Wednesday, July 20, 2011

My Thoughts on the 2nd Presidency of Grover Cleveland


Grover was the only President to make a comeback and returned as our 24th President. 


Soon after his term began, the Panic of 1893 struck the stock market. Silver was blamed, and it led to it's ultimate downfall in U.S. currency. 



He also tried to reduce tariffs, and replace the lost revenue with an added income tax on the wealthy. I only mention that because conservatives remember him fondly. His plan didn't go over smoothly since he blamed attempts for reform was caused by corporate control of Congress members. 



Many working men hated his polices, and a group known as Coxey's army marched to D.C. to protest. The ones that remained marching were arrested for walking on the grass of the U.S. capitol. They were never a threat to the government, and that was a low blow to freedom of speech. 



By far the worse mess that Cleveland was directly responsible for was the Pullman Strike incident. Workers had gone on strike due to long hours and little pay, and it effected the railroads. It prevented the post office from delivering mail, so Cleveland sent federal troops to handle the crowd. At the end of the violence 13 workers were dead, and 57 were wounded. 



Cleveland played a early part in the eventual take over of Hawaii. People had overthrown the corrupt Queen Liliuokalani, and the new government wanted to be annexed by the United States. Cleveland supported the Queen, but somewhat kept out of the affair. 




I'll give Grover some credit for handling the fight over what is now British Guiana between Great Britain, and Venezuela. His policy and diplomacy led to good relations not only with our neighbors south but to England as well. 




Was his second term any good? Well I can respect some of it, but I still think he was a lousy president. Especially towards labor and worker's rights. 

No comments:

Post a Comment