The First Democrat elected after the Civil War, Grover Cleveland was the only President to leave the White House and return for a
second term four years later.
One of nine children of a Presbyterian minister, Cleveland was born in New Jersey in 1837. He was raised in upstate New York. As a
lawyer in Buffalo, he became notable for his single-minded concentration upon whatever task faced him.
Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885-1889 and 1893-1897) and therefore is the only individual to be
counted twice in the numbering of the presidents. He was the winner of the popular vote for president three times-in 1884, 1888,
and 1892-and was the only Democrat elected to the presidency in the era of Republican political domination that lasted from 1860 to 1912.
Cleveland's admirers praise him for his honesty, independence, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism
After leaving the White House, Cleveland lived in retirement in Princeton, New Jersey. He died in 1908.
|