Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) is the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.
Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897) and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents.
He is the winner of the popular vote for president three times—in 1884, 1888, and 1892—and is the only Democrat elected to the presidency in the era of Republican political domination that lasts from 1861 to 1913.
Cleveland is the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who oppose high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism and subsidies to business, farmers or veterans.
His battles for political reform and fiscal conservatism make him an icon for American conservatives of the era.Cleveland wins praise for his honesty, independence, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism.
Cleveland relentlessly fights political corruption, patronage, and bossism.
Indeed, as a reformer, his prestige is so strong that the reform wing of the Republican Party, called "Mugwumps", largely bolts the GOP ticket and swings to his support in 1884.
Disaster hits the nation as his second term begins when the Panic of 1893 produces a severe national depression that Cleveland is unable to reverse.
It ruins his Democratic party, opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian and silverite seizure of his Democratic party in 1896.
The result is a political realignment that ends the Third Party System and launches the Fourth Party System and the Progressive Era.
Cleveland takes strong positions and is heavily criticized.
His intervention in the Pullman Strike of 1894 to keep the railroads moving angers labor unions nationwide and angers the party in Illinois; his support of the gold standard and opposition to Free Silver alienates the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party.
Furthermore, critics complain that he has little imagination and seems overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters—depressions and strikes—in his second term.
Even so, his reputation for honesty and good character survive the troubles of his second term.
