Facts about Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland Biography
Grover Cleveland is the only U.S. president ever to serve two non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland was a Democrat who had gained a reputation for efficiency and clean government during terms as mayor of Buffalo and then governor of New York. He was elected president in 1884, succeeding Chester A. Arthur. Cleveland served one term but then was unseated by Republican Benjamin Harrison in the elections of 1888. Cleveland returned the favor in 1892 by unseating Harrison and returning to office for another four-year term. Cleveland did not pursue a third term and was replaced in 1897 by William McKinley. Cleveland became the first and only president to wed in the White House by marrying Frances Folsom in 1886. (He was 49, she 21.) And he successfully hid a serious medical condition: his cancerous upper jawbone was removed and replaced with a vulcanized rubber implant in a secret 1893 operation.
Extra credit
Grover Cleveland is pictured on the U.S. $1000 bill… Cleveland lost the election of 1888 despite getting more votes; Cleveland gathered 5,540,329 votes to Harrison’s 5,439,853, but Harrison won the electoral vote 233 to 168. A similar scenario happened in 2000, when electoral winner George W. Bush defeated popular vote winner Al Gore… Cleveland’s daughter Ruth (b. 1891) was the official inspiration for the Baby Ruth candy bar, though some feel the candy was really named to capitalize on the fame of baseball slugger Babe Ruth.