himself by rising above it on a reform platform. he quickly rose from Mayor of Buffalo, Governor of New York to President in just a few years.
When starting read this I was not aware that Cleveland was the first Democrat to be elected President since James Buchanan in 1856! Because Democrats had been essentially spent a generation out of power there was a lot of expectations of grift to be had from a Cleveland President, but Grover tried to be above it all. This won him few friends in Washington. Equally, Cleveland vetoed a ton of legislation based on it not being fiscally responsible.
In light of our current issues in today's news with trade/fiscal policy, it was interesting to read about Cleveland's battles of lowering the tariff and monetary policy. Cleveland believed in the Gold Standard and low inflation, which upset farmers, westerners and populists. This ultimately led to Cleveland losing his re-election bid, only to win again after the generally unpopular Benjamin Harrison Administration. Cleveland's second Administration was caught up in a depression and even more battles of currency. At the end of his terms, a reader is left with the impression that Cleveland was a good guy, but he didn't even really fit in with his own times. By our standards, Cleveland didn't pass any major legislation bearing his name or have any important foreign policy accomplishments. In some ways, by our standards, Cleveland is kind of a proto-Libertarian politician. In that way as well, Cleveland seems to have loads of trouble in Washington and sees to flounder in his second Adminstration.
While a fairly long read this book moves at a decent pace. Brodsky gives readers a good picture of the changing cultural and economic landscape of nineteenth-century America. I can't say that I came away from this book loving Cleveland, but I did find many of his troubles to be relevant for our own times. Brodsky does a good job of convincing this modern reader that this somewhat forgotten nineteenth century President deserves a little bit of a second look.
In most things, it seems like Cleveland lived a good life and tried to be a positive influence in politics. Politically Cleveland was something of a moderate to conservative Democrat. In the late nineteenth century America, the Republicans and Democrats seemed ideologically quite similar in that both parties were broadly conservative by our standards and even more corrupt. While there were significant ideological divides, both parties top concern was winning juicy patronage deals. This is not to say that both parties hard distinct views and they had a wide range of liberals, moderates and conservatives. For all the corruption and petty grift, Cleveland made a name for himself by rising above it on a reform platform. he quickly rose from Mayor of Buffalo, Governor of New York to President in just a few years.
When starting read this I was not aware that Cleveland was the first Democrat to be elected President since James Buchanan in 1856! Because Democrats had been essentially spent a generation out of power there was a lot of expectations of grift to be had from a Cleveland President, but Grover tried to be above it all. This won him few friends in Washington. Equally, Cleveland vetoed a ton of legislation based on it not being fiscally responsible.
In light of our current issues in today's news with trade/fiscal policy, it was interesting to read about Cleveland's battles of lowering the tariff and monetary policy. Cleveland believed in the Gold Standard and low inflation, which upset farmers, westerners and populists. This ultimately led to Cleveland losing his re-election bid, only to win again after the generally unpopular Benjamin Harrison Administration. Cleveland's second Administration was caught up in a depression and even more battles of currency. At the end of his terms, a reader is left with the impression that Cleveland was a good guy, but he didn't even really fit in with his own times. By our standards, Cleveland didn't pass any major legislation bearing his name or have any important foreign policy accomplishments. In some ways, by our standards, Cleveland is kind of a proto-Libertarian politician. In that way as well, Cleveland seems to have loads of trouble in Washington and sees to flounder in his second Adminstration.
While a fairly long read this book moves at a decent pace. Brodsky gives readers a good picture of the changing cultural and economic landscape of nineteenth-century America. I can't say that I came away from this book loving Cleveland, but I did find many of his troubles to be relevant for our own times. Brodsky does a good job of convincing this modern reader that this somewhat forgotten nineteenth century President deserves a little bit of a second look.
February 11, 2025
Grover Cleveland was only Democrat to be elected president between the Civil War and World War I. He was born in Caldwell, New Jersey in 1837. He was the fifth of nine children. He abandoned his plans to go to college when his father died, instead pursuing a legal career. His wealthy uncle in Buffalo used his connections to get Grover an apprenticeship at one of Buffalo's top law firms.
At 22, he was admitted into the New York bar. He was a successful trial lawyer. After a few years, he took a 40 percent pay cut to become assistant district attorney because it was political in character. He once argued four major cases concurrently and won all four. He often stayed up til 3 preparing for a case and woke up at 8. He once went 36 hours without sleep.
He got out of being drafted during the Civil War by hiring a substitute to take his place. He got elected sheriff of Erie County. Cleveland executed murderers himself instead of hiring a hangman because he didn't think it was right to make another man do something so abhorrent. He also hung up sheets to prevent spectators from watching the executions.
Two of his brothers were lost at sea during this time. After three years as sheriff, he didn't seek reelection but went back to law, forming his own firm. He didn't court any women, preferring the occasional dalliance. When his sister asked when he'd get married, he said, "I'm only waiting for my wife to grow up." She thought he was joking. He wasn't.
Democrats selected Cleveland to run for mayor since he had a reputation for honesty and reform-minded Republicans supported him since the Republican nominee was corrupt. Once elected, he set about cleaning the city... literally. 36 percent of deaths were due to diseases caused by poor conditions. He improved the sewer system, brought in clean water, and vetoed a bill awarding the contract for an exorbitant sum. He saved the city hundreds of thousands of dollars by insisting upon competitive contracts. He checked invoices personally to ensure there was no fraud or waste.
When Cleveland became governor, he refused to give jobs to his friends or the people who helped him get elected, instead appointing people qualified for the jobs. He examined the facts pertaining to every bill thoroughly and vetoed any bill he concluded didn't benefit the public. He vetoed bills despite the fact his friends would benefit from them. He reviewed the details of hundreds of appeals for clemency personally. He'd arrive at his office at 9 and work til 5, although he'd often return to the office and work from 8:30 to midnight.
Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican up-and-comer in the state legislature, admired and respected Cleveland. They worked together to pass a civil service reform bill. However, they also clashed. Once a reporter witnessed Roosevelt lose it and have a temper tantrum over Cleveland vetoing some of his bills. Cleveland explained the bills had a good intent but contradicted themselves and needed to be cleaned up. Roosevelt insited the bills be passed because of the principle of the thing. Cleveland roared that he would veto the bills and slammed his fist on the desk with such force Roosevelt fell backwards into a chair.
The Mugwumps, a group of Republicans who didn't support the official Republican nominee, threw their support behind Cleveland for president even though he was a Democrat. While the Tammany Democrats opposed Cleveland and joined forces with mainstream Republicans to stop him.
When he learned he got the Democratic nomination for president, he said, "By Jove, that is something, isnt it?"
The presidential campaign of 1884 was one of the dirtiest in American history with both candidates being dragged through the mud. Republicans claimed Cleveland would bring back slavery and cut veteran benefits. They claimed he was a womanizer, which actually had a kernel of truth to it.
Worse, his friend Henry Ward Beecher tried to defend him by saying if every men who committed adultery voted for Cleveland, he'd win by a landslide. "I am afraid that I shall have occasion to pray to be delivered from my friends!" Cleveland remarked.
Cleveland believed the best way to handle the scandal was to tell the truth about it. He believed that if he owned up to the facts, the unpleasantness would be quickly forgotten. And it was.
