Happy Birthday to our 22nd and 24th president! The only guy to serve tow non-consecutive terms, but you already knew that, I'm sure. Anyway, Grover Cleveland is actually 178 plus one day, if you're counting. His birthday was yesterday, but since it fell on our Florida Anniversary, we decided it would be best not to try and cram everything into one day. Besides, I'm not a fan of all of these guys having birthdays in a row, I think it hurts the retention a smidge. Anyway, I am doing my best to celebrate on the actual day, but you do what you can. William Henry Harrison had to deal with it, Grover can too.
With all these birthdays in a row, I've been trying to mix up owl mail a little. There's a great website (look at me, I am link happy today!) that has the same type of worksheets for every president (multiple choice, word searches, coloring pages, crosswords), and those are awesome. But, I don't want them to get repetitive. So, since Grover dedicated the State of Liberty and made Labor Day a holiday, I got some worksheets on those instead. The owls also brought with them a snack size Baby Ruth for each of the boys. Grover's first daughter was Ruth (she was a sickly child and actually died when she was 12). She was pretty much a national sensation, even though she was born between his two presidencies. The candy bar, Kandy Kake, was renamed in her honor, or so the company said. Babe Ruth was also popular at the time, and the name change was likely an effort to capitalize on his fame, with a cover story about Ruth Cleveland to keep the company from being sued for royalties.
Hayden is always up the earliest and works on his owl mail ahead of the time lines, so I have to give him owl mail that he can read and fill out instead of knowing the answers after the timeline.
You might remember we had Snickerdoodles yesterday with our smores bar. We also had one at lunch, since they were Cleveland's favorites.
After lunch we got to the timeline. Stephen Cleveland was born in New Jersey. To date, he's the only president to be born in the Garden State. He wasn't an orphan like Jackson, and he certainly wasn't rich like Madison (I've been trying to throw in comparisons to the other guys for reoccurring themes for the boys). His dad was a minister and his mom was a book-keeper. So, not a ton of money, but they weren't dirt poor either. Now, most people don't know Grover was actually his middle name, and he didn't go by that name until he was an adult. (I didn't know it until I started my research!). Ann and Richard Cleveland named him after the first pastor of the church where Richard was the current pastor. Ann and Richard had nine kids, and Stephen was right in the middle.
As a childhood he enjoyed the outdoors and playing sports. He also was an avid fisherman and hunter. He even named his rifle 'Death and Destruction' which the boys thought was awesome. He was a big kid, and pulled fence posts out of the ground with his "ham-like fists". (Cleveland would grow up to be a BIG guy with those ham-like fists. He was our second heaviest president after Taft. But, he was probably our least healthiest president thanks to his beer drinking and cigar smoking).
Stephen Cleveland once said "If we expect to become great and good men, and be respected and esteemed by our friends, we must improve our time when we are young". Was this from a campaign speech? An inaugural address? No, these words came from a NINE year old Stephen Cleveland. Are you kidding me? Hayden can't even articulate what his plans are for next week.
A young Stephen didn't even have much schooling (about four years of formal education), and he had to go off to work to help support the family when his dad died when he was only a teenager. Luckily for Stephen he was number 5 out of 9, so he had plenty of other siblings to step up, and he was ready to bail and move out west. On his way he stopped at his Uncle's house in Buffalo, New York and his Uncle said if he stayed around he could hook him up with a job at a lawyer's office. And so, Grover (re-inventing himself with the name change, I suppose) stayed and ended up becoming a lawyer, because apparently if you want to be president, you need to be a lawyer first.
I don't give dates, because yawn, but around this time Lincoln is president, and the Civil War is raging on. Grover is called upon to serve, and decides to pay some random Polish immigrant $150 to go in his place. Ok, so now I know you're thinking is this another Bill Clinton draft dodging scandal? While Grover could be compared to Clinton with some other scandals, apparently this is cnot one of them. When called upon to serve you either go, or pay someone to go in your place. No worries. Hope it was worth the $150 bucks, Polish guy. (Nobody knows exactly what happened to him, and there's some conflicting info about him on the internet, and no actual reliable sources.)
