An honest president

by H. Paul Jeffers

"Grover Cleveland made a name for himself as the fearless mayor of Buffalo, won New York's State House in a landslide, then overcame fierce opposition to become the first Democrat elected president after the Civil War. The office was still overshadowed by Abraham Lincoln, diminished by the corruption of the Grant administration, and faced with the huge challenge of Reconstruction. Cleveland proved he could meet the challenge, and he did so with unwavering integrity. Today, Grover Cleveland is mainly remembered as the only president to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms. But in his day, Cleveland was a renowned reformer - an enemy of political machines - who joined forces with Theodore Roosevelt to fight powerful party bosses, a moralist who vetoed bills he considered blatant raids on the Treasury, a vigorous defender of the Monroe Doctrine who resisted American imperialism, and a president who stood his ground against Wall Street robber barons in an era of big business. His real le