(02-06-2012 12:05 )skully Wrote: 1886 – U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.
Grover Cleveland was a batchelor when he entered the White House and his sister acted as "hostess" at official functions for his first two years in office.
At the age of 49 he married the 21 year old Frances Folsom, the daughter of a family friend.
This marriage was unusual because Cleveland was the executor of Oscar Folsom's estate and had supervised Frances' upbringing after her father's death, but the public did not take exception to the match. Frances Folsom Cleveland remains the youngest ever First Lady, and the public soon warmed to her beauty and warm personality. They had five children but the first wasn't born until five years into their marriage when Cleveland was 54 and the last in 1903 when he was 67.
However, the best known of Grover Cleveland's records was that he was also the only President to serve non-consecutive terms.
Having won the 1884 Presidential election (the first Democrat to do so since 1861) by a narrow margin Cleveland was expected to be re-elected in 1888. The economy was doing well and the country was at peace but despite winning the popular vote Cleveland lost on the Electoral College to Benjamin Harrison in a bad tempered campaign with allegations of fraud on both sides.
The crucial state was New York, ironically Cleveland's home state, which he lost by just 14,000 votes out of an electorate of more than 1 million. Winning New York would have given him victory.
The 1892 election was rather different. President Harrison's wife was terminally ill and out of respect for her both sides agreed not to indulge in the usual mud-slinging and the entire campaign was low-key. Cleveland's running mate was Adlai Stevenson, grandfather of the 1950's Presidential hopeful, and they romped home by a convincing margin. Cleveland was therefore both the 22nd and 24th Presidents of the United States.
However, no sooner had Cleveland resumed office when the country hit the worst economic crisis it had ever known to that point ("the panic of 93"), prompted by railroad bankruptcies and a severe period of recession began. To make matters worse, Cleveland was diagnosed with a tumour of the mouth, requiring an operation. The news was kept secret to prevent another run on the dollar and further stock market panic and the operation took place on a ship whilst Cleveland was supposedly on holiday. Emergency dental treatment was the cover story for the facial disfigurement and the truth wasn't revealed until 1917.
The Republicans won a landslide victory in the 1894 mid-term Congressional elections and the Democrats were consigned to opposition for another 20 years. Any thoughts of running for a third term in 1896 were a non-starter (due to the political climate, that is - the "two-term" limit for Presidents wasn't brought in until the 1940s) and the Republican McKinley romped home anyway. Cleveland quietly went into retirement, although he served as a trustee of Princeton University for a while.
Cleveland was generally regarded as a decent and honest man, but his "principled" stands sometimes crossed the line into stubborn and uncompromising behaviour. Critics complained that he showed little imagination and he seemed overwhelmed by the economic problems in his second term, but his reputation as a man of good character has meant that his historical legacy has been largely favourable, although not spectacular (he is ranked 19th out of 43 in the American Historical Society Presidential Ratings).
Although the operation for his mouth cancer had been a complete success his health deteriorated in later years (he had been a chain smoker of cigars) and he fell seriously ill in 1907. In 1908 he suffered a fatal heart attack and died at the age of 71.
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