Monday, March 28, 2016

Grover Cleveland – Caldwell, NJ
February 14, 2016

It probably wasn’t romantic love that 27-year-old Grover Cleveland, future President of the United States, felt for Frances Folsom, his future wife, when he first held her in his arms. She was undeniably cute and probably cooed at him. His first gift to her was a baby carriage—for her to ride in!  You see, Frances had just been born to Cleveland’s law partner and friend, Oscar Folsom.

Over the years, Cleveland spent a great deal of time with Frances, even serving as a baby sitter.  When Frances was 11, Oscar Folsom died suddenly in a carriage accident. Cleveland was named her guardian. (Remember this happened with the family of Rutherford B. Hayes, too, when his father died of typhus;  Hayes’ Uncle Sardis took over the family since a woman could not be the head of a family.)  As a well-off lawyer, Cleveland provided for the family and eventually sent Frances to Wells College. It was while she was in college and he was in the White House that his feelings turned romantic. He proposed to her in a letter.

In honor of this romantic tale, we decided to spend Valentine’s Day — not to mention President’s Day weekend — at Cleveland’s birthplace in Caldwell, N.J.

***

We headed out on Saturday, Feb. 13, driving four hours north on Interstate 95 on a super-cold and windy President’s Day weekend.

We stayed overnight in Parsippany, about a 15-minute drive away. We hunted down our hotel and headed out
BBQ chicken at Tino's.
for dinner immediately, without checking in first (Cathy had to help edit coverage of one of the many frenzied 2016 Republican presidential debates). We chose Tino’s BBQ & Grill, a small, family-owned restaurant specializing in Portuguese fare. We went with the whole barbecued chicken, which was huge and cut into big pieces, grilled with very tasty spices. It came with roasted potatoes and a sautéed vegetable mixture of carrots, cabbage and broccoli.

The next day—Valentine's Day—we drove to Caldwell with the temperature not much above zero, and the wind was whipping.   When we stopped to fill up our gas tank, we were thrilled that New Jersey law doesn't allow you to pump your own gas. Tom commented to the shivering gas station attendant that at least it was sunny. He replied, "This is very worst."

"The Caldwells," on Bloomfield Avenue is mainly a series of shopping centers lining a divided road until you get to the historic district.  Downtown Caldwell — what we saw of it since walking outside for any length of time was a non-starter — was a couple blocks of stores and churches lining Bloomfield Avenue. The First Presbyterian Church, dedicated in 1875, is the center
of the town, and its Gothic Revival architecture towered above the street.
Did we mention it was cold?
First Presbyterian Church

Grover’s birthplace didn’t open until 1 p.m. on Sunday, so assisted by the wind we walked (very quickly) down to the house and peaked out of our thick clothes at the surroundings, we turned around and fought our way through the gale to Rock n Joe’s, a coffeehouse at the corner of Bloomfield and Smull avenues. We chose a small round table, with one seat a booth bench, with the bright—and warm—sun beaming in through the glass front. The café has comfy chairs and sofas throughout, but they were all taken. Record albums, concert posters and photos of famous musicians of the 1970s and ‘80s line the walls – Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, B-52s, David Bowie, and of course Bruce Springsteen (this is New Jersey, after all). We asked our 20-something waitress if she knew any of the artists. “No. Well, I know who David Bowie is.” (Bowie had just died the month before)

Warming up at Rock n Joe's.
The rockin wall at Rock n Joe's.
We ordered a tomato garden vegetable soup and an incredibly tasty panini (choose the 8-grain) of grilled chicken, mozzarella and red pepper, which we split. For dessert, and further warm-up, a nicely chocolaty hot chocolate before we ventured back into the chill to visit Grover Cleveland’s birthplace.

***

Grover was named for a longtime pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Stephen Grover, which was typical and a major sign of respect back then. Grover was actually born Stephen Grover Cleveland, but he dropped the “Stephen” in his teens because he liked “Grover” better, as it was more distinctive.

Grover's father was the current pastor at the church, and Grover was born in the parsonage, the two-story frame house where we now stood.  Grover was born here on March 18, 1837, and lived here for four years, until his father moved to New York to become the reverend of a church in Fayetteville, New York in 1841. His father later moved to two other parishes in Holland Patent, New York.

