American Presidents: Totalus Rankium - 22.1 Grover Cleveland

Episode Date: January 4, 2020

Grover Cleveland, or Big Steve to his friends, wanted to be a lawyer. So when he uncle gave him the opportunity he went for it. From then on he goes from one job to the next until he finds himself president! Shame about all the skeletons in the cupboard…

Welcome to Totalus Rankium. This week, Rupert Cleveland, Art 1. Hello and welcome to American Presidents Total's Rankium. I am Jamie. And I'm Rob, ranking all of the presidents from Washington to Trump. And this is episode 22.1, Grover Cleveland. And we're now in the roaring 20s as well. Oh yeah, of course we are. It's what, January the 3rd today? Yep. Yeah, yeah.

Probably. New decade, Jamie. I hope you've noticed I'm wearing my new zoot suit. Yeah, it's very fetching. 3rd today? Yep. Yeah, yeah. Probably. New decade, Jamie. I hope you've noticed I'm wearing my new zoot suit. Yeah, it's very fetching. I like it. Thank you very much. I, however, am channeling the 20s from England and I'm now just poor. Yeah.

Yeah. Farewell. Farewell. Right, okay. New president. Are you ready? I'm ready. Do you know anything about him at all?

Before we start. Only that he has two sessions as being president. That's about it. Yeah, well. Is he quite jolly? Jolly, you're saying? By that I mean... Rotund?

Yes. We'll get into that. I've got an image of him. But yes, yes, yes. I might not be the right image, I'm thinking. Yeah. Okay, right. Let's start, shall we? Let's do this.

Let's get into Cleveland. Let's get into Cleveland. Are you choosing anything for us to begin with today? Oh, a colour. Okay, right. Let's start, shall we? Let's do this. Let's get into Cleveland. Let's get into Cleveland. Are you choosing anything for us to begin with today? Oh, a colour. Okay. Yeah, see, last time you sold out a little bit. Did I? Yeah, you just get the random...

I think I gave you something like luminous green or something. Hot pink, if I remember correctly. Yeah, that was it. How did I sell out? I used that. I know, but in a very dodgy way. It just disappears. That doesn't count.

Oh, okay. Rainbow. Rainbow. Start on a rainbow. Are you picturing the rainbow? Yes, I'm on the rainbow. Right, I started strong there, but I'm now trying to figure out how to get to the next shot. A bead of light in a raindrop through a glass like a prism.

That's quite nice. You know what, I'm going to use that. You're welcome. It's now raining. It wasn't before, but it's now raining. Right, okay. Mid-July, Texas. So. No, no, it's fine. We're fine.

We're on the Canadian border. We're in Buffalo City. Yeah. But anyway, close-up of a raindrop. The flash of a rainbow goes by. The raindrop hits the ground. It's the first raindrop, so the ground is dusty, and the dust sort of sprays up with the water. Yeah. And then just a couple more thud, thud,

thud. And as you're listening to the thuds of the raindrop, you realise that you're facing a building. It's a sort of short, stocky building. Very built for a purpose kind of building. Nothing fancy about it. But what is odd about this shot is you realise it's framed. It's almost like you're looking at this building underneath a table. Because there's a wooden frame to the right and to the left and at the top. Are you with me? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good.

And then you hear some footsteps. Some muffled sounds. Almost. Not quite like that. It's just a kind of you can't quite tell what people are saying kind of thing. It's in the distance slightly. I hear a few clunks. Yeah, yeah, a bit like that.

And then you can just start to pick out some of the words, and you hear, I have no words but these to say. I am about to die on this scaffold and God above knows how guilty I am I hope my sad end will be a warning to all young men there's a big pause and you just hear the thudding of raindrops more and more you have some more footsteps and then I'm ready to go now goodbye God bless you all and then you hear a clank and then two feet drop into frame, and they sort of dance for a bit,

and then the rain just pouring down. Now, good addition with the rain, I'm liking this. And then you hear some footsteps going down some stairs, and you see some legs walk into shot. You can tell they're facing the body, but then the legs turn. This figure starts to walk away from shot towards the building, getting smaller as he turn. This figure starts to walk away from shot towards the building,

getting smaller as he does so. A rotund figure. And then it fades to black, and all you can hear is rain. Cleveland, part one. Ooh, darkest start we've had, I think. It's a dark start, yeah. Yeah.

Expecting a cheery episode? Um, I don't know. Well, we'll see, shall we? Right, we're going to start with Richard and Anne Cleveland. Anne was the Irish-slash-German daughter of a bookseller, and Richard was a minister with a family coming from England. So a nice mixture. So I get, oh no, because the name would be the father's name, wouldn't it?

I think it's like Anne of Cleves, which is like, she was German. Yeah, the name Cleveland came from England, yeah. Not Germany. Not Germany, no. Anne of Cleves. I don't think it was Anne of Cleves. Oh no, okay. But maybe it was. Well, Anne and Richard

had met in Baltimore whilst Richard was a tutor, and the two were married within the year. And then the couple moved to various places up and down the East Coast while Richard worked as a minister. Anne found this fairly hard going when they moved up north, mainly because she had to give up her slave. They didn't approve of slavery up north, so she had to send the slave back home. Oh dear.

Yeah. Hard times all round. Thought some prayers for Oh dear. Yeah. Hard times all round. Thought some prayers for that family. Yeah. But anyway, they continued. The young family end up in New Jersey, as many people do. They'd had a few children by this point,

and Richard is still working as a minister. And here, Richard is taken under the wing of an elderly minister, whose name was Reverend Stephen Grover. Richard and Stephen formed a close bond and therefore, when Anne gave birth to their fifth child, out of the nine in total, shortly afterwards. Wow.

Yeah. It was decided to name the boy after their new friend. And no, they didn't call him Reverend. That'd be brilliant. No. The child was called Stephen Grover Cleveland. Ah, so Grover's a middle called Stephen Grover Cleveland. Ah, so Grover's a middle name.

Grover's a middle name. He was referred to as Grover for a lot of his life. Yeah. But also Stephen as well, as we'll see. It's really weird naming someone after his surname. It's like if I had a kid, naming it Boyle. Yeah, yeah. Would you remember Hamilton Fish?

Oh, vaguely. Yeah, he was named after Alexander Hamilton. Oh. It's like, oh, you're my good friend, Hamilton. Yeah, he was named after Alexander Hamilton. Oh. It's like, oh, you're my good friend, Hamilton. I'm going to name my son Hamilton. Yeah, it's a bit weird, isn't it? What if you're Conkling's best friend as well? Right, this is Conkling. I'm calling him Conk for sure. Little Conk. Yeah. Anyway, we've got a little Stephen Grover. Okay. That's who we have. Yes, it's the 18th of March, 1837, that little Grover was born in a small village, the small village of Cadwell. However, it wasn't long before the family were on the move once again, and this time they head to another small village in New York. This time it's Fayette, or Fayetteville. I've seen it written down two different ways.

A rural area. This is an area of quarries, mills, farms. It's got the Erie Canal running nearby. Okay. So you've got all the canals. Potentially quite a money-making area for New York. Well, the Erie Canal will be bringing in a lot of commerce, yeah. Before that, it would have been fairly rural and insulated. Anyway, little Stephen's four years old at this point,

and he just does what four-year-olds do, I suppose. Play with Lego. Yeah, exactly. One story we have from this time, however, comes from Cleveland himself. I'll quote, Often as a boy, I was told to get out of my warm bed to hang up a hat or another garment, which I had left on the floor.

That's a gripping childhood story right there. Make the most of those kind of anecdotes. I mean, we don't get much as exciting as that. Wow. I shall hold that close to my heart. You will. I mean, that's just a short little nice anecdote. By the end, you'll probably look back at that one fondly.

Oh, dear. Yeah. Anyway, when he was old enough, little Stephen went to the local school, but his lessons were always topped up by his father at home. His father wanted good things for his child, so Richard would teach his children Latin, mathematics, religion, obviously him being a minister. And then as Stephen grew, he and his brothers started to earn a bit of extra money on the site to supplement the family. So, where are they going to make money? Farming. No, no, what's running through nearby?