He admitted to having an affair with Maria Halpin. She did have a child, although it's unknown who the father was since she named the child after both Cleveland and his law partner. She took to drinking and a judge sent her to a mental institution for a short time while the child was placed in an orphanage which Cleveland paid for. He also gave Maria money to start a dress salon. Cleveland then arranged for the boy to be adopted. The Republicans tried to keep the story alive in cartoons with captions such as "Ma! Ma! Where's my Pa?"
Cleveland refused to go low in return. When given records that indicated Blaine's wife was pregnant before their marriage, he burned them in the fireplace.
Blaine was expected to win. However, seven days before the election, a clergyman speaking for Blaine made an anti-Catholic statement, losing half a million votes. Blaine also lost the working class vote by having a lavish "prosperity dinner" with two hundred of the richest men in the country.
Many newspapers announced Blaine had won. There were rumors of delayed and falsified returns. Cleveland supporters threatened to riot if their man wasn't declared winner. Cleveland himself suspected fraud and later said if denied the presidency, "I should have felt it my duty to take my seat anyhow." He barely won New York by a thousand votes. From the time he was elected mayor of Buffalo, to Governor of New York to President was less than four years. A truly meteoric rise.
The spoils system was responsible for massive corruption throughout the country. Over half the federal employees in some departments were redundant in order to give jobs to political supporters. Cleveland made it clear he intended to enforced the civil service reform measures passed by the previous administration. He even let some Republican supporters keep their current jobs if he found them competent, making him many enemies in his own party.
Days before Cleveland took office, President Arthur had opened up nearly half a million acres of Winnebago and Crow Creek lands to white settlers. After hearing about atrocities suffered by the natives, Cleveland rescinded this order and ordered white settlers to evacuate. However, white people kept encroaching upon native land and conflict was inevitable. In response to an Apache attack led by Geronimo, Cleveland waged a small scale war to prevent a greater war.
Railroads and other corporations drove rightful homesteaders from their land. His agents discovered thousands of cases of fraudulent homestead claims and put a stop to it, recovering millions of dollars.
Before his marriage, his sister Rose served as First Lady. She taught at a girl's school and published essays on female writers. Rose never married, but ended up settling in Italy with a wealthy widow with whom she was buried side by side.
Frances Clara Folsom Cleveland was the youngest First Lady. She became a celebrity. Women would style their hair "à la Cleveland" and pose like her in photos. During a slow news day, reporters made up a story that Frances had stopped wearing a bustle and bustles immediately went out of fashion. Companies put her picture on products such as soap, perfume, liver pills, candy, ashtrays, and underwear without permission. Cleveland was furious. He asked congress to pass a bill forbidding it, but it failed to pass. She helped the causes of female education and female employment regardless of race. She helped found the New Jersey College for Women. She knew French, German, and Latin. She was proficient at the new art of photography and was a talented pianist.
Cleveland first met his future-wife when she was born. He was 27 at the time. She was the daughter of his law partner. He bought her first baby carriage and bounced her on his knee. He called her "Frank" and she called him Uncle Cleve. When she was ten, her father died in a carriage accident. Cleveland was named her legal guardian and took responsibility for her and her mother, although they moved and he didn't see much of them.
They corresponded while she was at college. He visited her when he could. He began to secretly court her his second year as governor. He sent flowers (and once a puppy) to her dorm room. She was with him when he learned of his presidential nomination. A friend unknowingly remarked that "If one of you young fellows doesn't take an interest in that pretty Miss Folsom the governor (Cleveland) is likely to walk off with her himself!" He didn't know his joke would turn out to be true.
Cleveland proposed to her by letter in the summer of 1885 when she and her mother were about to leave for a nine-month trip to Europe. The engagement was kept secret, although an affectionate cable he sent to their departing ship leaked to the press. It was assumed he was marrying her mother. "I don't see why the papers keep marrying me to old ladies," he told a friend. "I wonder why they don't say I am engaged to marry her daughter!"
When she returned, they got married in the White House in a small ceremony. He was 49 and she was 22. John Philip Sousa led the Marine Band in playing the Mendelssohn Wedding March.
In 1886, there were twice as many strikes as any previous year. Cleveland was sympathetic to working men and urged management to compromise with them. The Missouri Pacific Railroad Strike affected six thousand miles of railroad. Perishable goods rotted along the tracks. The cost of provisions when through the roof. Many mills and factories were forced to shut down. Fights broke out between strikers and law enforcement. Several men died. The strike eventually ended with less than 20 percent of strikers keeping their jobs.
To get labor votes, Congress passed legislation calling for arbitration of railroad disputes, legalized trade unions, and prohibited the importation of contract labor. Cleveland wanted them to go further, but signed these laws as being the best he could get.
In Chicago, a fight between police and strikers turned into the Haymarket Riot of 1886 when an anarchist's bomb escalated the situation and police began firing into the unarmed crowd. Eight men were found guilty by a biased judge and jury with four being sentenced to death and one killing himself by exploding a bomb in his mouth.
There was fraud in the Veterans Bureau. Soldiers who hadn't been injured in the Civil War claimed to have injuries. People injured after the war claimed their injuries were war-related. Financially well off people claimed to be dependent relatives. Remarried widows claimed to still be single. Some collected checks for legitimate pensioners long dead. By the time Cleveland took office, there was a 500 percent increase in pension spending compared to twenty years ago when it should have decreased during this time.
To get around the Pension Bureau, fraudulent claims were taken directly to Congress which didn't dare reject any for fear of being labeled unpatriotic. Cleveland would research these claims even though there were thousands of them. He approved the ones that had merit and vetoed the rest. He was portrayed as being an unpatriotic draft-dodger, and many of the claims got passed during the next administration, but he did slow the fraud down.
Canada started arresting American fisherman and confiscated their boats after they illegally fished in Canadian waters. Cleveland wanted to negotiate a treaty, but the Senate blocked this. The Senate called for retaliation in the form of selectively blocking trade with Canada to benefit the New England fishing industry, but Cleveland called for all Canadian trade to be blocked which he knew they weren't willing to do, so they backed down.
When running for reelection, he won more popular votes than Benjamin Harrison, but lost the electoral vote.
Germany tried to annex the island nation of Samoa by secretly distributing arms and instigating a pro-German uprising led by a puppet ruler and forcing the rightful king into exile. Cleveland sent a flotilla of warships to protect Samoa's sovereignty.
War seemed inevitable when Harrison took office, but a hurricane destroyed both German and American flotillas before fighting could break out.
When the Clevelands left the White House, Frances told the butler to keep everything in good shape for they'd be back in four years.
After leaving the presidency, Cleveland joined a prestigious New York law firm and spent a lot of time fishing and hunting with his favorite rifle which he named Death and Destruction. In 1891, Cleveland's first child, Ruth, was born. A candy bar, still popular today, was named Baby Ruth in her honor.
Cleveland won reelection in a landslide, partly because Harrison made the unpopular decision to send in federal troops to break strikes. While the Clevelands had been away, the Harrisons had installed electricity in the White House and added some bathrooms. The single telephone had been replaced by a switchboard and an operator. Rats were still a problem, though. When Baby Ruth played outside, tourists would sneak up and hug her, causing her mother to order the gates locked. Since fashion of the day allowed a pregnant woman to hide her condition, it was a surprise to the nation when Esther was born, the first child born to a President while in the White House.
During the 1800s, colonists introduced diseases to Hawaii which reduced the native population by 80 percent. Second generation American missionaries took over the Hawaiian legislature and judiciary and passed laws disenfranchising most of the natives while allowing Americans living in Hawaii to vote. Shortly before Cleveland began his second term, the American military invaded Hawaii, a friendly sovereign nation, deposing the Queen and setting up a provisional government. Harrision tried to rush annexation, but Congress wanted to wait to see what Cleveland would do.