Anyway, Grover aligns himself with the Democrats, being pretty anti Abe Lincoln and John C. Fremont (sorry hometown). And he runs a pretty successful law practice, and eventually he's elected Sheriff of Erie County. As sherriff, he personally hanged murders. That sounds a little crazy, but here's the 411 on that: Grover was very, very anti-death penalty. BUT, he was a really honest stand-up guy (sort of, we'll get to that) who insisted on being fair and following rules and laws, even if he hated them. He wasn't going to force anyone else to carry out the executions, because he didn't want to be a hypocrite and make anyone do anything he wouldn't do himself.
This is where things get a little weird (but trust me, they get weirder). So, Grover's BFF isn't a future president, it's his law partner Oscar Follsom, but Oscar dies (I don't know of what, small pox, cholera, diphtheria, take your pick) . These two must have had some CRAZY times together, because this chick shows up and says 'Hey, Grover I think you're totally my son's dad'. Grover admits TO THE WHOLE WORLD "Yea, I totally could be." But, everyone knows it could also be Oscars kid. Since, Maury Povich and DNA tests haven't been invented yet, Grover goes ahead and just accepts responisblity for this kid who may or not be his. He checks in on him and pays "child support", just because he believes it's the right thing to do. So, good on him. And while he was at taking care of kids that weren't his, he went ahead and helped Oscars widow take care of their kids, including little Francis. He became her godfather, paid for her education and all that. (Remember this later, because that's where it gets weirder.)
The illegitimate child is not enough to derail Grover's political career though. In fact, people love him because he was honest about it. Honesty, totally the best policy. And he was making a real effort to end corruption in politics. He was elected mayor, cleaned up the city, elected Governor and did the same for the state of New York. Mark Twain called the guy incorruptible, and Mark Twain was a jerk who hated everyone. He just became known as this honest guy who didn't play the games of the political machine. How refreshing!
So when loser Chester Arthur and his 80 pairs of pants (I learn weird things, leave me alone), didn't even get the nomination for the Republican party, Democrats thought Cleveland would be the perfect candidate. Democrats REALLY wanted this one too, there hadn't been a post civil war era Democratic president (And, actually Cleveland would end up being the only Democrat to hold the office in a 50 year time span--- from Lincoln to Woodrow Wilson).
Spoiler Alert: Cleveland wins. He's elected with his VP, some guy who isn't important.
Because he dies 8 months into term number 1.
Ok, so remember Andrew Jackson and how he kicked everyone out of their appointments and set his friends up with jobs? (And remember how pissed William Henry Harrison was at him?) You know, the whole 'spoils system'? Well, good, incorruptible Grover Cleveland decides that if you're doing a good job, you get to stay. He doesn't care if you're a republican of a democrat. How refreshing! (Do you sense a theme?)
But, Grover is still a a bachelor so he enlists his sister to do all the First Lady stuff. It's not that he didn't have his eye on someone though (Ok, for real creepy alert, don't say I didn't warn you)
Remember his BFF's, Oscar's, daughter, Francis, well now she's all grown up, or well, in college at least. And Grover invites her to the White House and starts writing her letters (with permission from Francis's mother, but really how are you going to say no to the president?) And the 49 year old Grover and the 21 year old Francis get married. Which, on a scandal scale of 0 to Monica Lewinsky isn't exactly terrible and just somewhere in the middle, but the fact that when asked why he was still single he once said he was waiting for EIGHT YEAR OLD Francis to grow up. Um, CREEPY. That's worse than Monica Lewinsky for sure. Somehow, probably because there's not internet meme's and Twitter to make an uproar all Woody Allen style, the public is ok with this. Frances and Grover become the only president and first lady to be married IN the White House, and Francis becomes the youngest First Lady ever. I somehow don't see this changing, as I highly doubt a president is going to go ahead and marry someone still in high school. That probably wouldn't go over so well today.
Frances wasn't the only person to visit Grover in the White House. His good buddy, James Roosevelt was a huge supporter and friend. James' money bought his son a little meeting with the sitting president in Grover's private office in the residence.
James brought a young Franklin Deleno Roosevelt in to meet the president (Cameo alert!) on a particularly difficult day for Grover, which resulted in Grover telling a young FDR " My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be president of the United States'. But, you already knew that, because you read my blog religiously and already read that in the Happy Birthday FDR blog.
Grover wanted to clean up corruption in Washington, and he threatened to Veto any bill that was unfair or favored a particular group. This earned him the title of 'Veto President', as he ended up vetoing a record 304 bills (414 over his two presidencies, 2nd only to FDR and that's not even fair, because you know, more terms).