Oh, the canal. The canal. Yeah, they all head off to the canal. And before dawn, before school opened, they'd spend their time loading and unloading the barges for a few copper coins. And then in school, Stephen just buckled down, really. He learned the country's history. He took an interest in the fact that his family, albeit distantly, were involved in the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

He was told how his great-great-grandfather had been a good friend of none other than Benjamin Franklin. And not only that, it was a Cleveland who had founded the city of Cleveland. Ohio. Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't a coincidence. This was one of your family members, little Stephen. So be proud of your family.

As Clevelands, we've got history. Ooh. Which usually sounds like a bad thing. But no, in this case, it was a good thing. Them's are your friends. Yeah. He was from a family that could be proud, and he should make his family proud, was the idea instilled into him.

And Stephen seemed to be proud. He wrote when he was nine years old all about Washington and Jackson, about how Washington had always, and I quote, improved his time whenever he could, and that Jackson, even though he was born poor, had also, I quote, improved his time and found himself the President of the United States. Admiring the big hitters then.

Yeah, he's fully instilled into Stephen Grover at this time the idea if you just work hard, you'll succeed. That's interesting. Yeah. Now, improving his time for Stephen meant working and education, so it was back to the canals. And once he was old enough, Stephen was able to be hired out to cut wood and carry limestone,

limestone being the most important building material at the time. So yeah, he was just hefting these big rocks all over the place. One in each arm. Well, yeah, in fact, he soon gained a nickname. It's not Little Stephen or Stephen Grover, as I've been calling him so far. And this is absolutely true. Do you want to hazard a guess at his nickname? Beefcake. You're not Little Stephen or Stephen Grover as I've been calling him so far. And this is absolutely true. Do you want to hazard a guess at his nickname?

Beefcake. You're not far off. Oh really? Big Steve. Big Steve. Yeah. He was tall for his age and after cutting wood and carrying around lumps of rock for a few months he was also quite muscular. So there you go. Big Steve.

We've got Big Steve. That's also quite muscular. So there you go. Big Steve. We've got Big Steve. Fantastic. Yeah. So Big Steve would spend his time working in his spare time, educating himself. He would fish with his brothers. He swam in the lakes in the area. And the family were fairly close. It was a nice, nice family, apparently. One story comes down to us is that the family had a party one evening in the kitchen and Anne popped corn for the whole family, which is nice, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Hold on to that one.

Is that another lovely story? That's a lovely story. Oh, okay. Now, the family weren't destitute, but they weren't rolling in it. They were able to hire a Canadian woman as a maid on very low wages. They paid her next to nothing, but she needed anything. So yeah, it's fairly typical for the time. However, when Big Steve was 14, his father became ill. Richard, therefore, took a job in Clinton, New York, a position that the family hoped would be less

tiring for the A-Link minister. However, this meant that Big Steve was uprooted from the life that he knew. A 14-year-old, I mean, back in the days where just moving a few miles down the road meant you were cut off. Yeah, that's true. So, apparently he wasn't too happy that he had to move. But there was one silver lining. It meant that he could be educated in Hamilton College, which was in Clinton. So he'd be able to get a decent education once he moved. Unfortunately, though, this was not to be,

because despite wanting to start the college, the family had run out of money, and Big Steve was forced to get a job. The silver lining here, however, is that he found a job back in Fayette, where his friends were. So off he headed back all on his own. Yay.

Yay. I bet he was happy with that. Yeah. Well, I mean, the job wasn't easy. He was clerking in a shop, and he stayed in the shop, rose before dawn, cleaned everything out,

long hours. Oh, I've seen that. Yeah, all money went back to the family. It wasn't the best of times, but it's what you had to do. And he was with his friends again, so. So yeah, and that was his life for a couple of years, just working and clerking and rearranging the shop.

The shop, yeah. Until at last, he moved back to Clinton to be with his family because it was finally time to start that college education that he had been dreaming of. However. However. Richard's health was still deteriorating, and it was decided it was best to move to a smaller village parish.

Like, really? It's like, what's the easiest job we've got in the church? Let's give it to Richard and hope he doesn't die. That was the plan. So they moved to a village called Holland Paintant, where Richard died three weeks later. Yeah, it didn't work. As you can imagine, this is a huge problem for the family,

because suddenly they had no income whatsoever apart from one of Big Steve's older brothers. Yeah. The older brother was working in a school for the blind in New York City. It's amazing they had that. Oh, we're getting into it. Because it was through these connections that Big Steve, aged 17, also got a job in the School for the Blind. Now, this School

for the Blind was a state-run institution in the mid-1850s. You can probably imagine what it was like. The expression on your face right now is saying it all. Yeah, just to give you a clue, the children were not referred to as students, but inmates. Not great. Although I might start referring to the children in my class as inmates. Yeah, this was a cold rooms, itchy blankets, a miserable place. The Institute's director was a believer in that all you had to do in life to succeed was to work hard, as many people were. Therefore, I mean, he took this to the extreme,

because he also believed that the destitute blind children only really had themselves to blame for their current position in life. Come on, pull your socks up. Stop being so blind. Just try harder. Yeah, yeah. Open your eyes. Yeah, apparently he would openly

just berate the children and blame them for being blind. As you can imagine, this was not a fun time for the 17-year-old. Although he did make at least one friend, and this was a woman in her 30s called Fanny Crosby, who had been an inmate or student at the institute and was now working there teaching. Fanny was also a poet and would sit down with Steve at the end of the day

and dictate her poems for him to write down. Now, Fanny would live on to her 90s after gaining considerable fame for her writing of poetry, songs, and in particular, hymns. She was a household name by the time she died and is arguably more well-remembered now than Clevelanders. She became famous. Fanny Crosby. Yeah, so, yeah, there you go.

He wrote down some of her poems. That's good. But apart from that, I mean, the time at the Institute was just utterly awful. Both Steve and his brother later would recall the experience as the worst in their entire lives. Yeah. Because of how people were treated?

Yeah, yeah. They just didn't like that. Yeah, it was just miserable. Apparently, the food was so bad that many children opted to starve instead of eat it. Yeah. I mean, you just know that places like that would have been rife with unpleasantness, shall we say.

Yeah. So, nasty. Very nasty. As you can imagine, Big Steve didn't like it. So, nasty. Very nasty. As you can imagine, Big Steve didn't like it. So he decides to get out. He lasts a year before quitting. He was going to be a lawyer, damn it.

That's what he'd always wanted. He wanted to go to... He wanted to get a college education and become a lawyer. Has there been a single president we've had that wasn't a lawyer? Yes. Not many. No, I mean, if you're not a lawyer it's've had that wasn't a lawyer? Yes. Not many. No, I mean, if you're not a lawyer it's because you've gone through the army, usually.

Oh, yeah. Andrew Johnson. He was just a racist tailor. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I mean, things hadn't worked out in his life how he wanted it to so far, but it was time to put things back on track. He didn't know how he was going to

do it but he was going to go home talk to his mum and become a lawyer that was the plan that's what he'd written on his to-do list so as one thing or different three like three different things three different things and then he also wrote like work for a year in the institute for the blind so he could cross it off he sounds like the of person who would write it down after he'd done it just to cross it off. Is he that kind of person? Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, you're that kind of person as well. Yeah, ooh, I'm horrible.

So he makes it home and crosses that one off and he talks to his mother, another easy cross. But the becoming a lawyer part was proving to be a bit trickier. But it so happened that an elderly neighbour heard of his predicament. Now, his neighbour was high up in the local church community, knew

his father, and had heard that poor Big Steve was suffering, he was. He wanted to go to college and he couldn't. So he offered to help put Cleveland through college so he could enter the ministry. Oh. Which I imagine was Grover's response.

