Grover Cleveland (No. 24) - Bourne, MA

October 29, 2016

Portrait of Grover Cleveland by Anders Zorn

A 138-foot-long, iron-hulled yacht bobs slowly at anchor in Long Island Sound. Below deck a man, clad only in underwear, is sprawled unconscious on a wooden chair, his head thrown back, his mouth gaping. Several men loom over him. Finally one man digs a metal tool into the unconscious man’s mouth. There is blood everywhere. 

The man in the chair is President Grover Cleveland. The year is 1893. The man with the cruel tool is Dr. Joseph Bryant, of New York. He and a team of five doctors are removing a cancerous growth from the roof of Cleveland’s mouth. 

But why on a boat and not a hospital?

Because Cleveland did not want anyone to know he had cancer. The public had recently witnessed the very public suffering and eventual death of former President Ulysses S. Grant from throat cancer.  Cleveland thought that if the public knew he had cancer, it would weaken him politically. 

And the summer of 1893 was a sensitive time. 

The Panic of 1893 struck shortly after Cleveland’s second election in 1892. The overbuilt railroad industry bubble had popped and 119 railroads were in or about to enter bankruptcy. Prices were falling and unemployment was rising — eventually to 20%.  There was also a gold shortage.

Cleveland had called for a special session of Congress on Aug. 7 to consider repealing former President Benjamin Harrison’s Silver Act.  Because silver could be redeemed as gold one to one, and because silver was much more available than gold, there were fears that gold reserves would fall below $100 million. This squeezed the money supply, further depressing prices.

Matthew Algeo describes the surgery and its aftermath in his excellent book:  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. In late June 1893, Cleveland rode a special Pullman car attached to the end of the New York Express from Washington, D.C., to New York City. He boarded a launch in Lower Manhattan and was carried to the Oneida, a swift racing yacht supplemented by a steam engine, owned by his friend, Elias Benedict.  

The Oneida sailed into Long Island Sound, and Cleveland was prepared for the surgery.  Fortunately for Cleveland, Joseph Lister had recently convinced doctors to sterilize their medical instruments and wash their hands before surgery so there was now less danger of infection than in the time of President Garfield. (It was infection, not the bullet itself, that finally killed Garfield two months after the assassination attempt in 1881.)

At around noon on July 1, the doctors seated Cleveland in the wooden chair and administered nitrous oxide to knock him out.  The doctors wanted to avoid using ether, a more powerful anesthetic, because it was more dangerous for the overweight Cleveland and because the fumes from ether were highly flammable, especially in the confined space below deck.  But nitrous oxide did not keep the president unconscious for long and the doctors had to switch to ether.  The operation, which included removing part of Cleveland’s upper left jaw, took about 1.5 hours. Cleveland recovered on the boat until July 5 and finally arrived at his summer home on Buzzards Bay near Bourne, Mass.  The home was called Gray Gables. 

* * *

Entrance to Gray Gables Community

In the autumn of 2016, we traveled to Bourne to find Gray Gables. We knew that the original summer home had burned down in 1973 and that a residential home, similar but smaller, had been built on the site. As we rolled into town, we saw signs pointing us to Gray Gables.  It turns out that Gray Gables is now a residential community.  At the entrance to the community we found a rock with a plaque telling us that the town had built a train station specifically for Cleveland’s use on this site.  All that remains is a pump with the date “1892” inscribed on the concrete base. The train station had been moved. 

Gray Gables

Gray Gables View of Buzzard's Bay

We finally found the house on – surprise – President’s Road. The house, which faces Buzzard’s Bay, is quite a bit smaller than the original that burned down in 1973. The sign on the front said it was for sale and that a contract had been signed. It also told us to “Keep Out.”  We hopped the barrier anyway.  The house didn’t look occupied. Tom edged up to the house and took some photos.

* * *

Cleveland didn’t inform his vice president, Adlai Stevenson, who was opposed to the repeal of the Silver Act, about the surgery. Dan Lamont, his secretary of war and a close friend, knew. Lamont told reporters that Cleveland had suffered an attack of rheumatism. Rumors of a tumor in his mouth did arise, but reporters were told he had a toothache.