Cleveland's birth home.
The house was constructed in 1832, and it has the same footprint today as it did back then – it also has the same floors, doorframes and fireplaces. According to our tour guide, Paula, a retired high school history teacher, the Clevelands were the second family to occupy the house, moving here in 1834.

The house had to have been cramped, since the Clevelands had three rooms to house Grover, his moth
Inside the house.

er and father and six brothers and sisters. All cooking and bathing was done in the downstairs kitchen, while most of the children stayed upstairs in the third room. The baby stayed in the Cleveland parents’ room. Today, Grover’s cradle is in that room, made in 1787 of white pine.

When his father died, Grover’s plan to go to Hamilton College ended. Instead, he took jobs to help support his family. His two older brothers were in the Army so they couldn’t help out. Grover worked at law firms and passed the bar, without ever going to college or law school.  (This was not uncommon.)

The three rooms now are full of memorabilia, from Grover’s childhood to his marriage to Frances (including his wedding clothes, the invitation and the wreath Frances wore on her head) to the casts that were made of his mouth when he was treated for mouth cancer. There are also campaign buttons and ribbons, his pipe and other assorted personal items.

Guide Paula shows Cathy
 an old photo.
There also are pictures of Grover’s grandson in Hawaii. The Hawaiians love Grover because he refused to annex the islands in 1896, when he had a chance to do so. Instead, William McKinley did that two years after Grover’s second term, kicking out the queen.

***

Exhibits in the Cleveland home.
As the election of 1884 unfolded, the Gilded Age was in full swing — one-eighth of the population owned seven-eighths of the country’s wealth. The Republicans, who had won every election since 1860, put up James G. Blaine as their candidate. The Democrats selected Cleveland, who had had a meteoric political rise. In the space of three years, he rose from Mayor of Buffalo to New York Governor. Now he was one election away from the Presidency. 

The election proved to be the dirtiest to date.

His opponents unearthed an old paternity case against Cleveland. He was accused of having a child with Maria Halpin, a woman to whom he was not married. Although both were unmarried at the time, this was a scandal by late 1800’s standards. The papers ran a cartoon of a woman holding a baby screaming, “Ma, Ma, where’s my pa?”  (After he won the election, this line was added to the rhyme: “Gone to the White House, ha ha ha.” But Cleveland admitted his role even though he was not sure if the child was actually his. In fact, it may have been that of his married law partner, Oscar Folsom. The mother, who was paid $500, named the boy Oscar. 
Ma, Ma, where's my pa?
The public soon forgave Cleveland.

Cleveland ran on a platform of civil service reform, free public education and lower tariffs on imports. He was supported by the Mugwumps (an Algonquin word for “war leader” and also a derisive term for Republicans who abandoned their own party to support Cleveland). The Mugwumps were said to be too sanctimonious to support the scandal-plagued Blaine.   (Blaine had been involved in a railroad financial scandal.)

The election of 1884 took place during the long recession of 1882-1885.  In the days leading up to the election, Blaine sat quietly in a church service where the minister called the Democratic party the party of “rum, Romanism, and rebellion.”  The press picked up this story and  the Catholic voters—including many of the Irish Americans in New York—did not appreciate this comment and voted against Blaine.  Blaine lost New York by about 1,047 votes of 1.1 million cast.  So Cleveland squeaked by on the popular vote, 4,875,000 to 4,852,000 (a 0.5% margin), but more comfortably in the Electoral College, 219 to 182.

With his win, Cleveland became the first Democrat elected president since James Buchanan in 1857.

Like the Democrats before him, Cleveland was a conservative. (Back in the 1800s, the Democrats were the often the conservative party and the Republicans were often the party of radical change;  Lincoln skirted the Constitution to abolish slavery.)  Cleveland continued the conservative tradition by vetoing just about every bill passed by Congress — 414 in his first term. That was twice as many as all the other former presidents combined. He vetoed a bill to provide money to drought-stricken farmers because it would “encourage the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weaken the sturdiness of our national character.”  He vetoed the Rivers and Harbors Bill—an infrastructure improvement bill—to save money.  He vetoed many of the pensions to Union veterans both because he thought many were fraudulent and because they were too much of a drain on the treasury.