Cleveland wanted to annex Hawaii, but not by force. However, the provisional government refused to leave and he didn't want to expel them by force either. So he did nothing, leaving it to the next president to annex.
As the nation transitioned from an agricultural economy to an industrial one, many farmers across the nation were foreclosed upon resulting in economic deflation. Unregulated big companies crushed small businesses and slashed worker wages. Mortgage lenders charged high interest rates, railroads charged high shipping fees, manufacturers charged a lot for machinery. Crops sold for less money. Economic problems in England and Australia impacted America, leading to the Panic of 1893, the worst depression in 20 years. Railroads shut down and there was a 15 percent unemployment rate. Some people starved to death.
The reckless spending of the Harrison administration didn't help, nor did the fact The Sherman Silver Purchase Act required the government to exchange less valuable silver for more valuable gold, especially once the price of silver had dramatically fallen. Cleveland called Congress into a special session to repeal the Sherman Act.
During this time, Cleveland discovered he had mouth cancer on his "cigar-chewing" side. News of the president's illness could further exacerbate the financial crisis, so he kept it secret. The surgery took place at sea aboard a friend's yacht. A sizable portion of his jaw was removed.
Cleveland also wanted to lower tariffs, but he made so many enemies in the Senate by forcing the repeal of the Silver Act, that he couldn't lower them as much as he wanted to. They did get lowered a bit, though.
George Pullman, maker of sleeping and parlour cars for the nation's railroads, provided a village for his four thousand employees to live in, but he charged rent that was 25 percent higher than other Chicago neighborhoods, and charged ten percent higher for public water and gas. He lowered salaries 25 percent while the company was making millions of dollars. When employees asked for either lower rent or higher wages, he fired them. This led to The Chicago Pullman Strike of 1894.
Tens of thousands of men walked out around the country. Freight traffic into and out of the West was stopped. The strikers held peaceful protests which the newspapers mischaracterized as riots. Despite the objections of the governor of Illinois and mayor of Chicago, a false report convinced Cleveland to send in the military. He proclaimed martial law in Chicago and authorized putting the strikers in jail without trial. This caused violence to break out. Hundreds were wounded. Twelve were killed.
The nation faced a financial crisis as the Treasury was running out of gold. Cleveland struck a deal with New York bankers to replenish the gold supply and prevent financial ruin, although he faced criticism from those who pointed out how much the bankers profited from this.
There was a boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana, especially after gold was discovered in the region. Cleveland offered to be a mediator in the dispute, but Britain refused. The United States considered South America to be off-limits to European powers. If war broke out between England and Venezuela, Congress would involve the US in the conflict. Cleveland gave a saber-rattling speech before Congress, calling for force to defend Venezuela's boundary against England. Many newspapers called for war. England finally agreed to arbitration and the threat of war passed.
Cuba wanted independence from Spain and Congress wanted to force Cleveland to recognize Cuba diplomatically, which would have amounted to declaring war on Spain. He declined. He wanted to achieve a peaceable solution, but didn't have time in the last days of his presidency to do anything. During his last days in office, he refused to sign a bill which would prevent illiterate immigrants from entering America.
Cleveland ended his presidency hated by many in his own party. He moved to Princeton for retirement where he befriended Woodrow Wilson. He also gave lectures at Princeton and was made a trustee. In 1903, at the age of 66, his last child, Francis Grover was born. Six months later, his firstborn child Ruth died suddenly at the age of 12 from diphtheria.
Although despised when he left the presidency, by 1907 he was so popular his seventieth birthday was an informal day of national celebration. He received hundreds of congratulatory letters and telegrams.
At 22, he was admitted into the New York bar. He was a successful trial lawyer. After a few years, he took a 40 percent pay cut to become assistant district attorney because it was political in character. He once argued four major cases concurrently and won all four. He often stayed up til 3 preparing for a case and woke up at 8. He once went 36 hours without sleep.
He got out of being drafted during the Civil War by hiring a substitute to take his place. He got elected sheriff of Erie County. Cleveland executed murderers himself instead of hiring a hangman because he didn't think it was right to make another man do something so abhorrent. He also hung up sheets to prevent spectators from watching the executions.
Two of his brothers were lost at sea during this time. After three years as sheriff, he didn't seek reelection but went back to law, forming his own firm. He didn't court any women, preferring the occasional dalliance. When his sister asked when he'd get married, he said, "I'm only waiting for my wife to grow up." She thought he was joking. He wasn't.
Democrats selected Cleveland to run for mayor since he had a reputation for honesty and reform-minded Republicans supported him since the Republican nominee was corrupt. Once elected, he set about cleaning the city... literally. 36 percent of deaths were due to diseases caused by poor conditions. He improved the sewer system, brought in clean water, and vetoed a bill awarding the contract for an exorbitant sum. He saved the city hundreds of thousands of dollars by insisting upon competitive contracts. He checked invoices personally to ensure there was no fraud or waste.
When Cleveland became governor, he refused to give jobs to his friends or the people who helped him get elected, instead appointing people qualified for the jobs. He examined the facts pertaining to every bill thoroughly and vetoed any bill he concluded didn't benefit the public. He vetoed bills despite the fact his friends would benefit from them. He reviewed the details of hundreds of appeals for clemency personally. He'd arrive at his office at 9 and work til 5, although he'd often return to the office and work from 8:30 to midnight.
Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican up-and-comer in the state legislature, admired and respected Cleveland. They worked together to pass a civil service reform bill. However, they also clashed. Once a reporter witnessed Roosevelt lose it and have a temper tantrum over Cleveland vetoing some of his bills. Cleveland explained the bills had a good intent but contradicted themselves and needed to be cleaned up. Roosevelt insited the bills be passed because of the principle of the thing. Cleveland roared that he would veto the bills and slammed his fist on the desk with such force Roosevelt fell backwards into a chair.
The Mugwumps, a group of Republicans who didn't support the official Republican nominee, threw their support behind Cleveland for president even though he was a Democrat. While the Tammany Democrats opposed Cleveland and joined forces with mainstream Republicans to stop him.
When he learned he got the Democratic nomination for president, he said, "By Jove, that is something, isnt it?"
The presidential campaign of 1884 was one of the dirtiest in American history with both candidates being dragged through the mud. Republicans claimed Cleveland would bring back slavery and cut veteran benefits. They claimed he was a womanizer, which actually had a kernel of truth to it.
Worse, his friend Henry Ward Beecher tried to defend him by saying if every men who committed adultery voted for Cleveland, he'd win by a landslide. "I am afraid that I shall have occasion to pray to be delivered from my friends!" Cleveland remarked.
Cleveland believed the best way to handle the scandal was to tell the truth about it. He believed that if he owned up to the facts, the unpleasantness would be quickly forgotten. And it was.
He admitted to having an affair with Maria Halpin. She did have a child, although it's unknown who the father was since she named the child after both Cleveland and his law partner. She took to drinking and a judge sent her to a mental institution for a short time while the child was placed in an orphanage which Cleveland paid for. He also gave Maria money to start a dress salon. Cleveland then arranged for the boy to be adopted. The Republicans tried to keep the story alive in cartoons with captions such as "Ma! Ma! Where's my Pa?"
Cleveland refused to go low in return. When given records that indicated Blaine's wife was pregnant before their marriage, he burned them in the fireplace.