Thank you. Yeah. I mean, it's not what Big Steve had in mind. So we debated what to do for a while. It's like, this will get me into college, but it's not really what I want. In the end, he decided truth was the best policy. So he said, no thanks.

I'd say it's not what I want to do. I want to be a lawyer. So instead, it was agreed that the neighbour would loan Big Steve $25. Yeah, a substantial sum back then. And Big Steve would go off and find a place to study law. The neighbour apparently gave him this $25, saying, and if you ever meet with a young man in a similar condition in the future, give it to him if you have it to spare.

Don't need to pay me back. Pay someone else back. What a nice guy. He's a nice guy. Yeah. Big Steve did actually pay the neighbour back 12 years later. But paying back he did. Which is nice. Anyway, Cleveland was deciding where to go. He got his

map out. He pored over it. It's like, where shall I go to learn to be a lawyer? Well, I mean, New York City was an obvious one, but that just reminded him of the Institute for the Blind. He'd had enough of that. He didn't want to go there. So where else? Philadelphia. No. Where else is Stephen Grover Cleveland going to head to? Canada. No. Vermont.

No. West Virginia. No. California. It wasn't around yet, was it? Yes, it was. Somewhere in Ohio. Yes, somewhere in Ohio.

Oh, brilliant. Yeah. Where? A place called Grover. No. Cleveland. He's going to head to Cleveland. Oh.

Is he in that because, you know, this is my history sort of thing? Yeah, Cleveland. He's going to head to Cleveland. Is he in that because this is my history sort of thing? Yeah, yeah. Later in life he said he was drawn to the place because of its name. It's Cleveland. One of my ancestors founded the place. I'm going to make my way in Cleveland, he thought. Nice. On the way to Cleveland he was going to stop by his uncle's.

He had an uncle and his uncle lived in Buffalo. We've come across Buffalo before, if you remember. At the beginning. Fillmore came from, oh yeah, yeah. But Fillmore came from Buffalo, or at least he spent a lot of his life in Buffalo. Ah yes, of course I remember that. Yes, of course you do.

It's the city on, near Niagara Falls. Near, opposite Canada. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've got it, you've got it, yeah. So anyway. Fillmore, yeah. He heads up to Buffalo to meet his uncle. His uncle Lewis. When he arrived, Uncle Lewis learnt of Cleveland's desired study law and heard the plan to go to Cleveland.

He said to his nephew, and I'm paraphrasing here, what on earth are you doing, you idiot? Why are you going to Cleveland? You literally know no one there whatsoever. How do you expect to become a lawyer? He didn't try and use his name. No, no. I mean, that's not going to work. It's just a name. Yeah. However, Uncle Lewis then said,

why don't you stay in Buffalo? I have some business connections. I know a law firm. I'll have a word with them. They owe me a favour. Come on, stay here. It did not take Big Steve long to decide what to do.

Stay in Buffalo. He stayed in Buffalo. And, sure enough, it worked incredibly well for him. He was soon introduced to this law firm that his uncle knew, and he was offered a job in the firm while he could read law. Now, I mean, he would receive no pay for the first two months because they needed to check out what kind of guy this person was. But still, it was an opportunity

that he was very lucky to get. Yeah, yeah. It's not about working hard, is it? It's about who you know. You cynic, Jamie. So Cleveland, in typical style for him, buckles down and just gets on with the work. Yeah.

However, Buffalo was not the easiest city to work in. It was a rapidly growing city. It increased tenfold in the last few decades. It now had a large population of Irish and German immigrants in the city. We're talking up to 60% of the city were Irish or German. Wow. And they had brought with them their love for beer. Yay!

And also pubs. Fantastic. Apparently it's not quite true that there was a tavern on every corner, but apparently it was quite close. Yeah, just breweries all over the place, people just making beer. That's fantastic. We've come across in other episodes places where people would socialise in the tailors, or in the library, or in the convenience stores.

Well, in Buffalo, people socialised in the bars. Oh, well done. Well done, Buffalo. Oh, yes. Now, obviously, young lad in his teens, he's not going to be immune to this. So Cleveland soon found himself, in his spare time, in the taverns. But he had very little money so he couldn't afford to stay long. And then it was back to work where he'd do simple tasks and then read whatever

law books he could get hold of. And it was not easy. He'd been offered this job as a favour for his uncle, but that did not mean that he was particularly welcome in the law firm. Apparently on his first day, he had been shown a desk and then had a book literally thrown at him was told to look into the law uh yeah it's like

read that if you want to be a lawyer yeah there was a no sense of help being offered here it was a case yeah we're put up with him and he can do our ourial tasks. But whether he can become a lawyer or not is entirely up to him. Yeah. Like a hazing period, I guess. Lawyer hazing. Yeah, he soon became to resent the law firm that were paying him next to nothing when they did finally start paying him. In fact, I'll quote him here when

he wrote to his sister, I am so ashamed of myself after allowing such a swindle to be practiced upon me. From the bottom of my soul, I curse the moment which I consented to this contract. Ooh, bitterness. There's a lot of bitterness there, considering this is an amazing opportunity for him.

I mean, he hasn't gone through college. He's just been given a chance. I mean, he's gonna find it hard because he hasn't gone through college, but yeah, there's a lot of bitterness there. He gets a sense he just really wanted to go to the pub. Oh, wow, don't we all. Yeah.

At one point, he was forced to take a break from the studying because he just ran out of money and the firm wouldn't give him any more. So he spent a few months working for his uncle just to raise some cash. However, after three and a half years of hard work and study, by 1859, he was ready to pass the bar. And he did so, with no

problems at all, at the impressive age of 22. And, after three and a half years at the law firm, things were a little bit better. So, they offered him a new job and he stayed on with the firm, but as an actual lawyer now, instead of a dog's body. They still treated him badly.

I still think they threw things at him every time he walked through the door. He had a new suitcase. Smash. Yeah. So yeah, he's got a job now. His income's improved. He's also gained some friends within the city. And he's socialised in the taverns, playing

poker or going off to fish, which he liked to do a lot. By this point, he's a full-on Democrat as well, as were most people in the city. Buffalo was very Democratic for Northern City. He believed that the impending Civil War was all due to abolitionists who had

forced their views upon the Union, causing it to break. Right. Yeah. And then the Civil War did break out. Yay. Yeah. Many young men in the city signed up to go and fight for the Union. Cleveland was not one of them. Now, various historians have attempted to excuse or explain this choice from a future president. Some say he was worried that without the money he was sending home, his mother would not cope.

I read somewhere else that he was worried that as two of his brothers had signed up to fight, it would be too stressful for his mother if he went also, so he decided not to fight. That's what I would say. Yeah. I can't help but feel, though, more likely it was just a case that he did not want to go. And it's really hard to criticise anyone for not wanting to go and fight a war. Fair enough.

I don't want to die either. It's well known for not being very pleasant fighting a war. So, yeah, he decides it's not for him. So, the war dragged on. Had very little impact on Cleveland, living on the Canadian border. However, reports of the casualties reached the city, as did the steady stream of notices to

families of the deceased. Eventually, as volunteers dwindled, the draft was brought in. As we have seen, this didn't go down well in New York City when the draft riots started. Well, it wasn't too popular in Buffalo either, and there was a lot of, shall we call it, civil tension. People saying, no, make me. It was bubbling, let's say, the tension.

And then, sure enough, the draft came in. Every single day, if you were male in between the age of 18 and 35, or 45 if you were not married, you could be pulled out of a hat and told to sign up. Grover's name came out on the very first day. Ah, son of a bitch. Yeah. But it's fine because you could pay $300 and your name would just go away. Nice. Which is good. But unfortunately

$300 was a lot of money. Too much for Cleveland. I mean, he might be earning now, but he's not earning that much. But there's another get out clause. Home spurs. No, not that. You could arrange for a substitute to take your place. What? Yeah.

