Grover Cleveland: a study in character

Pt. I. 1837-1881. Stephen

"My mind revels in retrospection"

Plans for college ended

Why did Grover become a Democrat?

A blessing in disguise

Sheriff Cleveland

pt. II. 1881-1884. The veto mayor

"Let me rise or fall"

A laundry list of promises

The veto governor

An exercise in circumlocution

"Yes, I believe things are coming my way"

pt. III. 1884. What should have been the focus

"Ma! Ma! Where's my Pa?"

"A dreadful self-inflicted penance"

pt. IV. 1885-1888. "Henceforth I must have no friends"

At times the pressure was almost unendurable

"Good government is the main thing to be aimed at"

On a collision course with the Senate

Civilization, citizenship, assimilation

Spoliation of the American West

The currency issue splits the nation

"She is a superior person"

The Haymarket riot of 1886

"O, those ghouls of the press!"

Taking on the corrupt Veterans Bureau

"Calm scorn for sectional outbursts"

A triumphant tour

Though disappointed, not discouraged

The great tariff battle of 1888

pt. V. 1888-1889. The election was Cleveland's to lose

A disastrous campaign

First confrontation with a foreign power

"The other party had the most votes"

Trouble in Samoa

"We are coming back just four years from today"

pt. VI. 1889-1893. In retirement

"I should like to know what pledge I have broken"

The silver letter

"The people are not dead but sleeping"

Cleveland in his most truculent mood

The most decisive victory since Lincoln's reelection

pt. VII. 1893-1896. "The people got exactly what they wished"

Divisive issues

"I cannot get the men I want to help me"

"I am ashamed of the whole affair"

Arguably his finest moment

A twenty-five-year secret

"I know there is a God, but I do not know his purposes"

The single most humiliating failure

The Chicago Pullman strike of '94

"I am so depressed during these days"

The crisis rapidly approaches flash point

The Venezuelan boundary dispute

The Democrats are driven into schism

Detested within his own party

Thrust aside

pt. VIII. 1897-1907. "My poor old battered name"

Lame duck

The Princeton years

"My beliefs and opinions are unsuited for the times"

Public perception begins to change appreciably

Cleveland's "true democracy" again in the ascendancy

One more opportunity to exercise his statesmanship

"You know how dearly I love you"

Last words.