The Cleveland Era; A Chronicle of the New Order in Politics

New Haven: Yale University Press, 1919. Abraham Lincoln Edition. Presumed first printing thus. This also appears to be a First Edition/Presumed First printing as the copyright date is 1919. Hardcover. Good. The format is approximately 5 inches by 8.125 inches. xi, [1], 232, [2] pages. Frontispiece Footnotes. Illustrations (complete). Bibliographical Note. Index. Top edge gilt. Spine has some fading. Some endpaper discoloration. Decorative front cover. Some rear cover wear and soiling. This is Volume 44 in The Chronicles of America Series edited by Allen Johnson, a 50-volume series on American history. They were written by historians about various aspects of American history. Henry Jones Ford (August 25, 1851 - August 29, 1925) was an American political scientist, journalist, university professor, and government official. He was appointed by Woodrow Wilson as the Banking and Insurance Commissioner of New Jersey in 1912. Ford taught at Johns Hopkins University, and afterwards taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Known to say that politics was a "dirty business" unsuitable for women. Ford later took a job as professor of politics at Princeton University, at the request of the university's then-president, Woodrow Wilson. Ford's association with Wilson also took him also into politics. When Wilson became president, Ford was sent to the Philippines on a special mission, reporting directly to the President, and toward the end of Wilson's presidency, Ford was named to a position on the Interstate Commerce Commission. Their association also resulted in Ford's book Woodrow Wilson, the Man and His Work, which was an account of Wilson's experience on the presidential campaign trail. Ford served as president of the American Political Science Association from 1918 to 1919. Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 - June 24, 1908) was an American politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He is the only president in U.S. history to serve non-consecutive presidential terms.[b] In the years before his presidency, he served as a mayor and governor of New York state, winning fame as an anti-corruption crusader. Cleveland was the first Democrat to win the presidency after the Civil War, and was one of two Democrat presidents, followed by Woodrow Wilson in 1912, in an era when Republicans dominated the presidency between 1869 and 1933. He won the popular vote in three presidential elections—1884, 1888, and 1892. Benjamin Harrison won the electoral college vote, and thus the presidency, in 1888.
Cleveland was elected mayor of Buffalo in 1881 and governor of New York in 1882. While governor, he closely cooperated with state assembly minority leader Theodore Roosevelt to pass reform measures, winning national attention. He led the Bourbon Democrats, a pro-business movement opposed to high tariffs, free silver, inflation, imperialism, and subsidies to business, farmers, or veterans. His crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the time. Cleveland also won praise for honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism. His fight against political corruption, patronage, and bossism convinced many like-minded Republicans, called "Mugwumps", to cross party lines and support him in the 1884 election. Fifteen months into his first presidential term, he married Frances Folsom on June 2, 1886. After losing the 1888 election to Harrison, he moved to New York City with his wife and joined a law firm. At the 1892 Democratic National Convention, he won the nomination on the first ballot. The 1892 election restored him to the White House. As his second administration began, the Panic of 1893 sparked a severe national depression. Many voters blamed the Democrats, opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian and silverite seizure of the Democratic Party in 1896. The result was a political realignment that started the Fourth Party System and the Progressive Era. An anti-imperialist, Cleveland opposed the push to annex Hawaii, launched an investigation into the 1893 coup against the Hawaiian queen, and called for her to be restored; the House of Representatives adopted a resolution against annexation. Cleveland was a formidable policymaker, but also garnered criticism. He intervened in the 1894 Pullman Strike to keep the railroads moving, angering both Illinois Democrats and labor unions nationwide; his support of the gold standard and opposition to free silver alienated the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party. Critics complained that Cleveland had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters—depressions and strikes—in his second term. In his memoirs, future president Harry S. Truman expressed criticism of Cleveland's handling of labor strikes in his second term, arguing that "Cleveland had a lot of trouble with strikes and riots, but the Democratic Party, as usual, was on the liberal side during his second administration. But the President was not. He became an ultra-conservative." Even so, his reputation for probity and good character survived the troubles of his second term. Biographer Allan Nevins wrote, "[I]n Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have. He possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not." By the end of his second term, he was severely unpopular, even among Democrats. After leaving the White House, Cleveland lived in retirement at his estate, Westland Mansion, and served as a trustee of Princeton University. He continued to voice his political views, but fell seriously ill during the autumn of 1907. He died in 1908, aged 71. Today, Cleveland is praised for honesty, integrity, adherence to his morals, defying party boundaries, and effective leadership and is typically ranked in the middle to upper tier of U.S. presidents.