Like a friend? Or an enemy? More likely. Because I will be honest here, Rob. If for whatever reason, we're called up, I'll be exempt anyway, thanks to diabetes, but if I was called up

and I could substitute somebody, your name's going on that list. Oh, thank you. That's right. That means a lot to me. Actually, I probably wouldn't come on to the podcast with you. That's a good point.

I can't be asked to do the research. I could Skype in. I've heard war... With your helmet cam. Heard war is long periods of boredom and short periods of excitement I'll just do the podcast in the long periods of boredom how hard could it be? yeah, I'd be alright

I wouldn't really put you down I'll take a bullet for you well, let's find out what he does, shall we? he's got a few connections because he knows some fairly wealthy people in the city through his law firm and through some, he is introduced to a Polish immigrant named George. George was down on his luck. He had no family in the country. He had no prospects. So, the two met, and Cleveland offered to pay George $150 to take his place. Now, according to George,

George haggled that if he survived, he would be able to call on Cleveland after the war had finished and ask for help if he needed it. Cleveland later denied that this was part of the bargain. So I'm guessing George survived. Sort of, was worth saying. Bit certain. Anyway, the men shook hands, and then Cleveland walked George down to the swearing-in office there and then. It's like, yep, you're doing it now. We've see. Bits of him did. Anyway, the men shook hands, and then Cleveland walked George down to the swearing-in office there and then. It's like, yep, you're doing it now.

We've shook. So there you go. George was packed off to the war. Cleveland doesn't need to go. In two history books I read, a lot was made of the fact that George survived the war, so it's fine. I can't help but feel that misses the point. Yeah, somewhat. I've not gone into it in

detail because i realized it was a bit of a rabbit hole uh but just so you know uh george literally a few days after signing up uh was ordered to load a wagon uh and picked up something heavy and felt something pull in an area you don't want something to pull. They realised that one of his testicles had turned round, which nowadays is widely recognised. That needs to be sorted immediately, otherwise there's a lot of

problems. He went to a field hospital and stayed there for a week in agonising pain. Yeah. A short but painful war for George. Yeah? Yeah. Anyway, uh, a short but painful war for George. Yeah? Yeah. Anyway, none of that happens to Cleveland because, uh, he's still at home. Getting drunk. Yeah. So, with the war out of the way,

Cleveland focused on his career. He decided that it was time to get into public service. Taking a pay cut, he went for and got the position of Assistant District Attorney of Erie County, which is nice. Again, he threw himself into his work. He made many more connections and made a name for himself. Those in the Democratic Party in the city

noticed this young man who was working all hours. Maybe he'll go somewhere. So much so, in fact, that in 1865, when the District Attorney job came up, he was encouraged to go for it. This was more to get his name out than anything else. This was a strongly Republican area for this vote, so he was unlikely he was ever going to win, and sure enough he didn't. But it was an experience, it was a start. He's starting to campaign. Yes, he's dipping his toe in. Yeah, exactly. So now with a bit more prestige, he starts his own law firm with a couple of friends. This is the law firm of Lanning, Cleveland and Folsom. And this law firm did very well because Cleveland was the workaholic powerhouse driving the firm. Lanning apparently had some connections that brought in some railroad companies and just some business with them. And Folsom,

one of Cleveland's closest friends at this time, was a cheerful face for the firm. He'd go around and just... So he's all about any ability, but he's got a good smile. Yeah, exactly. He welcomes to people. He's the face. He can hobnob.

Yeah, exactly. Keep an eye on Folsom. He comes back in the story. So yeah, the law firm's going quite well, but Cleveland decides to run for another public office. This time, the county sheriff. Oh. Yeah.

Oh, does this go back to the original introduction? Oh, yes, it does. Yeah, historians have noted that this seems like an odd choice. Possibly a step down, considering how well the law firm was doing, but also, as we know in this day and age, you can make a lot of money from being in certain offices. Sheriffs didn't have a salary, they just were paid fees, so depending on how much was going on. It would appear that he was nudged by those around him who wanted him to gain a career in politics, to go for this.

It would be a good experience. But Grover's heart wasn't really in this campaign. He didn't do much to push for it. But despite this, as an up-and-coming Democrat, many got behind him anyway. On election day, he walked into a local saloon and declared an open bar. And I quote here,

Come on up, boys! Have a drink with the next sheriff. My name is Cleveland and I want you to vote for me. I'd vote for him. I'd vote for him on that. Yeah. Have a bottle of whiskey, please. Apparently soon after, a man came in and introduced himself to Cleveland as the opposition.

It was the other guy running for sheriff that they'd never met before. So they had a drink together. That's quite nice. Then he tried to say free bar. God damn it. Well, Cleveland squeezed through a victory here. It was a close race. But there you go. He's become sheriff. Win by four dr a victory here. Just. It was a close race.

But there you go. He's become sheriff. Win by four drunks to three. Yes. So he starts working. His heart's not really in it. Apparently, though, he does do what he can to root out corruption, which might just be some of his micromanagement style.

Apparently, he did things like check that the correct amount of firewood was being delivered compared to what had been paid for it. Things like that. It turns out, no it wasn't. So someone was on the take, so he sorted that out. If you became well, it's like the 1860s

late 1860s if you were given the job as a sheriff you'd dress the occasion, wouldn't you? Oh yeah, yeah. Like a full on hat spiky things, the back of your boots. I mean, he's in a city, so we're not really Wild West here. Don't matter. No, don't matter. No, he's got the hat, he's got the badge, he's got tassels on his, well, everything, really.

He's got a stick in his mouth. Yeah, yeah, he's got all of that. He was also, apart from looking the part, prone to delegating to underlings whenever he had a fancy to go and fish or have a few beers. So he'd just say to his deputy, right, you're in charge, and he'd just wander off. That's the most important part of being a leader, though. Yeah, delegation, definitely. Now, the biggest problem was when he came across his first capital offence. A man had been sentenced to hang for murdering his own mother.

Cleveland's duty was to pull the lever. Ooh. Yeah. Now, he was so distraught by this idea that he contemplated resigning. He didn't want to do it. Now, he could pay a fee of $10 and have someone else do it for him. That was legal. But he saw it as his duty.

But it was a duty he didn't want to do. So he didn't want to pass it off to someone else. Yeah. But he didn't want to do it himself. So this was going round his head for a bit. So he decides to go and visit his mother, which is nice. His mother's still in that village. Yeah, so he travels down to his mother.

And all this time, the convicts noose round Nack. Everyone's standing there waiting. I'll be back in five weeks. Yeah. His mother told him, as a Christian, she could not condone killing a man for any reason, even if that man had killed his own mother. This settled things for Cleveland.

He realised that he disagreed with his mother. So he headed back to Buffalo with a firmer idea of what to do. The gallows were set up and a crowd gathered. Cleveland then ordered the crowd to be dispersed. The gallows were set up and a crowd gathered. Cleveland then ordered the crowd to be dispersed. He didn't want this turning into a show. So 25 officers were used to just kind of spread the crowd about a bit

until they got bored and went home. Then a deputy apparently approached Cleveland and offered to pull the lever for him. It's like, no one need ever know. I'll pull it. Apparently he'd had a few brandies that morning, so he felt up for it. God, I'll kill him. I'll kill him good.

Yeah, imagine Cleveland slowly backing away from this man. No, he was going to do it himself. It was his responsibility. So at 12 o'clock that day, Cleveland pulled the lever on the gallows. He later described the experience as grievously distasteful. Three weeks later, he went through the whole process again. Yeah, he did not like doing this. He soon wearied of the post and was looking forward to the term to end. He spent three years as sheriff, but as the term

ran out, he'd gained a reputation for being fair but tough, and that's all he needed from it, really. It's going to further his career so he decides to get out. He does not run for another term. So he went back to his law firm and his socialising in taverns. Not that he ever stopped doing that. By this time the nickname Big Steve still applied apparently

but not because he was muscular anymore. He had filled out somewhat. Or the beer. He spent his evenings smoking cigars, drinking that beer, playing poker with his friends. However, you might have noticed one glaring hole in Cleveland's story so far.

