Cohen: Donald Trump is not Grover Cleveland.Unfortunate

Article content

Grover Cleveland is waiting a minute. As the only president in the United States to serve two non-consecutive terms, Donald Trump has become an important figure in history since he announced his candidacy this month.

Article content

Cleveland was the dominant political presence during the last fifteen years of 19th century America. The main reason why he is fashionable today is that he ran and won in 1884, ran and lost in 1888, and ran and won in 1892.

Article content

While Cleveland’s grim, bold image — he’s a big, bearded man — won’t be popping up on Instagram anytime soon, he could be another kind of influencer.

Americans like perseverance as much as success—the underdog who never quits. Cleveland is the only president to succeed this way. No one else did what he did.

Trump wants to replicate Cleveland’s unique election feat. He wants to go back to the White House. If he wins his 2024, the 21st century Glover he will be Cleveland. On the surface, there are some similarities. They were both native New Yorkers, had experienced sexual scandals, and were both powerless and restless.

Article content

But there is so much more to Cleveland than politics, and the comparison ends there. Basically, he was a good president and was rated middle class by historians. Trump was the worst rated president ever.

Cleveland was honest. This is his reputation, and history has not taken it away. He didn’t ignore, deny or lie. For example, when it was revealed that he had a son out of wedlock, he didn’t deny it, which inspired his memorable nagging. Went to the White House, ha ha ha! “

Cleveland was not always the way the progressives of today want to be, but he stuck to his principles. He sent federal troops to stop a railroad strike in Chicago, denying farmers and others in need of financial assistance. At the same time, he defended the integrity of the government and the positive reform of the civil service.

Article content

Both he and Trump have promised to “wipe out” Washington. Cleveland has done it.

For Cleveland, when he lost in 1888, despite winning the popular vote, he attended the inauguration of his successor, Benjamin Harrison. He held up an umbrella as Harrison took the oath of office. Trump didn’t have an umbrella for Joe Biden. He refused to attend his inauguration. He says the election was stolen.

A generation ago, Cleveland was taller than he is today. I was introduced to him at his school in Choate, Wallingford, Connecticut, on a course called American Presidency. The teacher was the burly, inspiring, tireless William T. “Tom” Generas.

While my classmates considered Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and other notable presidents for semester study, I was haunted by Cleveland, which I thought was, or was, less attractive. I think Mr. Generous knew that I learn about great men, but not about lesser men.

Article content

So, in directed research, I discovered the important suspended presidency of Cleveland. gold standard. depression. Civil servant. Labor anxiety. Use of Right of Refusal. Gilded Age politics. It was exhilarating.

Tom served in the United States Navy before he began teaching the fall when I was in his class. I wrote my thesis. He then dedicated the book “to reformers everywhere”, of which he was one. He fought for social justice for 83 years of his maniacal life that ended last month.

Oh what a teacher. Long before The West Wing, a fun civic lesson, we learned all about the presidency in class. The importance of integrity and judgment in that powerful office. The need for checks and balances. A history of clashes between executive and legislative branches.

Well, I know, he wanted me to know how power was exercised in an imperfect way. , why it was and still is important to reformers around the world.

Andrew Cohen is a journalist, professor at Carleton University, and author of Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History.