Blaine was expected to win. However, seven days before the election, a clergyman speaking for Blaine made an anti-Catholic statement, losing half a million votes. Blaine also lost the working class vote by having a lavish "prosperity dinner" with two hundred of the richest men in the country.
Many newspapers announced Blaine had won. There were rumors of delayed and falsified returns. Cleveland supporters threatened to riot if their man wasn't declared winner. Cleveland himself suspected fraud and later said if denied the presidency, "I should have felt it my duty to take my seat anyhow." He barely won New York by a thousand votes. From the time he was elected mayor of Buffalo, to Governor of New York to President was less than four years. A truly meteoric rise.
The spoils system was responsible for massive corruption throughout the country. Over half the federal employees in some departments were redundant in order to give jobs to political supporters. Cleveland made it clear he intended to enforced the civil service reform measures passed by the previous administration. He even let some Republican supporters keep their current jobs if he found them competent, making him many enemies in his own party.
Days before Cleveland took office, President Arthur had opened up nearly half a million acres of Winnebago and Crow Creek lands to white settlers. After hearing about atrocities suffered by the natives, Cleveland rescinded this order and ordered white settlers to evacuate. However, white people kept encroaching upon native land and conflict was inevitable. In response to an Apache attack led by Geronimo, Cleveland waged a small scale war to prevent a greater war.
Railroads and other corporations drove rightful homesteaders from their land. His agents discovered thousands of cases of fraudulent homestead claims and put a stop to it, recovering millions of dollars.
Before his marriage, his sister Rose served as First Lady. She taught at a girl's school and published essays on female writers. Rose never married, but ended up settling in Italy with a wealthy widow with whom she was buried side by side.
Frances Clara Folsom Cleveland was the youngest First Lady. She became a celebrity. Women would style their hair "à la Cleveland" and pose like her in photos. During a slow news day, reporters made up a story that Frances had stopped wearing a bustle and bustles immediately went out of fashion. Companies put her picture on products such as soap, perfume, liver pills, candy, ashtrays, and underwear without permission. Cleveland was furious. He asked congress to pass a bill forbidding it, but it failed to pass. She helped the causes of female education and female employment regardless of race. She helped found the New Jersey College for Women. She knew French, German, and Latin. She was proficient at the new art of photography and was a talented pianist.
Cleveland first met his future-wife when she was born. He was 27 at the time. She was the daughter of his law partner. He bought her first baby carriage and bounced her on his knee. He called her "Frank" and she called him Uncle Cleve. When she was ten, her father died in a carriage accident. Cleveland was named her legal guardian and took responsibility for her and her mother, although they moved and he didn't see much of them.
They corresponded while she was at college. He visited her when he could. He began to secretly court her his second year as governor. He sent flowers (and once a puppy) to her dorm room. She was with him when he learned of his presidential nomination. A friend unknowingly remarked that "If one of you young fellows doesn't take an interest in that pretty Miss Folsom the governor (Cleveland) is likely to walk off with her himself!" He didn't know his joke would turn out to be true.
Cleveland proposed to her by letter in the summer of 1885 when she and her mother were about to leave for a nine-month trip to Europe. The engagement was kept secret, although an affectionate cable he sent to their departing ship leaked to the press. It was assumed he was marrying her mother. "I don't see why the papers keep marrying me to old ladies," he told a friend. "I wonder why they don't say I am engaged to marry her daughter!"
When she returned, they got married in the White House in a small ceremony. He was 49 and she was 22. John Philip Sousa led the Marine Band in playing the Mendelssohn Wedding March.
In 1886, there were twice as many strikes as any previous year. Cleveland was sympathetic to working men and urged management to compromise with them. The Missouri Pacific Railroad Strike affected six thousand miles of railroad. Perishable goods rotted along the tracks. The cost of provisions when through the roof. Many mills and factories were forced to shut down. Fights broke out between strikers and law enforcement. Several men died. The strike eventually ended with less than 20 percent of strikers keeping their jobs.
To get labor votes, Congress passed legislation calling for arbitration of railroad disputes, legalized trade unions, and prohibited the importation of contract labor. Cleveland wanted them to go further, but signed these laws as being the best he could get.
In Chicago, a fight between police and strikers turned into the Haymarket Riot of 1886 when an anarchist's bomb escalated the situation and police began firing into the unarmed crowd. Eight men were found guilty by a biased judge and jury with four being sentenced to death and one killing himself by exploding a bomb in his mouth.
There was fraud in the Veterans Bureau. Soldiers who hadn't been injured in the Civil War claimed to have injuries. People injured after the war claimed their injuries were war-related. Financially well off people claimed to be dependent relatives. Remarried widows claimed to still be single. Some collected checks for legitimate pensioners long dead. By the time Cleveland took office, there was a 500 percent increase in pension spending compared to twenty years ago when it should have decreased during this time.
To get around the Pension Bureau, fraudulent claims were taken directly to Congress which didn't dare reject any for fear of being labeled unpatriotic. Cleveland would research these claims even though there were thousands of them. He approved the ones that had merit and vetoed the rest. He was portrayed as being an unpatriotic draft-dodger, and many of the claims got passed during the next administration, but he did slow the fraud down.
Canada started arresting American fisherman and confiscated their boats after they illegally fished in Canadian waters. Cleveland wanted to negotiate a treaty, but the Senate blocked this. The Senate called for retaliation in the form of selectively blocking trade with Canada to benefit the New England fishing industry, but Cleveland called for all Canadian trade to be blocked which he knew they weren't willing to do, so they backed down.
When running for reelection, he won more popular votes than Benjamin Harrison, but lost the electoral vote.
Germany tried to annex the island nation of Samoa by secretly distributing arms and instigating a pro-German uprising led by a puppet ruler and forcing the rightful king into exile. Cleveland sent a flotilla of warships to protect Samoa's sovereignty.
War seemed inevitable when Harrison took office, but a hurricane destroyed both German and American flotillas before fighting could break out.
When the Clevelands left the White House, Frances told the butler to keep everything in good shape for they'd be back in four years.
After leaving the presidency, Cleveland joined a prestigious New York law firm and spent a lot of time fishing and hunting with his favorite rifle which he named Death and Destruction. In 1891, Cleveland's first child, Ruth, was born. A candy bar, still popular today, was named Baby Ruth in her honor.
Cleveland won reelection in a landslide, partly because Harrison made the unpopular decision to send in federal troops to break strikes. While the Clevelands had been away, the Harrisons had installed electricity in the White House and added some bathrooms. The single telephone had been replaced by a switchboard and an operator. Rats were still a problem, though. When Baby Ruth played outside, tourists would sneak up and hug her, causing her mother to order the gates locked. Since fashion of the day allowed a pregnant woman to hide her condition, it was a surprise to the nation when Esther was born, the first child born to a President while in the White House.
During the 1800s, colonists introduced diseases to Hawaii which reduced the native population by 80 percent. Second generation American missionaries took over the Hawaiian legislature and judiciary and passed laws disenfranchising most of the natives while allowing Americans living in Hawaii to vote. Shortly before Cleveland began his second term, the American military invaded Hawaii, a friendly sovereign nation, deposing the Queen and setting up a provisional government. Harrision tried to rush annexation, but Congress wanted to wait to see what Cleveland would do.
Cleveland wanted to annex Hawaii, but not by force. However, the provisional government refused to leave and he didn't want to expel them by force either. So he did nothing, leaving it to the next president to annex.