No, you're shaking your head. Relationships. Oh yeah. He's in his mid-thirties here and Grover seems to have had very little interest in any relationships, female or male. but this is soon to change. His friend, Oscar Folsom, if you remember, he had a wife. Oh.

Oh, no, no, don't worry. Okay. It's not going there, but you'll wish it did by the time I get to the end of this story. Who had a 10-year-old daughter named Frances. We're not going there. Okay. Yet. Just keep an Named Frances. Um, no, we're not going there. Okay. Yet.

Um. Just keep an eye on Frances. Twelve year old girl. She's ten at the moment. Ten year old girl. Yeah. Make a note of her. She's not in the story for ages, don't worry. Uh, but just know she's there because she definitely comes back in the story. Anyway, Folsom's wife. Uh, she had recently met the most charming woman in

one of the more fancy department stores in the city. They sold like elegant gloves and things. And why don't you, Grover, go and have a chat with her? She's delightful. She can speak French and everything. Ooh, posh. Yeah. So, Grover, possibly bored one day,

decides, okay, go and check this out, and he goes into this upmarket shop and met this lady who worked there, who indeed turned out to be very beautiful and very pleasant to talk to. Her name was Maria Halpin. She was a widow. Her husband had died not long ago, and she'd fallen on hard times, but then she'd caught a break and had recently moved to Buffalo when this job became available, so she didn't know anyone in the city, but she was doing well at work. Her customers were a big fan of her.

People kept coming in to, like, shop for gloves and things. Same old dirty man. Yeah, pretty much. By the sounds of things, yeah. Anyway, as far as we can tell, Grover and Oscar Folsom got to know Maria over the next few months. Got to know. Yeah, we'll get into that. Oscar as know. Yeah, we'll get into that. Oscar as well.

Yeah, we'll get into that, don't worry. One evening, Grover happened to bump into Maria in the street. So they already knew each other by this point. Now, we only have two people's account on what happens next. So we're going to go with Maria's version first, and then Grover can try and explain himself afterwards. Oh dear. Yeah. It would seem that Grover can try and explain himself afterwards. Oh dear. Yeah. It would seem that Grover convinced Maria to go for a meal with him. Apparently, it

was a very pleasant meal. Then Grover walked Maria home. Once he was in her apartment, he and I'll quote Maria here, by use of force and violence and without my consent, he raped her. Look of disgust on your face. So again, this is Maria's version here, she afterwards threatened to tell the police and then shouted for him to get out and she would never see him ever again. And apparently Grover left at that point. Now, Grover would later say that the sex was consensual and that Maria was well known for sleeping around. So we don't have time to go into the politics of he said, she said, and all the problems around that with rape cases. But just know something unpleasant's happened, and we can't know all the details. It's going to get worse. This is a very dark episode. Oh,

it's a very dark episode. Anyway, either way, what we do know is that it was several weeks later that Maria found out she was pregnant. Right. Now, with no way to provide for a child, she contacted Grover. Grover, after getting over the shock, insinuated to Maria that they would get married. This mollified a distraught Maria for a while, but it soon became very clear that Grover had no intention of actually getting married. soon became very clear that Grover had no intention of actually getting married. And then in September 1874, Maria gave birth in Buffalo's only hospital for unwed mothers.

Sign up for Times. It was a boy who Maria named, interestingly, Oscar Folsom Cleveland. An interesting name. Some historians have pointed to this to suggest that the child was actually Oscar Folsom's. Some point out one source that claims that Grover was the person who chose the name and named the child after his friend. We just don't know. Interesting. We've got no idea.

Anyway, however all of this happened, from worst case scenario to, I hesitate to call it best case, slightly less worst case scenario, it's obvious that Maria was taken full advantage of by Grover and perhaps also by Oscar as well she now found herself with a baby boy that she could not support Grover did not want this complication in his life so he sent some persuasive friends of his around

to Maria to make a deal how about you give up any attempt of being the child's mother and send him into an orphanage? After all, you can't look after him anyway. And here is $500 to go and set up a new life for yourself somewhere that is not Buffalo. Yeah, basically Grover's throwing money at this and hoping it goes away.

It works for a time. Maria, in dire straits, takes the money and left. But soon the guilt gnawed away at her and she came back to the city. She found the orphanage and attempted to get her son back through legal means, but it went nowhere. I mean, Grove is a lawyer. He has connections. There was no way that was ever going to work. So because this failed, one day she kidnapped her own son. She was soon located. The child was taken back. And then, again, through several connections,

Grover had Maria placed in an insane asylum for monitoring. Yeah, you're just wincing now. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now, fortunately, a nice little bit here, apparently, according to one source I found, she was found to be sane within a few days. The doctor's realising that this is clearly just a politician trying to cover something up.

Yeah. So she was released. That's not the point. But that's, yeah, I mean, it could have been worse. That could have been her life. If there was another doctor who went, yeah, fine, she can come in.

I mean, that's it. At least she's not trapped in there. But, I mean, it's not great. No, no. Not great at all. Still, Grover's problem's gone away. Oh, that's good. Yeah, I had a break from my research at this point.

Yeah, I'm not surprised. That's horrible. I guess back then, this information would be a lot harder to come by and probably wouldn't damage you as much as it would now, politically. We'll get there. Oh, we will. We will. You have two terms, though. Well, we've obviously

seen some horrible stuff happen in this podcast. I mean, we've had forced death marches, genocide, slavery. I mean, these were all big-scale, awful, awful things. But for small-scale, individual things, I think this is possibly the worst we've come across.

Possibly. But who's the president that slept with his slave? Jefferson is one that that comes to mind but that was awful but at least Sally wasn't put into a mental institution. No. Yeah.

Then you've got Tyler with his big cannon taking advantage of a poor girl whose father had just died. Oh, yeah, yeah. That wasn't great. Anyway. Quick aside, you mentioned his daughter? Folsom's daughter. Was that just to make it sound worse, or is there a reason?

Oh, don't worry, we're getting to that. We are. Because just over a year after all this happens, Oscar Folsom dies in a carriage accident. This sudden death was a problem for the widow Emma and their daughter Frances, the daughter you just mentioned, because Oscar hadn't written a will. So the court ordered that Grover, as a close friend, be in charge of administrating the estate. Now he'd always been close to the family. I mean, he started the law firm with Oscar

and whatever that was with Maria clearly involved the two of them in some way. And he'd also even bought the baby carriage for baby Frances when she was a small child. Yeah. So he now becomes closer to Emma and currently 11-year-old Frances. It's fine.

Just a family friend. That's all. Honestly, there is nothing to suggest anything more than a family friend at this point. Anyway, by this time, the year is 1876, Grover is becoming more involved in the Democratic Party. His stint as sheriff had improved his reputation amongst the party, and he was starting to be seen as a leading figure of the party in the city. Over the next five years he continues his law practice as well as heading various committees for the Democrats. His stature rose to the point that in 1881 his name started to be linked with the position of mayor. Now Grover was unsure to begin with. He'd just been offered a cushy job with the New York Central Railroad

Company which would pay a lot more. But by this point offered a cushy job with the New York Central Railroad Company, which would pay a lot more. But by this point, Grover seems to have caught the public office bug. In fact, I'll quote him here, this office-seeking is a disease, and it is even catching. So yeah, he wants to be in politics, so that's what he's going to do. It's around this time that Garfield was shot, and Arthur was going to be the next president, and the national mood started to swing towards the idea of reform and cracking down on corruption. Now, Buffalo was no different to any major city and had its fair share of corruption. Sir Grover had made a name on being anti-corruption during his time as sheriff and was able to use this to his advantage when pushing to become mayor. He spent most of his campaign in taverns delivering speeches railing against the obvious failings of the current system.

And it went down well, especially when he called an open bar. Yeah. His opponents attempted to attack him, but they found very little they could get him on. There was no skeletons in his cupboard. No. No. Squeaky clean. In fact, he was prejudiced against married people. What with him being a bachelor at his age.