Vetoing the pension bills was especially egregious to the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic because Cleveland was the first president since the 1860s to not have served in the Civil War. (He was drafted but paid $150 to a Polish immigrant to fight in his place. That was legal under the Conscription Act of 1863.  Cleveland claimed that he needed to support his family, which was true. Fortunately, his substitute survived the war.) To further irritate the former vets, Cleveland issued an executive order to return captured Confederate flags to Southern leaders. He rescinded the order after an outcry.

In spite of his conservatism, and his party’s wish for political appointments after a long drought, Cleveland continued the expansion of civil service protection, doubling the number of federal workers covered by the Civil Service Commission. “Our citizens have the right to protection from the incompetency of public employees who hold their places solely as the reward of partisan service,” he said.

During his term in office, Cleveland worked hard to lower tariffs, which he regarded as a “vicious, inequitable and illogical source of unnecessary taxation.” He also signed the Interstate Commerce Act, which was written to stop railroad rate abuse.

Another notable achievement was the authorization of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. just as his term came to an end.  Up to that point, the Smithsonian maintained a collection of live animals on the Mall—about 200 various species.  A new home was found close to Rock Creek on the outskirts of the city.  Cleveland’s home, in the section now known as Cleveland Park, was close to the zoo.

* * *

Frances Cleveland
On June 2, 1886, 21-year old Frances Folsom married 49-year old Grover Cleveland — a man she had once called ‘Uncle Cleve’—in the White House Blue Room. John Philip Sousa led the Marine Band. Because they spent their honeymoon fishing in nearby Deer Park, Md., they were hounded by reporters, not yet known as “paparazzi.” Despite the age difference, it was a happy and loving marriage that produced five children.

The new, and youngest, first lady became a sensation and was adored by the public. She set the trends for popular fashion. Her image was everywhere, including in unauthorized advertising such as a cosmetic laced with arsenic. When Ruth, their first child, was born in 1893, the Curtis Candy Company named a candy bar after her: Baby Ruth. (Sadly Ruth died at age 12 of diphtheria.

As he neared the end of his first term in 1888, Cleveland was unpopular, both because of his anti-veteran stance and because of his embrace of low tariffs on imported goods.  His opponent was former President William Henry Harrison’s grandson, Benjamin. The 1888 election was one of the most corrupt campaigns in history.  (But more on that when we visit Benjamin Harrison.) When the votes were tallied, Cleveland actually won the popular vote 5,540,000 to 5,440,000 but lost the electoral votes 233-168.

As they moved out of the White House, Francis is reportedly said to have advised the White House staff to take good care of everything because they would be back. 

And four years later they were.

Directions

Grover Cleveland’s house is located at 207 Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell, New Jersey.  It is open all year but only Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 to 12:00 and then 1:00 to 4:00.  On Sunday the house is only open from 1:00 to 4:00.  https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/grover_cleveland_birthplace.html

References

Ackerman, S.J.  2014.  First Lady, First Celebrity.  Washington Post Magazine.  July 6, 2014.  pp. 10-15.

Algeo, Matthew, 2011.  The President is a Sick Man:  Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth.  Chicago Review Press, Chicago, IL.

Carter, Graydon.  2010.  Vanity Fair’s Presidential Profiles.  Abrams, New York, NY.

Current, R.N., T.H. Williams, and F. Freidel.  1975.  American History:  A Survey.  Fourth Edition.  Volume II:  Since 1865.  Alfred A. Knopf.  New York, NY.

Furgurson, Ernest.  2013.  Moment of Truth.  American History.  October 2013.  pp. 64-68.

Moore, K.  2007.  The American President.  Fall River Press.  New York, New York.

Riccards, M.P.  1995.  The Ferocious Engine of Democracy.  Madison Books.  Lanham, MD

Smith, Carter.  2005.  Presidents:  Every Question Answered.  Metro Books.  New York, NY.

Videos

History Channel.  2005.  The Presidents:  The Lives and Legacies of the 43 Leaders of the United States.

Websites