As the nation transitioned from an agricultural economy to an industrial one, many farmers across the nation were foreclosed upon resulting in economic deflation. Unregulated big companies crushed small businesses and slashed worker wages. Mortgage lenders charged high interest rates, railroads charged high shipping fees, manufacturers charged a lot for machinery. Crops sold for less money. Economic problems in England and Australia impacted America, leading to the Panic of 1893, the worst depression in 20 years. Railroads shut down and there was a 15 percent unemployment rate. Some people starved to death.
The reckless spending of the Harrison administration didn't help, nor did the fact The Sherman Silver Purchase Act required the government to exchange less valuable silver for more valuable gold, especially once the price of silver had dramatically fallen. Cleveland called Congress into a special session to repeal the Sherman Act.
During this time, Cleveland discovered he had mouth cancer on his "cigar-chewing" side. News of the president's illness could further exacerbate the financial crisis, so he kept it secret. The surgery took place at sea aboard a friend's yacht. A sizable portion of his jaw was removed.
Cleveland also wanted to lower tariffs, but he made so many enemies in the Senate by forcing the repeal of the Silver Act, that he couldn't lower them as much as he wanted to. They did get lowered a bit, though.
George Pullman, maker of sleeping and parlour cars for the nation's railroads, provided a village for his four thousand employees to live in, but he charged rent that was 25 percent higher than other Chicago neighborhoods, and charged ten percent higher for public water and gas. He lowered salaries 25 percent while the company was making millions of dollars. When employees asked for either lower rent or higher wages, he fired them. This led to The Chicago Pullman Strike of 1894.
Tens of thousands of men walked out around the country. Freight traffic into and out of the West was stopped. The strikers held peaceful protests which the newspapers mischaracterized as riots. Despite the objections of the governor of Illinois and mayor of Chicago, a false report convinced Cleveland to send in the military. He proclaimed martial law in Chicago and authorized putting the strikers in jail without trial. This caused violence to break out. Hundreds were wounded. Twelve were killed.
The nation faced a financial crisis as the Treasury was running out of gold. Cleveland struck a deal with New York bankers to replenish the gold supply and prevent financial ruin, although he faced criticism from those who pointed out how much the bankers profited from this.
There was a boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana, especially after gold was discovered in the region. Cleveland offered to be a mediator in the dispute, but Britain refused. The United States considered South America to be off-limits to European powers. If war broke out between England and Venezuela, Congress would involve the US in the conflict. Cleveland gave a saber-rattling speech before Congress, calling for force to defend Venezuela's boundary against England. Many newspapers called for war. England finally agreed to arbitration and the threat of war passed.
Cuba wanted independence from Spain and Congress wanted to force Cleveland to recognize Cuba diplomatically, which would have amounted to declaring war on Spain. He declined. He wanted to achieve a peaceable solution, but didn't have time in the last days of his presidency to do anything. During his last days in office, he refused to sign a bill which would prevent illiterate immigrants from entering America.
Cleveland ended his presidency hated by many in his own party. He moved to Princeton for retirement where he befriended Woodrow Wilson. He also gave lectures at Princeton and was made a trustee. In 1903, at the age of 66, his last child, Francis Grover was born. Six months later, his firstborn child Ruth died suddenly at the age of 12 from diphtheria.
Although despised when he left the presidency, by 1907 he was so popular his seventieth birthday was an informal day of national celebration. He received hundreds of congratulatory letters and telegrams.
February 23, 2019
Grover Cleveland held title to many firsts - he was the first (and only) President to be elected to two non-consecutive terms (#22 and #24). He is the only President from New Jersey, the first President to have been married and have children while in the White House, and the only President who was previously a sheriff and to have personally executed a criminal. Besides these "firsts," Cleveland's Presidency is best known for his opposition to high tariffs (federal taxation of its day), support for a "hard-money" gold currency standard (in opposition to "silverites"), and a severe arbiter of the Chicago Pullman Strike of 1894. As the only Democrat elected to the Presidency between Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson, Cleveland courageously addressed these challenging issues, which did not endear him to many in his own party. However the author of this biography, Alyn Brodsky, arduously endeavors to resuscitate his image as a reformer who stood for Indian rights and against American imperialism. This is indeed admirable. However I felt Brodsky was overly biased in favor of his subject to the point that it distracted from Cleveland's true character and actions while in office. None the less, this biography of Grover Cleveland was a fascinating read, as was the man who twice occupied the White House.
December 15, 2010
The high points of President #22, and the low points of President #24 all in one 'swell' volume.
An enjoyable read. It was fun to read a different book on Benjamin Harrison (Pres. #23) in the middle of this book. The only problem is...now I can't find the dust jacket!
An enjoyable read. It was fun to read a different book on Benjamin Harrison (Pres. #23) in the middle of this book. The only problem is...now I can't find the dust jacket!
May 25, 2012
a nice balance between Cleveland the man and Cleveland the President. Enjoyed it
August 11, 2012
I read this during my chemotherapy treatments. Intersting guy who gets very little attention in US History.
November 6, 2020
I was conflicted on how to rate this, in the end a number of factors led to this dropping a star and for me that's huge, most biographies from me get four or five stars.
So why? First, this is one of the most pompous biographers I have ever read. You want to have a Thomas Pynchon like or for that matter ever a David Foster Wallace experience while reading a presidential biography, then Alyn Brodsky's your man. How many words did he use just to show his own vocabulary is too numerous to count. Get ready for going to your favorite dictionary website for obscure language that did not add one iota of difference to this tome. This isn't literature, it's a biography and this was the most annoying thing about the book.
Second, this man, literally, not figuratively, literally has a school girl crush on Grover Cleveland. Everything Cleveland did was the greatest, the most thought out, a President that can do no wrong and was loved by the people, but because of Bryan, because of that evil vile Republican Harrison, because, because, because...this is a book written by a true sycophant. I've read many books on this period besides the other presidents involved, and let's face it, Cleveland was average, and because of his own attitude didn't accomplish much, and that's why history has forgotten him. Also, Brodsky writes off every Republican president of the latter part of the nineteenth century as horrible, many were not great, but horrible is not the correct term historically and because of this crush the history gets distorted.
Third, this is what really dropped this a star, he added to appendixes, that really didn't need to be. They are a combined four to five pages, and the whole point was to apologize for Cleveland being a racist, but he really wasn't a racist because of the times, wah, wah, wah. OK Boomer. Enough already. While reading the text these two issues should have been covered in their respective places. Cleveland did not like black people, just like Kanye accused Bush. This could have easily been covered in the book and did not need to be pointed out in the end. The second looked at Cleveland's views on the Chinese, who Brodsky, ARE NOT ORIENTALS!!!!!!! This man in 2000 actually used that phrase, but again, when he covers Immigration during Cleveland's second administration, I kept saying to myself why isn't he mentioning the Chinese and other Asians. Little did I know a very mediocre apology at the end of the book would be what I was looking for.
Overall, it was a decent biography on Cleveland, you'll learn about his life, his meteoric rise to Mayor of Buffalo, then Governor of New York, and the presidency all over a course of about four years. Was he qualified, probably not, was he a gifted lawyer, yes. Did he do a lot, no. But because of the three glaring issues above I had to drop this review a star.
So why? First, this is one of the most pompous biographers I have ever read. You want to have a Thomas Pynchon like or for that matter ever a David Foster Wallace experience while reading a presidential biography, then Alyn Brodsky's your man. How many words did he use just to show his own vocabulary is too numerous to count. Get ready for going to your favorite dictionary website for obscure language that did not add one iota of difference to this tome. This isn't literature, it's a biography and this was the most annoying thing about the book.