The biggest contribution of the first Cleveland administration was the Interstate Commerce Act. Basically railroad companies were running wild without regulation, and making some shady dealings, people were pissed. Good old fair Grover went ahead and fixed that.
So, now it's 1888 and time for re-election. The Republicans go ahead and nominate Benjamin Harrison, grandson of that guy who was only president for a month. Grover actually won the popular vote, but lost the electoral collage. He was the Al Gore of 1888, except there were no hanging chads dominating the news.
But Frances is cocky, and on her way out of the White House, she tells some White House guy named Jerry to keep everything the way it is, because she'll be back in four years. Are you being cocky if you're right? Spoiler Alert, she was. But, the Cleveland's have four years to kill. They head back to New York, where Grover practices law.....
...And Frances has baby Ruth! (The baby not the candy bar, but we've already discussed that)
Side note, aren't my props this time around amazing? I really out did myself. (You're not cocky if you're right, remember).
So, I didn't really cover Benjamin Harrison's presidency, because he'll get his day (check back in August), but worth noting until Harrison became president it had been a decade since we had any new states enter the union. He went ahead and admitted North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming. These states were thought to be Republican, so he surely had ulterior motives. Poor democratic learning Utah got screwed, as Harrison refused to admit them.
So, it's time for Harrison's re-election, and (Sneak Peek!) his wife Caroline is dying of tuberculosis. Harrison doesn't campaign. Out of respect for Caroline, stand-up-guy-except-for-that-creepy-marrying-Francis-thing Grover doesn't really campaign either. It was called the cleanest, quietest, most creditable campaign ever. I mean poor Caroline and all, but no dirty, misleading campaigning? No commercials for months on end? I mean, you gotta weigh the pro's and the con's here.
Grover of course wins, this time in a landslide. His VP this time around is Adlai Stevenson (also not really important, but he pairs with a fun cameo later in the story), and the Cleveland's with their little candy bar (Yes, I totally taped that to Minnie, visuals guys, visuals!) move back into the White House. I hope Jerry left everything where it was.
'
Nobody benefits from this more than Utah, they finally get admitted into the Union!
Frances has baby number 2, Esther. Esther is important because she could someday show up as a Trivia Crack question. Why, you ask? Well, She's the first baby born in the White House. The Cleveland's go on to have three more kids, for a total of five. (The last one-- who was not born in the White House-- lived until 1995!)
But the second time wasn't really the charm for Grover as the country was heading into a depression thanks to the Panic of 1893 (I used a piece to our Panic on Wall Street for this one). You guys know how these 'Panics' work. People were irresponsible with money, there were a bunch of other factors and everyone ends up poor. Oh, and the President gets blamed. That's the way the cookie crumbles. Sorry Martin Van Buren, Herbert Hoover, George Bush/Barrack Obama, and Grover Cleveland.
Besides that, Grover, who smoked way too many cigars, drank tons of beer, and weighed 250 pounds was-- shocker-- not in the best of health. He discovered a bump in his mouth, and doctors determined it was tumor that had to be removed.
And Grover, who had always been upfront honest and incorruptible did not want the American people to know. They had enough to deal with, and he did not want them to see him as weak. So his solution? Board his friend's YACHT for the 4th of July and have everyone think you're in vacation mode, but actually have SUPER SECRET SURGERY to remove a tumor from your mouth. ON A BOAT! How did ANYONE think this a good idea? Maybe that's why he didn't tell hardly anyone. Only 12 people knew of the surgery, and actually it was a secret Grover took to his grave. (Nobody knew it ACTUALLY happened until 9 years after he died. Fun story: You can actually see the tumor at a museum in PA, gross AND awesome!)
One of Grover's doctors figured he was out of the woods, so it was cool to go ahead and tell the American people. But, Grover wasn't having it, and the White House came down on this doctor for his lies. And everyone believe what incorruptible-upfront-honest-Grover-was selling. He ruined the doctors career in the process, and we see even the most incorruptible-upfront-honest politician has his secrets. But, does anyone think it's a little weird he chose THIS to lie about, not the illegitimate kid? Or the fact he was waiting for an eight year old to grow up so he could marry her? Weird.