It was pretty much the best they could do against him. Right. But, I mean, they just had no impact, really. And he easily won the election. On the 1st of January, 1882, he became the mayor of Buffalo. By this time, Garfield was dead and Arthur was president. No one at all would have predicted that this brand new mayor of Buffalo would be the next president.

Spoiler for our listeners. Yeah, but I mean, it's like, Arthur's already president. Yeah, that's quite a fast... Yeah, and Cleveland's literally only just become a mayor of a city. Wow, so within four years? Three. Oh, wow. Yeah, because obviously this is Garfield's term that Arthur's taking over.

Yeah. Let's see how that happens. Well happens well as mayor he quickly set out his vision it was ridiculous he said that for example the people who changed the street lamp oil changed depending on who they supported in the last election there was a who would lose jobs yeah yeah it was the spoil system if you supported the uh current mayor and then they were chucked out, well, everyone lost their jobs. This was ridiculous. Yeah. So that should end, he declared. He also uncovered the fact that the city was being overcharged by over $100,000 for a road construction contract. So he scrapped that straight away.

He refused to let public funds go towards a holiday honouring the dead in the war, which could have gone down badly. But instead, he led a group of affluent men to raise the money privately. Oh, nice. Yeah, I mean, gone are the days where he's struggling for money. His law firm's done well.

He's got cash now. All in all, he made a very good first impression. He worked hard at making the city run smoother, with fewer palms being greased. However, within six months, he heard the very sad news that his mother was ill. He rushed off to see her and was by her side when she died. He mourned, as you would, but he then headed back to work, where he was quickly growing in popularity and also making enemies. Politicians from both the Republicans and the Democrats, who had been profiting from the spoils system for the last decade, did not appreciate this new mayor coming in and messing things up. A perfectly good bid to improve the sewers was utterly ruined because of Grover,

just because he insisted on actually working out how much it would actually cost before hiring people. Yeah. Yeah. Takes away all the fun. Exactly. Meanwhile, some of the leaders of the Democrats were sitting up and taking notice of this popular new mayor in Buffalo. What with the rising tide of anti-corruption feeling, Grover Cleveland was becoming a bit of a figurehead. Some started talking about the governor of the New York position that was coming up. Well, there were two major politicians who were going for it for the Democrats, but in a story that we have seen a few times before, both men had their factions who could not agree to support each other. So many in the party started to see Grover Cleveland as a good compromise candidate.

And so, with no campaigning really, any work on his behalf, Cleveland suddenly found his name being put forward for the governorship of the whole state. And he won in an absolute landslide. Oh wow. As we've seen over the last few episodes, the Republicans were starting to fall apart. In fact, had been falling apart for quite some time. The Republican candidate for governor was a conquering man. And at this point, everyone's fed up with conkling men.

So Cleveland won 555,000 votes to 342,000 votes. This is the largest ever margin of victory for the position. It was double. Yeah, he swanned in. And just like that, there you go. Grover's now governor. Only a year after becoming mayor. The first thing he had to do was move to Albany,

the capital of New York State, and live in the governor's mansion. Now, being single, he considered inviting his sister Rose to come and join him to be the hostess if any parties were being thrown. But then he thought about it a bit more and decided it would just be easier to simply not entertain guests.

So he moved in with only a couple of friends slash advisors. One of these men was a young man named Lamont, who was a rising star in the Democrat Party, and for the next 15 years would become Cleveland's closest advisor. So just know he's around now. Now shortly after moving in, Grover headed off to the inauguration and was sworn in. He delivered a speech that he had memorized, which was a bit of a trick of his. He would never read his speeches. He just memorised them and then delivered them, which impressed a lot of people.

Unfortunately, as per usual with his speeches, it was a very uninspiring speech. I mean, it was memorised, but it wasn't great. I am now the governor. You are not. Yeah. Thank you. Oh, no parties. Yeah, but not a single note in sight.

I mean, people were very impressed. So anyway, he's governor now, so he gets to work. Much like he did with mayor, he announced that all unnecessary jobs would be abolished. We've got far too many people being paid to do nothing at all. The tax system's going to be locked out to make it fairer because at the moment it's clearly benefiting the richest. And generally, the civil service is going to be looked at to make it fairer, because at the moment it's clearly benefiting the richest. And generally, the civil service is going to be reformed.

Now, Arthur had been president for just over a year by this point, and the push for reform at national level was being emulated at the state level. So Cleveland is riding this wave. Those in favour of the spoils system argued, though, that Governor Cleveland was being unfair to those most needy in society. Yes, that's an odd look you're giving me there. Do you want to hear their argument? Because it's a good one. Their argument was that all those robber barons who were making huge amounts of money, and all the politicians who were also raking it in, well they often set up shouters

or donated to charity. So for example, if little Johnny needed a hospital bed, mother could just go and see Mr. Bossman, and he would pull some strings, and little Johnny would get his hospital bed. If you take away the robber barons, then how would the poor cope? Did Cleveland at all use his experience in the blind school?

There's a rebuttal against that, saying well, I've been to those places. Screw you. If he did, I didn't read that anywhere. I just came across this argument for Robert Barron's and just went, wow, what an awful, awful argument. It's just clearly nonsense. And did nothing to persuade the majority of people who were supporting the reforms at the time. Now, Cleveland soon made a name for himself as the veto governor. If he felt that bills were just a way for politicians to make money, he would just veto them, even ones that were popular with the public.

He lost a lot of popularity early on when he vetoed a bill that would put a cap on the prices of rail fare. Jay Gould, remember him from Black Friday fame? Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's still hanging around, being as corrupt as ever. Well, he's in charge of the trains at the moment, and he's raking it in. This bill would have forced Jay Gould to lower his train prices.

A lot of people enjoyed that. But no, Grover vetoed that one. He saw the bill as unfair to the business that had taken a failing rail company and made it work again. Now, although not immediately popular, what this move did was solidify Cleveland's image as him being a fair politician.

He wasn't bringing reforms just to wreak vengeance upon the Robert Barons. He was simply making sure that the laws are followed. He wasn't just going to go after people. That's fair. Yeah. So So he lost popularity but in the long run this move seemed to

do him some good. In his spare time he still fished and he played poker with his friends but mostly he worked. He was a full on workaholic by this point really. Very little time for entertainment or parties. We've got no humorous stories or anything. He just got on with his work.

Meanwhile the leaders of the Democratic Party were looking forward to the upcoming national election. The party had not elected anyone since before the Civil War. They had been out of power for a generation. But things were now starting to look a bit hopeful. I'd suggest very hopeful. Well, as mentioned before, the Republican

infighting between the Stolz and the Hartbreeds had torn their party apart. There's an accidental president in charge who, although, I mean, he's not doing as badly as many feared, he's hardly unifying the party. And also, it was looking more and more likely that Blaine for Maine and the Halfbreeds was going to be their next nominee. Now, the Democrats, meanwhile, sense that this was their time. All they need to do is put forward a decent nominee who was against blatant corruption, and the public will probably go for them, because they're fed up with the Republicans right now.

So as long as we don't put forward a complete idiot, this election's in the bag. But who to choose? Well, there was an obvious choice, and that was Tilden. We've come across Tilden before. Yeah, he's the Democrat who had beaten Hayes in the popular vote, but after that committee of 15 looked into it, they decided that Hayes had actually won, if you squint. the tweed ring in New York. So, I mean, he was a popular politician from New York. New York is like the biggest swing state of the time.

So if you've got New York, you've got a good chance of winning. He was a popular choice within the party and the public, but he declined to run. He said no. I think that's more of a screw you kind of thing. No, it's more a case of I'm 70 now and I'm feeling quite ill. Well, that didn't stop Trump. Well, I think Tilden was onto something because he was dead within two years. Shouldn't laugh.

No. But yeah, no, he was right. He wasn't ready to become president at this time. That'd be depressing to start with a Democrat president. So, Tilden's on death door. They need someone else. As the national convention approached, several names were circulating. There was no obvious candidate, but Cleveland was certainly on a lot of people's lips.