Second, this man, literally, not figuratively, literally has a school girl crush on Grover Cleveland. Everything Cleveland did was the greatest, the most thought out, a President that can do no wrong and was loved by the people, but because of Bryan, because of that evil vile Republican Harrison, because, because, because...this is a book written by a true sycophant. I've read many books on this period besides the other presidents involved, and let's face it, Cleveland was average, and because of his own attitude didn't accomplish much, and that's why history has forgotten him. Also, Brodsky writes off every Republican president of the latter part of the nineteenth century as horrible, many were not great, but horrible is not the correct term historically and because of this crush the history gets distorted.
Third, this is what really dropped this a star, he added to appendixes, that really didn't need to be. They are a combined four to five pages, and the whole point was to apologize for Cleveland being a racist, but he really wasn't a racist because of the times, wah, wah, wah. OK Boomer. Enough already. While reading the text these two issues should have been covered in their respective places. Cleveland did not like black people, just like Kanye accused Bush. This could have easily been covered in the book and did not need to be pointed out in the end. The second looked at Cleveland's views on the Chinese, who Brodsky, ARE NOT ORIENTALS!!!!!!! This man in 2000 actually used that phrase, but again, when he covers Immigration during Cleveland's second administration, I kept saying to myself why isn't he mentioning the Chinese and other Asians. Little did I know a very mediocre apology at the end of the book would be what I was looking for.
Overall, it was a decent biography on Cleveland, you'll learn about his life, his meteoric rise to Mayor of Buffalo, then Governor of New York, and the presidency all over a course of about four years. Was he qualified, probably not, was he a gifted lawyer, yes. Did he do a lot, no. But because of the three glaring issues above I had to drop this review a star.
December 7, 2018
Most biographies make an attempt to stay somewhat neutral when writing about someone long lost to us. It's obvious there is a biased towards the subject (why else would you research and write about it?), but in Alyn Brodsky's case, he throws that right out the window. He is 100% on-board, Cleveland was one of the best President's we've ever had fanboy in this book.
That's not to say he's wrong on some of the things he writes and says about the President, but at times it's a bit much. As for Cleveland, it's odd that he went from winning a big election, to losing for a term, to winning a landslide, to being nearly hated by the end of the second term. It shows how fickle the American people were then (and can still be now, I suppose).
Most of the book washes over Grover's private life except a few moments thrown in for flavor, and a lot of the book is bogged down in political history (who voted for what at what time), so the "story" behind the votes and laws is kind of lost. The treatment of Hawaii, the gold/silver standard, and the beginning of Unions should be pretty gripping stories of how our nation came to be as it is today, but instead, it kind of reads like a dictionary, and falls a bit flat, not giving much credit to the man holding the reigns through most of it.
Going into this biography, I didn't know much about Grover Cleveland besides his two terms were split and his daughter Ruth is the actual namesake of the Baby Ruth candy bar, and not Babe Ruth the baseball player. Now that I've finished it...I still can't say I know that much more about the man. The end of the 1800's was an interesting time, and I'd like to say Grover Cleveland was an interesting man, but I just didn't get that much from this biography. Maybe I'll revisit a different one someday.
That's not to say he's wrong on some of the things he writes and says about the President, but at times it's a bit much. As for Cleveland, it's odd that he went from winning a big election, to losing for a term, to winning a landslide, to being nearly hated by the end of the second term. It shows how fickle the American people were then (and can still be now, I suppose).
Most of the book washes over Grover's private life except a few moments thrown in for flavor, and a lot of the book is bogged down in political history (who voted for what at what time), so the "story" behind the votes and laws is kind of lost. The treatment of Hawaii, the gold/silver standard, and the beginning of Unions should be pretty gripping stories of how our nation came to be as it is today, but instead, it kind of reads like a dictionary, and falls a bit flat, not giving much credit to the man holding the reigns through most of it.
Going into this biography, I didn't know much about Grover Cleveland besides his two terms were split and his daughter Ruth is the actual namesake of the Baby Ruth candy bar, and not Babe Ruth the baseball player. Now that I've finished it...I still can't say I know that much more about the man. The end of the 1800's was an interesting time, and I'd like to say Grover Cleveland was an interesting man, but I just didn't get that much from this biography. Maybe I'll revisit a different one someday.
July 1, 2021
A president so nice, that he served twice. And is counted twice for some reason...
Brodsky does a serviceable job with this biography of Cleveland. It’s a pretty standard biographical affair that covers his life, his NY governorship, his two disjointed presidential terms, with a few brief chapters on his post-presidential life in Princeton. The main thrust of this book is to contend that while Cleveland was a middling president he stood apart from his contemporaries in that he was fiercely principled. Brodsky does a good job in building this case and it shows in Cleveland’s own political life and his ousting from office twice, but also how respected he was at the same time. Having read books on the presidents before him I found Brodsky’s claims that they were all inept fools and moral and intellectual ingrates a little far-fetched. They weren’t all amazing, but they weren’t inept either.
The thing that dominated his presidency was the fight over what metal should form the baseline of the currency: gold or silver. This is one of those historical debates, like the national bank of the early presidents, that seems so far removed it is hard to care about but Brodsky did a good job at introducing the players and showing why it was important to the people at the time. I also got a look at one of my favorite characters of American history: William Jennings Bryan. He isn’t portrayed very favorably but it’s cool to see where he becomes a major player. The other interesting political takeaway was that it was very common for sitting presidents, if they were unpopular, to be primaries by their own party. This never happens today, but Cleveland is just one more in the line of a few who have been primaried out of their position as president. Makes me wonder if we will see this crop up again in our lifetimes.
This book certainly gave me appreciation for Cleveland and I liked learning that he was a Jersey boy along with all of the other historical happenings that occurred around him. A fine single volume biography on the man.
Brodsky does a serviceable job with this biography of Cleveland. It’s a pretty standard biographical affair that covers his life, his NY governorship, his two disjointed presidential terms, with a few brief chapters on his post-presidential life in Princeton. The main thrust of this book is to contend that while Cleveland was a middling president he stood apart from his contemporaries in that he was fiercely principled. Brodsky does a good job in building this case and it shows in Cleveland’s own political life and his ousting from office twice, but also how respected he was at the same time. Having read books on the presidents before him I found Brodsky’s claims that they were all inept fools and moral and intellectual ingrates a little far-fetched. They weren’t all amazing, but they weren’t inept either.
The thing that dominated his presidency was the fight over what metal should form the baseline of the currency: gold or silver. This is one of those historical debates, like the national bank of the early presidents, that seems so far removed it is hard to care about but Brodsky did a good job at introducing the players and showing why it was important to the people at the time. I also got a look at one of my favorite characters of American history: William Jennings Bryan. He isn’t portrayed very favorably but it’s cool to see where he becomes a major player. The other interesting political takeaway was that it was very common for sitting presidents, if they were unpopular, to be primaries by their own party. This never happens today, but Cleveland is just one more in the line of a few who have been primaried out of their position as president. Makes me wonder if we will see this crop up again in our lifetimes.
This book certainly gave me appreciation for Cleveland and I liked learning that he was a Jersey boy along with all of the other historical happenings that occurred around him. A fine single volume biography on the man.