Besides the depression, and the super secret yacht surgery, there was trouble brewing in Illinois between George Pullman (of the Pullman train car, seen here as Captain Hook) and his workers. I think most people have at least hear for the Pullman strike, but here's the quick run down if you need an elementary refresher. George Pullman built a model city to house his railroad workers and they were required to live there (everything from the post office to the movie theater to the library was owned and operated by Pullman-- and came at a cost. They even had to pay to use the library), but when the Panic of 1893 hit, he cut his workers wages, cut jobs, and increased working hours. But, he didn't lower rent or prices. And his workers got pissed.
They went on strike, which was kind of a problem when the railroad was how anything got anywhere. Mail, goods, you know, things you need.
Things were turning violent and ugly, and it began to spread across the whole country. The Governor of Illinois tried to control the situation, but it was out of his control at this point, and now the U.S mail was coming to a stand still. Eventually, Cleveland essentially sided with Pullman and sent Federal Troops. But, that hardly ever goes well. If you're not North Carolinian's backing down from Nullification, bad things are bound to happen. Things got nasty, people died. Ultimately, the workers couldn't compete with the might of the United States government, and the strike ended. The strike was the first national strike in the U.S. And Grover Cleveland made it all up to them with one Monday off in September so they could eat hot dogs and enjoy one last trip to the pool.
Things really were not good for Cleveland in his second term, and he was even NOMINATED to run for President. Instead the Democrats pick Doctor Defenshmirtz (aka William Jennings Bryan, #cameo).
Of course William Jennings Bryan is running against an actual nice guy, William McKinley. Of course, William McKinley wins and sets off another 16 years of Republican presidents (I would just die!)
The Clevelands end up back in New Jersey and Grover spends his retirement playing cribbage, hunting and fishing before dying eleven years after leaving the White House at the age of 71. He really did claim to live by a high moral standing from the moment he was born until the moment he died, literally. His last words were 'I have tried so hard to do right'. I don't know, I kind of don't buy it. He might have 'cleaned up' the government, but there were some serious shady doings. He sounds a little delusional to me. But, either way historians rank him as average, right along with Chester-80 pairs of pants-Arthur and Benjamin-I'm scared to use those new fangled electrical lights in the White House-Harrison.
Our activity today was an art project on the Statue of Liberty, which I mentioned was dedicated during Cleveland's presidency. I printed out a picture and then measured out 9 rectangles, winging it a bit.
I cut them out and labeled them one through 9 on the back.
Then everyone picked two and colored their paper just like their rectangle.
We put them all together, and this is what we got.
Not exactly spot on, but good effort and pretty fun.
Then we did birthday cards.
Hayden's card is funny. He was even weirded out by the Frances/Grover pairing.
And our President in 60 seconds was actually 'President in 120 seconds'.
I added some props to our 1,000 bill, which sported Grover until it was taken out of circulation.
His famous quotes include "Whatever you do, tell the truth***"
(***Unless you're getting tumor removal surgery on a yacht)
We also added a Snickerdoodle, Utah, and the Statue of Liberty.
Other fun facts I didn't really mention:
Grover used to work until 2 or 3 am
He personally answered the White House phone.
3/4 of the way done with March presidents.
Also, that makes me done with 11 out of 43. (Just under 25%!)
We added to our Historical Hashtags with #22 AND #24. That's right when you serve two nonconsecutive terms you get TWO hashtags.
#22: Don't touch my stuff #BRB
#24: Cleveland Rocks #Don'tCallitaComeback
(Though this hashtag might be slightly misleading, I'm adding the note that the city of Cleveland Ohio is not actually named for Grover, but a distant relative of his)
Grover was a fan of corned beef and cabbage, but as we talked about yesterday, that's not our thing. Another favorite of his: steak and eggs. That we could totally do.
In unrelated news, is it weird for a cat and tortoise to be buddies?
Because these two totally are. I'm pretty sure Dipper has no idea he's a cat. His two best friends are a tortoise and a dog.
Kudos to you if you made it through my blog. I'm starting to think I spend too much time writing blogs about presidents, and nobody is actually reading them. But, maybe next year on their birthdays we can go back and read them for a re-fresher.
Up Next: Asa's in the office tomorrow, and we're back to some normal book work.
I'll try and get up the Waterstraut Weekly tomorrow too, as I've been sitting on the boys articles for a day now. Opps!
No comments:
Post a Comment