Cleveland. Yes, it was a bit freaky. As was Senator Bayard. He was very popular. In the South, however. Ooh. Yes, the hangover from the Civil War. He had said certain things during the war. Death to America. Yeah, he was still hated in the North. So yeah,

there were a lot of people thinking, nah, he won't do. We need someone who can be supported throughout the country, not a hangover from the Civil War. And Cleveland fit that bill. He's popular, but not a populist. He comes from the richest state in the country. He's relatively young. He's untested, yes, but that's what they need. I mean, they need someone who's fresh and new. No skeletons in his closet, that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah, that would be good, right now. However, Cleveland did have his detractors, mostly from New York State itself. This is the Tammany Hall faction, who were huge, a very big faction. I don't think I've mentioned them before. Well, I have, but indirectly, because this is a

political machine that was set up in the late 1700s, but really rose to power in the mid-1800s, where it was where like-minded democratic politicians gathered and shared their views. It was arguably most powerful when it was being run by Boss Tweed. Boss because he was the boss of Tammany Hall. So yeah Tweed used Tammany Hall to take over New York City. That's the faction we're talking about here. When Tweed was taken down it did not take long before the Tammany Hall faction was on the rise once again. They were anti-reformers for the Democratic Party. In a way, although this is a huge simplification that's hard to do,

but in a way you could kind of say they're the stalwart's counterpart for the Democrats. Yeah. They did not like this Cleveland fellow one bit, that's for sure. Their opinion was that he was simply riding the current wave of political reform support. He wasn't actually a good politician. I mean, who is he? He's brand new. He's not been tested. So once the convention started, the Tammany Hall delegates from New York publicly declared that Cleveland might look good from a distance to the rest of the country, but he was unelectable in New York State. And you need New York State. He was unelectable because the Irish would not vote for him, they declared confidently. Now, Tammany Hall had very,

very, very strong links with the Irish community. So the reason why the Irish were not going to vote for him was mainly because Tammany Hall was telling them not to. But the representatives at the convention didn't dwell on that point. After the Tammany Hall delegate had finished saying all of this, a delegate from New York who supported Cleveland stood up. He pointed out that people in New York State loved their governor for many reasons. His honesty, his courage, etc., etc., listed a whole bunch of things that Cleveland was good at, but then finished with, and I quote,

but most of all, because of the enemies he has made. And then sort of glared very pointedly at the Tammany Hall faction. Yeah, apparently a huge argument broke out at this point. But everyone got the point. If you don't like the Tammany Hall lot, vote for Cleveland, because it'll really annoy them. They've almost set themselves up to... Yeah, there were a lot in the Democratic Party

at this moment who didn't like these elitists swanning around politicians from Tammany Hall. So the argument was calmed down. The voting began. It soon became clear that most were won round by this new governor. Cleveland won 392 votes. Second place got 170.

So a huge lead from second place, but it's not actually a majority if you factored in the other contenders. The Tammany Hall faction attempted to find a dark horse candidate, the likes we've seen before, but it was too late. This wasn't a deadlock that wasn't being shifted.

The tide was already going. So the next count had Cleveland on 475 to the second place, 151, and the next count was 683 to 81. That was enough. With relative ease, with only three counts, Cleveland had taken the nomination. He's gone from nothing to the president nomination in three years. That is quite impressive. Yeah, right place, right time. Yeah, well, within five years he's gone from a sheriff to... Yeah, yeah. And he's still wearing the gear as well. Yes, he is. Well, Cleveland was working at his desk when he heard. Remember, they don't actually attend the conventions at this time. When he was told the good news by someone, he replied, By Jove, that is something, isn't it? And then carried on working.

So the election got underway almost immediately. The early signs were looking very good for the Democrats. The Republicans had indeed nominated Blaine from Maine, and it had not gone down well with many in the party. The Stalwarts hated Blaine, obviously, but also the reformers in the party disliked Blaine for various reasons. Mainly, he kept being caught up in corruption scandals. The reformers in the party wanted an end to the half-breeds and the Stalwarts dominating the party. They were just fed up of it. So much so that some of them started to say that they would support an honest democratic president over a corrupt Republican one. This faction became known as the Mugwumps.

The Mugwumps. Yes. Great name. With Mugwump support coming over to the Democrats, things were really looking good. Those in the Democrats who were fully behind Cleveland and his run for the top job also had a nickname, because nicknames are all the rage at this point. You'll like this one. They were known as the Bourbon Democrats.

Yay! Yes. I've read in two separate places, one saying that this name came from the whiskey, because sovereigns drank lots of bourbon, and there were a lot of sovereign politicians in this faction. I've also read somewhere that it was nothing to do with whiskey. It is named after the Bourbon dynasty, because the Bourbon dynasty in France were very backward-looking. As per usual, this nickname was not a name they gave themselves. It came from the outside.

Let's go with the happier whiskey one. Let's go for the whiskey one. I prefer the whiskey one. So Cleveland is now the figurehead of the Bourbon Democrats. The Bourbons came from the States' Rights Democrats, a faction we've not seen for quite some time because we've been so Republican for so long. They believed in the origins of the party, the Jeffersonian idea of small government,

few regulations, a disinterest in world affairs. Now, their views had moved on somewhat from the agricultural utopia imagined by Jefferson, but it was now more about small businesses rather than farms. And also sometimes when those small southern businesses got a bit bigger and turned into big businesses and they had quite a bit of money to share

around, well actually they were alright as well actually. Yeah. I mean let's not let our ideals get in the way of some good cold cash. The election was in full swing by this point. The two sides started campaigning. As per usual, the nominees were not supposed to get involved.

Cleveland found this easier than Blaine, who, after running a faction of the government for so long, wanted to get involved as much as possible. But the two of them, although keeping very much abreast of what was going on, stayed out for limelight with a few small tours going on. Those actually fighting in the election soon found that despite all the factions

and all the parties and all the nicknames and everything going around, when the dust settled, it turned out that the Democrats and the Republicans did not actually differ that much on policy. That's awkward during debates. Yeah, you can imagine everyone suddenly stopped and looked

around and went, hang on, that's what we, oh, weird. Why are we fighting? Yeah, well, both sides wanted high tariffs. The Republicans claimed that this was to aid workers. The Democrats claimed that this was to aid small businesses, so they had slightly different reasoning behind it. Both sides were talking of looking into more rights for workers, mainly because seriously, someone needs to give at some point soon, otherwise the country's going to fall apart. So let's do something about that. Both sides promised to be much harsher on the Chinese, which went down very well because the Chinese are still the racist flavour of the month at the moment. Yes, of course. So with little to debate on policy, the campaign turned personal.

And this is where the Democrats had a huge advantage. Because everyone knew that there are no flies on Cleveland. No skeletons in his closet. He's brand new. He's a new man. Firm but fair. And that's all he is. Blaine, however, he's had years of being involved in dodgy dealings for the government. They did not need to go digging for dirt on Blaine.

They just had to simply go over to the mounds of dirt that were already lying around the candidates and pick some up. The biggest being a financial scandal that Blaine had been involved in, one that I have mentioned before. I'm not going to go into details here because we've covered similar things. But again, it involves a railroad company. It involves funds resting in accounts. It involves money exchanging hands. The reason why this scandal really hotted up, though, is because a letter was found

that Blaine had written to someone else in the conspiracy, where details of the corruption were openly discussed and then Blaine had signed off the letter saying, burn this letter. I mean, that never looks good, does it? Yeah, it never looks good, no. So, the Democrats started chanting at rallies, it's catchy, are looks good does it? it never looks good no yeah so uh

the democrats started chanting at rallies it's catchy are you ready for it? Blaine Blaine James G Blaine the continental liar from the state of Maine

burn this letter they're terrible at doing stuff like that but you know I'll tell you what like everyone knocks Trump rightly so

but he is good at getting catchy things out and memorable short snippets of people. Whether you agree with them or not, they're memorable, I say in your head. Build the Wall is definitely more memorable than Blame Blame James G. Blaine, the continental liar from the state of Maine,

burned this letter. It's the burn this letter at the end. I mean, it's just tacked on. It does, yeah, it doesn't even make sense. It's not good. Anyway, things weren't looking good for the Republicans. And then, to the shock of many, a Buffalo paper released an issue

with the headline, and I quote, a terrible tale. And then a subheading of a dark chapter in a public man's history. And then the pitiful story of Maria Halpin and Governor Cleveland's son.

