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Grover Cleveland
He may never feature in any list of ‘America’s Greatest Presidents’, but Grover Cleveland will always have a place in the history books. After all, he is the only man to have served two non-consecutive terms in office as the President of the United States. The fact he achieved this is testament to his unwillingness to let electoral defeat derail him completely. Indeed, just four years after losing office, Cleveland achieved a remarkable – and unprecedented – comeback which saw him return to the White House.
Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, in March of 1837. As a young man, he worked as a lawyer and, within a few years of passing the bar, was making a name for himself for his hard work and tenacity. However, he was soon distracted from his burgeoning legal career and chose to get involved in politics. For a few months in 1882, he served as the Mayor of Buffalo and then, from 1883 until early 1885, he was the Governor of New York. It was here, in the Big Apple, where Cleveland really came to prominence, and his resistance to political corruption impressed the Democratic party leadership. He was invited to stand as their candidate for the 1884 presidential election.
Cleveland won the election, but only just. He won the popular vote by just one-quarter of a per cent, even if the electoral college system had him as a clearer victor over the Republican James D. Maine. Cleveland was sworn in as the 22nd President of the United States and got to work reforming fiscal policy while also reshaping American foreign policy. He was so active and hard-working that he easily secured the Democratic nomination again in 1888. This time he was up against the Republican Benjamin Harrison. A badly-run campaign, alongside aggressive Republican attacks on Cleveland’s fiscal reforms, and in particular of his tariffs policies, meant that he lost, even losing his home state of New York. Cleveland was out of office and a private citizen once again.
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Far from simply retiring from politics as many one-term Presidents did before and after him, Cleveland refused to give up. Indeed, from the very moment he was forced to give up the top job, he stated his belief that he would return one day. He even told White House staff: “I want you to take good care of all the furniture and ornaments in the house, for I want to find everything just as it is now, when we come back again.” Sure enough, he was right. While working as a lawyer in New York, Cleveland was also laying the foundations for his comeback. He became a charismatic public speaker and the go-to expert on economic policies. So prominent was he that he was the natural choice for the Democratic party when they looked to compete the 1892 election.
However, Cleveland’s return wasn’t all plain sailing. He still had the stigma of an election defeat and another potential candidate, Senator David Hill pushed him close. Nevertheless, Cleveland finally managed to get his party’s nod. The election was a straight-up rematch of 1892, with Cleveland against President Harrison. In the end, since Harrison’s wife was gravely ill, he hardly campaigned. Out of respect, Cleveland similarly declined to campaign. Still, he won comfortably and his political comeback, from private citizen to the 24th President was complete. He would serve as President until 1897 and then live until 1908, dying at the age of 71.