536 Chapter 20 From Smoke-Filled Rooms to Prairie Wildfire: 1877–1896
Rock and Fort Smith Railroad. On the other hand, it
came out during the campaign that Cleveland, a
bachelor, had fathered an illegitimate child. Instead
of debating public issues, the Republicans chanted
the ditty,
Ma! Ma! Where’s my pa?
Gone to the White House,
Ha! Ha! Ha!to which the Democrats countered,
Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine,
The continental liar from the State of Maine.
Blaine lost more heavily in the mudslinging than
Cleveland, whose quiet courage in saying “Tell the
truth” when his past was brought to light contrasted
favorably with Blaine’s glib and unconvincing
denials. A significant group of eastern Republicans,
known as mugwumps, campaigned for the
Democrats.^1 However, Blaine ran a strong race against a
general pro-Democratic trend; Cleveland won the elec-
tion by fewer than 25,000 votes. The change of 600 bal-
lots in New York would have given that state, and the
presidency, to his opponent.
As a Democrat, Cleveland had no stomach for
refighting the Civil War. Civil service reformers over-
estimated his commitment to their cause, for he
believed in rotation in office. He would not summar-
ily dismiss Republicans, but he thought that when
they had served four years, they “should as a rule give
way to good men of our party.” He did, however,
insist on honesty and efficiency regardless of party. As
a result, he made few poor appointments.
Cleveland had little imagination and too narrow
a conception of his powers and duties to be a
dynamic president. His appearance perfectly reflected
his character: A squat, burly man weighing well over
200 pounds, he could defend a position against heavy
odds, yet he lacked flexibility. He took a fairly broad
view of the powers of the federal government, but he
thought it unseemly to put pressure on Congress,
believing in “the entire independence of the executive
and legislative branches.”
Toward the end of his term Cleveland bestirred
himself and tried to provide constructive leadership on
the tariff question. The government was embarrassed
by a large revenue surplus, which Cleveland hoped to
reduce by cutting the duties on necessities and on raw
materials used in manufacturing. He devoted his entire
annual message of December 1887 to the tariff, thereby
focusing public attention on the subject. When worried
Democrats reminded him that an election was coming
up and that the tariff might cause a rift in the organiza-
tion, he replied simply, “What is the use of being
elected or re-elected, unless you stand for something?”
In that contest, Cleveland obtained a plurality of
the popular vote, but his opponent, Benjamin Harrison,
grandson of President William Henry Harrison, carried
most of the key northeastern industrial states by narrow
margins, thereby obtaining a comfortable majority in
the electoral college, 233 to 168.
Although intelligent and able, Harrison was too
reserved to make a good politician. One observer
called him a “human iceberg.” During the Civil War
he fought under Sherman at Atlanta and won a repu-
tation as a stern, effective disciplinarian. In 1876 he
ran unsuccessfully for governor of Indiana, but in
1881 was elected to the Senate.President Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom in 1888. The couple
had married two years earlier; he was 48, and she, 21, the youngest
First Lady. Her popularity blunted criticisms that Cleveland, a
bachelor, had earlier fathered an illegitimate child. When he lost the
1888 election, his wife predicted that she would return as First Lady.
Four years later, she did.(^1) The mugwumps considered themselves reformers, but on social
and economic questions nearly all of them were very conservative.
They were sound-money proponents and advocates of laissez-faire.
Reform to them consisted almost entirely of doing away with cor-
ruption and making the government more efficient.