October 28, 2019
Continuing my ongoing journey through the presidential biography canon - this book was a pleasant surprise. Probably like most Americans, I knew very little about our 22 and 24 president (other than he is the only president to be elected to two non-consecutive terms). Although the author is clearly a huge Cleveland fan, I was able find some nuance. It seems clear that Cleveland was an honest and devoted public servant. He put country ahead of party and himself and was maniacal about not appearing to profit from the office. It's hard to say if he was a 'successful' president - he never really solved the bimetalism issue in his eight years and the country was no more united after his terms than before. But as I read more presidential biographies it's becoming clear at this point in history that the office for many, including Cleveland, was about keeping the country united as best it could, ensuring the electorate had faith in the office and its institutions and norms, and allowing legislators to legislate and executives to execute. As with many, many presidents of this era, there were two sides - the more progressive side who helped reduce the patronage and corruption of the office and the racially insensitive side. I would say that Cleveland is a very under-rated president - he didn't have much flash, but he was honest, diligent, and careful to leave the office in a better place after he retired.
November 25, 2024
For a person with interest in reading a biography about every president, it can be difficult to find a suitable choices for the pre-1900 presidents - in this case I happened upon it at the library and gave it a shot. The problem with this biography is the author's deep bias. He loves Cleveland and wants you to know it. There is little to no critical analysis or any attempt to neutrally lay out the facts. Conveniently, he consigns all of Cleveland's less savory activities (for example, race relations) to an appendix in the back so that the main text can remain flowery.
The author's style overall also just leaves something to be desired. He engages in a conversational tone, at times making unserious jokes or metaphors, only then to sprinkle in vocabulary words that are so obscure that they distracts from the sentence or paragraph (ex. Tergiversation, salubrious, obstreperous, perspicacious, vituperation... You get the point). The author also wants you to know that he does not like contemporary presidents like Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton (he repeatedly singles them out, sometimes in non-sequiturs, as flagrantly unethical and bad presidents, worse than any presidents before them, which seemed out of place in a biography about a guy who was president 100 years earlier). I've never read a presidential biography that made such attempts to put down such a number of other presidents.
Overall, I learned some stuff about Cleveland in a book that was not well written.
The author's style overall also just leaves something to be desired. He engages in a conversational tone, at times making unserious jokes or metaphors, only then to sprinkle in vocabulary words that are so obscure that they distracts from the sentence or paragraph (ex. Tergiversation, salubrious, obstreperous, perspicacious, vituperation... You get the point). The author also wants you to know that he does not like contemporary presidents like Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton (he repeatedly singles them out, sometimes in non-sequiturs, as flagrantly unethical and bad presidents, worse than any presidents before them, which seemed out of place in a biography about a guy who was president 100 years earlier). I've never read a presidential biography that made such attempts to put down such a number of other presidents.
Overall, I learned some stuff about Cleveland in a book that was not well written.
July 7, 2025
This biography of Grover Cleveland, the 22 and 24 President of the United States, is just what the title says. This biography focuses greatly on Cleveland's character, who is generally considered the most honest President.
After a meteoric rise in politics, he became President really because he had no marks against him. As President, he stuck to his principles and beliefs even when it was to his own disadvantage. His second term was much different. His unyielding stubbornness led to a difficult Presidency and tarnished his view as President. The author makes the case that Cleveland has been proved over time, if stubborn, correct yet is overlooked as a great President because of his unwillingness to compromise or to adjust his views when advantageous to his own reputation.
A good biography and I find it interesting that several of the debates today (tariffs) were also a major issue during Cleveland's Presidency.
After a meteoric rise in politics, he became President really because he had no marks against him. As President, he stuck to his principles and beliefs even when it was to his own disadvantage. His second term was much different. His unyielding stubbornness led to a difficult Presidency and tarnished his view as President. The author makes the case that Cleveland has been proved over time, if stubborn, correct yet is overlooked as a great President because of his unwillingness to compromise or to adjust his views when advantageous to his own reputation.
A good biography and I find it interesting that several of the debates today (tariffs) were also a major issue during Cleveland's Presidency.
August 9, 2022
This is the hard part of reading biographies. When you are reading only one book on a person, you hope you get somewhat of a balanced approach. You don't know or care enough about the person to read more on them.
Through the years I've heard nothing but bad things about Cleveland. It seemed as if the author tried to give a balanced view on his subject, but his tone was almost hysterical in his desire to exalt Cleveland as (flawed) man of character. I kept hearing "zounds" and "huzzah" in the background as I read.
And his vocabulary? From time to time he would throw a totally unnecessary term in there for whatever reason. "Sanguiolent?" Really?
But I did walk away with a much better feel for the times. I also thought the author did a good job explaining the free silver conflict and its impact at that time.
Through the years I've heard nothing but bad things about Cleveland. It seemed as if the author tried to give a balanced view on his subject, but his tone was almost hysterical in his desire to exalt Cleveland as (flawed) man of character. I kept hearing "zounds" and "huzzah" in the background as I read.
And his vocabulary? From time to time he would throw a totally unnecessary term in there for whatever reason. "Sanguiolent?" Really?
But I did walk away with a much better feel for the times. I also thought the author did a good job explaining the free silver conflict and its impact at that time.
February 20, 2025
I wanted to read about a president with strong ethics, a person of character. I actually enjoyed the beginning of the book - particularly the section on Cleveland as Buffalo's mayor and as New York State governor. He did not buckle to Tammany Hall and supported policies on their merits, not as a result of political pressure. Cleveland continued to maintain these standards as president. He believed the federal government was for all people, not just special interest groups. He sought lower tariffs and a tax system that would somewhat limit the wealth gap. And yet, his monetary policies and handling of labor disputes were pro-business, and his second term left the Democratic party in disarray. By page 400, I couldn't bear it anymore. The chaos was an echo of current times. I put the book down.
The book is dense and not easy to read.
The book is dense and not easy to read.
August 11, 2021
If you want to read a biography of Grover Cleveland, there are not a lot of choices. Nevertheless, you could probably find a better one than this. Grover Cleveland had to have been more likable than Mr Brodsky with all his ten dollar words renders him here.
But the bigger problem with this biography is Mr Brodsky’s tendency to make sweeping declarative statements about the subject’s thoughts and motivations without backing them up. His thesis is that Cleveland is an under rated President, but again, expects the reader to take him at his word, rather than bring in the broader context to support it.
But the bigger problem with this biography is Mr Brodsky’s tendency to make sweeping declarative statements about the subject’s thoughts and motivations without backing them up. His thesis is that Cleveland is an under rated President, but again, expects the reader to take him at his word, rather than bring in the broader context to support it.
May 17, 2022
Pros: short and effective chapters that makes the book a page turner that is easy to read and informative on a lesser known and highly underrated president that Brodsky really gives readers a good perspective on.
Cons: despite a character study he conveniently places the unavoidable criticisms of Cleveland in the appendix as an afterthought. He takes inconsistent breaks in the narrations a few times to tell us directly what he thinks, or even to move the subject along. It also seems that Brodsky cares as more about undermining the successes of the other presidents around Cleveland as well as anyone who ever disagreed with him.
Cons: despite a character study he conveniently places the unavoidable criticisms of Cleveland in the appendix as an afterthought. He takes inconsistent breaks in the narrations a few times to tell us directly what he thinks, or even to move the subject along. It also seems that Brodsky cares as more about undermining the successes of the other presidents around Cleveland as well as anyone who ever disagreed with him.