Ooh. Oh, yes. Oh, dear. The article stated that Cleveland had seduced a widow and she had become pregnant. Cleveland had pretended that he would marry her, but instead sent the boy to an orphanage and chased the mother out of town. As we can see, that's actually quite a nice way of putting it.

I think a very nice way of putting it. But it's still not good, even in that it. I think a very nice way of putting it. But it's still not good even in that version. Now it really says something of the time that although many high up in the Democrats knew about what Cleveland described as his and I'll quote here woman scrape. Yeah few if any thought that it would be a problem. Apparently the Tammany Hall faction knew about this and didn't even bother to use it because it's not going to really make a difference. Now, some suggested to Cleveland,

why don't you blame the whole thing on your friend Oscar? I mean, say it was his child. After all, the child is called Oscar Folsom Cleveland, so say it's his, and say that you took responsibility to save Oscar's marriage. That makes it sound like you've done a noble thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Cleveland was outraged by this idea. He would not sully his friend's name. Now, this looked slightly odd to many. I mean, Oscar's dead and this is the perfect get out. I mean, why don't you use it? But as Cleveland also pointed out, it would hurt Oscar's widow and also his daughter Frances. And Cleveland really, really was very interested in keeping Frances happy, especially now that she's no longer a child.

She's 20 by this point. Yeah. Anyway, we'll get into that next episode. Cleveland retreated to his Albany mansion and let the scandal bubble away. He let the rumour spread that he and Maria were involved sexually, but he did not know who the father was. But as Maria clearly couldn't support the child, he paid for it to be looked after in an orphanage.

And had even given Maria some money to set up her own business. Which is true. It's a bending of the truth. There's no outright lies there. It is spinning the story in There's no outright lies there. No. It is spinning the story in by far its most positive light. Now, the scandal sort of boiled away for a bit, but this is an age where only men voted.

So you can probably imagine how depressingly little this scandal had on the electorate. Most men just thought, yeah, that could happen to me with my mistress. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Republicans tried to make something out of it, chanting, and this one's better to be fair, Ma, Ma, where's my pa? But the Democrats simply started chanting back, gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha.

Yeah. Then, after all of that, Blaine then shot himself in the foot. Literally? I wish it was. But no. Trying to gain some more support in New York City, he met up with all of the top robber barons in New York at Dalmonico's. You remember Dalmonico's from Arthur's episode?

That's the headquarter. Oh, yeah, the real fancy place. The optics looked bad in this, though. Many people wanted an end to the Gilded Age, and here was Blaine whining and dining in the most exclusive place in the country. It did not do him any favours. And perhaps this is what lost him the election,

because it was close. The popular vote was Cleveland on 4,914,000, Blaine on 4,856,000. Oh, he's close. The popular vote was Cleveland on 4,914,000. Blaine on 4,856,000. Oh, he's close. That is only half of 1%. Wow. Here, as per usual, the Electoral College, slightly different though.

Cleveland won all four states that were the current swing states, including New York. So he won 219 to 182. Not a runaway victory, but a victory it was. Cleveland was to become the 22nd president of the United States and the first Democrat elected since James Buchanan. Oh, wow, isn't it?

Yeah. The Democrats, a classy bunch as ever, chanted during their victory celebrations, Hurrah for Maria, hurrah for the kid, I voted for Cleveland and damn glad I did. And that's where we're going to end this episode.

Bloody hell. What a horrible bunch of people people were back then. Yeah. So that's Cleveland. Do you remember that story about him having to pick up a hat? Pick up a hat? Yeah, it was cold and his parents told him to pick up a hat from the floor. That was a nice story, wasn't it? It really was.

It was a nice story. I almost blanked it from my memory. Yeah. They had popcorn once as well, didn't they? Oh yeah, that was a lovely, heartwarming element. He's going to score well on Disgrace Game. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, well, I mean, lots of negatives.

So, what are you expecting from next week i hope you expect more scandal because you're talking about francis but that definitely goes well i say hoping um i'm expecting expecting a better way of putting it yeah that certainly goes somewhere uh and then obviously you already know that we've got the unusual presidency and then a gap and then the presidency. So we'll find out what happens there. Think he'll make a good president? Well, he seems to knock out corruption. He seems to be quite efficient as a holy figure. He seems to be quite good.

It's annoying, isn't it? Yeah. Personally, everything he does on a personal level, he seems like an awful human being, but he seems to be able to do his job all right. Yeah, what a git. Yeah. Right, that's next time, however.

Thank you for listening to this somewhat depressing episode of American Presidents Totalus Rankium. Definitely you can download us on Podbean and iTunes and you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Right, until next time then. Goodbye. Sir, sir, I've got a great chant for the rally. Brilliant, brilliant. What have you got? Go on.

This is for glorious Cleveland. It says, Blame for Maine causes pain. Corrupt as tweed, don't vote for the half-breed. Wonderful. What do you think? Wonderful. Corrupters twee. Don't vote for the half-breed. Wonderful. What do you think? Wonderful. It rhymes in everything. This is fantastic. A couple of pointers.

I'm happy to have a few pointers. Go for it. Will you say Blaine? Yes. Do we want to be a little bit more specific? Well, we could say James Blaine. James Blaine. James Blaine. Put that down. There's a lot of James Blaines, though, isn't there? Well, his middle name's quite unwieldy. It's quite long.

Yes? Gillespie. No, no, go for that. Go for that. James Gillespie Blaine. There you go. Now, that's good. He's not actually from Maine, though, is he? No, no, no, no. He's from Western Pennsylvania originally, that's where he was born. Yes, well, again, it's a bit vague.

West Brownsville, his little town, he's from there. You're not suggesting we put all this in, are you? No, yes, no, go for that. Let's be precise here. Yes, Western Pennsylvania, West Brownsville. Just put it down. We'll riff it afterwards. We'll see.

We'll see. Okay. Oh, and Tweed. I mean, obviously, let's make sure. It's William. William Tweed. William Tweed. William M. Tweed.

Mager? Mager? I've got Mager in my head. Put that down. Be precise. William Mager Tweed. Okay. And, I mean, he wasn't just corrupt.

I mean, he was, uh, he was immoral. Immoral? He was, he was. Put immoral down. What else was he? He was, uh, lacking values. Yes, he was, wasn't he? Get, get that down.

Not the kind of man us bourbons get behind. Oh, I just don't. That's true. Speaking of which. Don't, don't mind if I do. Oh, no, this is going swimmingly. Right. What was the next line? Don't vote for the half-breeds.

Well, I'm in a contraction. Do not. Yes, I think it just sounds a bit better. Do not. Resist temptation. Yes, I like. I like. Resist temptation from posting your suffrage for the half-breed. Parenthesis, a faction within the Republican Party. Oh, burn the letter.

I heard lots of people say that recently. Almost sticks in your head. PS, burn the letter? Oh, yes, postscript. Right, so are you ready to give it a read? I think so. Okay, here we go, here we go. James Gillespie Blaine from Western Pennsylvania

in Western Groundsville will cause you undue suffering, it is alleged that he is as corrupt, immoral, and lacking values of William Magertweed. Maga? Maga? Maga? Magia. Magia. Magia Tweed. And resist temptation for posting your suffrage for the half-breed, a faction within the Democratic Party. Republican Party. Close brackets.

Postscript, burn the letter. Wonderful. It does flow. Oh, can't wait to get this out there God, I love the 19th century