Cleveland returned to Washington on Aug. 4 in time for the special session of Congress.  He left again on Aug. 11 to go back to Gray Gables to further recover.

In spite of the secrecy, one of the doctors mentioned the operation to a colleague. A young Philadelphia Press reporter named E.J. Edwards picked up the scent and broke the story on Aug. 28. A competitor newspaper, the Philadelphia Times, sought to discredit the story. It reported that the operation was a tooth extraction and nothing more. Cleveland — who once said, “Whatever you do, tell the truth” — wrote a letter to a friend that stated:  “… the story of an important surgical operation is thoroughly discredited.”  It wasn’t until 1917 that the truth finally came out.  That year, one of the doctors (William Williams Keen) published the story of the operation and confirmed that E.J. Edwards’ story of 24 years earlier was correct.

* * *

The Train Station

Peeking in the Window

We accidentally found the train station, which had been moved to the nearby Aptucxet Trading Post site. The station is a small, yellow building with brown trim and a red roof. Unfortunately, it was closed, but we peeked in the window and saw railroad paraphernalia including a sign announcing the one-hour and sixteen-minute commute on the “Cranberry” to Boston. In front of the building is a single section of track, about 50 feet long.  The station was only used during Cleveland’s presidency and included a telegraph line directly to Washington, D.C. After Cleveland’s term ended, the station was used as a flag stop.

We also tried to track down the Cleveland Lighthouse but discovered it was located on top of Cleveland ledge — two miles offshore.

Lunch at the Lobster Trap

For lunch we hit the delightful Lobster Trap restaurant along the water, a long wooden building with exposed beams.  Lobster and other fishing paraphernalia were attached to the beams, including buoys, oars, lobster traps, the frame of a boat and a large ball of rope. Cathy wrestled with the dilemma of having lobster for both lunch and dinner.  She finally settled on a seafood bisque—thick and creamy and full of lobster and shrimp — and scallops. Tom went for the lobster roll, knowing Cathy would try it.

* * *

After his surgery, President Cleveland was able to influence the vote on the Silver Act at full political strength. On Aug. 28, the House voted to repeal the bill. The Senate debate then began, but lawmakers did not hold a vote until Oct. 30 because the pro silver states held the chamber hostage with a 62-day filibuster. The Congressional Record of the debate took up five volumes and 20 million pages.  Nevertheless, the Silver Purchase Act was repealed.  (Notably, William Jennings Bryan, a relatively unknown congressman at the time, gave an eloquent speech on behalf of the pro-silver side and launched a long political career.)

Grover and Frances Cleveland stopped going to Gray Gables after the death of their child Ruth in 1904 when she was only 12 years old. They just couldn’t bear to go there anymore. 

Some other highlights of Grover Cleveland’s second presidency were:

·       In 1893, Cleveland had the opportunity to annex Hawaii when Queen Liliuokalani was overthrown by local planters led by Sanford Dole, but Cleveland refused. Because of that, Hawaiians admire him and have named things after him.  (The next president, William McKinley did annex Hawaii.)

·       Cleveland dealt harshly with the 1894 Pullman Palace Car strike and ordered troops to Chicago to break the strike.

·       On Sept. 9, 1893, Frances had a baby (Esther), the first presidential baby born in the White House.

Cleveland at Princeton

By the end of his second term, Cleveland was very unpopular because of the nation’s continuing economic woes. He spent his final years at Princeton University, where he and Frances bought a home in 1897. He became a beloved figure to the students, who would often parade to his home after games or debates. And he would join the students in their cheers. He died there in 1908 and is buried at Nassau Presbyterian Church.  Frances eventually remarried and died in 1947.

Directions

Bourne is in southern Massachusetts about a one-hour drive from Providence, R.I., or Boston.

References

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.

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

www.bournehistoricalsociety.org

http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/cleveland_grover.html

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4678

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/americans-overthrow-hawaiian-monarchy

http://www.ushistory.org/us/44b.asp