October 28, 2019
A highly underrated President who deserves more recognition than what he gets.This biography is very readable and engaging. The main down side is that Brodsky continually takes you out of the 1890s to give you political commentary on modern-day presidents. I prefer authors to at least pretend not to be biased and to just present the story. Other than, that I can highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the time leading up to the turn of the twentieth century.
June 25, 2018
Cleveland is a fascinating president, largely forgotten by history. Brodsky’s book does a good job discussing Cleveland’s politics and political career, but fails to provide an illuminating picture of his personal life. This book gets three stars for the me editing mistakes, over the top verbiage and flowery language, and the unnecessarily frequent insertion of the authors own political views.
November 27, 2020
A fair president but a less-than-mediocre biography. Also for a book written in 2000 the author disappoints with his racist language throughout even designating relations with Black citizens and Chinese immigrants to the appendix.
July 12, 2018
Good book about an honest, unexciting man
August 25, 2019
A long book with many short chapters. The author's thesis is that Cleveland is America's "most under-appreciated president". He attempts to prove this by extolling Cleveland's personal character and constitutional conservatism. I need to read a few more biographies of this president before I could totally agree with the core assertion—this one book comes off as a little slanted.
July 13, 2020
Definitely bobs down in the middle...when he was NY Gov, etc. but beginning and Presidential years are good. After leaving DC informative. Great President.
January 27, 2023
Cleveland's life was fascinating to learn in more detail. The author, however, didn't keep his own politics out of the narrative.
November 17, 2015
So I was looking for a biography about Grover Cleveland simply because I knew next to nothing about him (other than Ma, where is my pa?, the non consecutive term, and the origin of the Baby Ruth candy bar). The classic biography on Cleveland is the one Allan Nevins, but it is expensive and long. Brodsky's seemed to be a good alternative.
I did learn a lot about Grover Cleveland so the biography worked from that standpoint. Brodsky does a good job of painting a picture of a President who fought against graft and corruption in politics, was above party, had a strong sense of duty to those who elected him, and was an all around decent guy. His rise from Mayor of Buffalo to Governor of New York to President was phenomenal. Also interesting was his popularity as President during his first term only to see him lose the election on his second run, then reclaiming the Presidency and becoming the most unpopular person in America only to be completely vindicated 8 years later. All the while Cleveland remained true to himself with little regard with the opinion of others.
Cleveland was not the smartest President we have ever had. One can not see him pulling off detente with the Soviet Union because of pressure derived from a restored relationship with China leading to the ending of the Vietnam War. However, he was capable, honest, and resolute in his principles. He stood for lowered tariffs because it benefited the people and not special interests. He stood for sound money because he knew the economy depended on it - on this principle he was most despised but ultimately vindicated. Cleveland also had a very enlightened foreign view of the Native Americans and refused to be entangled in foreign policy misadventures like Hawaii and the Cuban revolution. Cleveland was boring in many ways, but I think he would be a welcome antidote to our time of celebrity politics and special interest driven policy.
While I did achieve my goal of learning about Cleveland, I cannot say I enjoyed reading this book. Too often Brodsky, likely in an attempt to illustrate his points with a contemporary audience, made facile comparisons with modern Presidents. These comparisons took the form of unsupported, sweeping judgments. It was not so much partisan (he negatively judged Democratic Presidents and Republican ones), they just seemed silly and unnecessary. He also seemed to have a pathological need to use obscure vocabulary for no particular reason. It was like he read a thesaurus each night before he went to bed. The word antipathetic was used 4 times. Also he used words like geminate and salmagundi. They were of no particular benefit and actually not used as deftly as one needs to when employing this level of vocabulary. I expected better from an author whose background was in journalism. As a result of these two negatives, I found the biography a less enjoyable read than it could have been.
I did learn a lot about Grover Cleveland so the biography worked from that standpoint. Brodsky does a good job of painting a picture of a President who fought against graft and corruption in politics, was above party, had a strong sense of duty to those who elected him, and was an all around decent guy. His rise from Mayor of Buffalo to Governor of New York to President was phenomenal. Also interesting was his popularity as President during his first term only to see him lose the election on his second run, then reclaiming the Presidency and becoming the most unpopular person in America only to be completely vindicated 8 years later. All the while Cleveland remained true to himself with little regard with the opinion of others.
Cleveland was not the smartest President we have ever had. One can not see him pulling off detente with the Soviet Union because of pressure derived from a restored relationship with China leading to the ending of the Vietnam War. However, he was capable, honest, and resolute in his principles. He stood for lowered tariffs because it benefited the people and not special interests. He stood for sound money because he knew the economy depended on it - on this principle he was most despised but ultimately vindicated. Cleveland also had a very enlightened foreign view of the Native Americans and refused to be entangled in foreign policy misadventures like Hawaii and the Cuban revolution. Cleveland was boring in many ways, but I think he would be a welcome antidote to our time of celebrity politics and special interest driven policy.
While I did achieve my goal of learning about Cleveland, I cannot say I enjoyed reading this book. Too often Brodsky, likely in an attempt to illustrate his points with a contemporary audience, made facile comparisons with modern Presidents. These comparisons took the form of unsupported, sweeping judgments. It was not so much partisan (he negatively judged Democratic Presidents and Republican ones), they just seemed silly and unnecessary. He also seemed to have a pathological need to use obscure vocabulary for no particular reason. It was like he read a thesaurus each night before he went to bed. The word antipathetic was used 4 times. Also he used words like geminate and salmagundi. They were of no particular benefit and actually not used as deftly as one needs to when employing this level of vocabulary. I expected better from an author whose background was in journalism. As a result of these two negatives, I found the biography a less enjoyable read than it could have been.
February 4, 2016
Grover Cleveland by Brodsky. Unfortunately, Cleveland still awaits a great biography. Brodsky does cover Cleveland's life. He covers his meteoric rise from Mayor of Buffalo, to Governor of New York, and on to President of the United States in only three years. The chief issues in his presidency were the silver issue, high tariffs, and labor unrest. In foreign policy he dealt with Hawaii, Cuba, the Monroe Doctrine, and Samoa. Even though he was initially elected as a reformer with the aid of the Mugwumps, Brodsky fails to criticize Cleveland for never fulfilling this promise. When the Haymarket riots occurred in Chicago, he too quickly sided with Big Business. Again, although Brodsky does note this angered Labor, Brodsky does not provide other possible avenues for Cleveland. Could he have worked with both Labor and Big Business or was sending in federal troops to crush Labor really the only way? On the silver issue, Brodsky does describe how Cleveland's silver letter was a courageous act on his part. Also, his signal achievement was the repeal of the silver coinage act. But again Brodsky fails the reader by not explaining why this defeat was economically necessary. In my meager research, I was unable to find that the repeal of the silver act solved the Panic of 1893. Brodsky does show how Cleveland lost the Democratic Party to William Jennings Bryan. Brodsky says unconvincingly Cleveland did not like Theodore Roosevelt because they were different personalities. But perhaps his dislike was because Roosevelt was a Progressive and a Trustbuster which Cleveland was not. Brodsky does describe Cleveland as being just as honest a president as Truman. But Truman had many accomplishments. Cleveland had one major accomplishment -- the defeat of the silver coinage act. His other major act was an attempt to repeal the high tariff act which failed. Thus, Brodsky fails to convince this reader that Cleveland was a more significant president than either Hayes or Arthur even though he had two terms to their one. Cleveland was noteworthy as the only Democratic President Between Woodrow Wilson and James Buchanan.
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