Cleveland won in a close election and became president of the United States. The Democrats saw this as their opportunity to win the presidency back. He was up against James Blaine who was thought to be a corrupt politician. He continued to be open during this time, making sure that government contracts were open bid and not given to political friends.Ĭleveland's reputation as a political reformer earned him the Democratic nomination for president in the 1884 election. In just a few years, Cleveland was elected Mayor of Buffalo and then to Governor of New York.
He became known as an honest man who didn't play the games of machine politics. In 1870 he started his political career getting elected sheriff of Erie County. Grover Cleveland ran a successful law practice for many years.
In 1859 he passed the bar and became a lawyer himself. His uncle got him a job clerking for a lawyer. On the way, he stopped off at an uncle's house in Buffalo, New York and ended up staying there. He only had around four years of formal education and learned to read and write at home.Ī few years after his father died, Grover decided to move out west. His father died when he was a teenager and Grover had to quit school to help support his family. He was the son of a minister and the fifth child in a large family of nine children. Grover was born in New Jersey, but spent much of his childhood growing up in New York. This means he was president for one term (four years), lost the next election (to Benjamin Harrison), then came back to win again in the following election. Grover Cleveland is most famous for being the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms. Nickname: Uncle Jumbo, The Beast of Buffalo Vice President: Thomas Andrews Hendricks, Adlai Ewing Stevensonĭied: Jin his home in Princeton, New JerseyĬhildren: Ruth, Esther, Marion, Richard, Frances Was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.