{"id":1626243,"date":"2022-08-30T03:47:41","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T07:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1626243"},"modified":"2022-08-30T03:48:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T07:48:07","slug":"a-century-before-trump-grover-cleveland-was-a-bulldog-populist-with-a-comeback-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-century-before-trump-grover-cleveland-was-a-bulldog-populist-with-a-comeback-term\/","title":{"rendered":"A Century Before Trump, Grover Cleveland Was A Bulldog Populist With A Comeback Term"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-century-before-trump-grover-cleveland-was-a-bulldog-populist-with-a-comeback-term%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1626243&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On the heels of the \u201cdrain the swamp\u201d populism of the Trump presidency, America once again has an executive branch that gleefully builds bureaucratic excess, with supersizing the IRS among the \u201cvictories\u201d of the Biden administration. That bureaucratic-versus-populist tension isn\u2019t just a product of the modern administrative state, though that has certainly exacerbated it. More than 100 years ago, in response to similar overreach and excess, Grover Cleveland brought chopping-block populism into the Oval Office.<\/p>\n<p>In many ways, Cleveland was the ideal American leader. Headstrong, morally courageous, and brutally honest, he served as a bulwark against government overreach and political corruption. But because he wasn\u2019t in office during a war and never signed a piece of glamorous legislation, he is widely considered to be a boring, ineffective president.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In his new book \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.simonandschuster.com\/books\/A-Man-of-Iron\/Troy-Senik\/9781982140748\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland<\/a>,\u201d Troy Senik implores us to reevaluate that bleak assessment. In a breezy 323 pages, he recounts the development of Cleveland\u2019s unlikely career as he went from friendly local attorney to one of America\u2019s most popular chief executives.<\/p>\n<h2>De Facto Populist<\/h2>\n<p>Cleveland lacked the gravitas and magnetic personality we expect from great leaders. As Senik writes, \u201cin every sense but the literal one, Grover Cleveland was not a larger-than-life figure. He was, in some sense, ordinary.\u201d Nonetheless, in the span of just three years, this ordinary man would go from obscure attorney to mayor of Buffalo, to governor of New York, and finally to president of the United States \u2014 the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland rose to prominence during the Gilded Age. At this time, bribery, backroom deals, and special favors were the common prerogatives of political and economic elites. Few dared challenge the status quo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Grover Cleveland was one of those few. As Senik explains, Cleveland believed in the basic tenets of classical liberalism: constitutionalism, fiscal responsibility, and economic freedom. These ideals put him at odds with the establishment of his day and, in Senik\u2019s incisive phrasing, made Cleveland a \u201cde facto populist.\u201d Cleveland stood up for the people, and the people loved him for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Senik characterizes Cleveland as having had a warm and affable personality. But when it came to guarding the people\u2019s money, he was a bulldog. A career attorney, Cleveland came to see the taxpayers as his clients. And he wasn\u2019t going to let anyone rip them off.<\/p>\n<p>After a year as mayor of Buffalo, Cleveland was elected governor of New York in 1882. \u201cLet me rise or fall, I am going to work for the interests of the people of the state, regardless of party or anything else,\u201d he declared. To that end, Cleveland performed his executive duties as scrupulously as he could, often coming into the office early and working until midnight. He used his veto power freely, rejecting bills that he believed were wasteful or otherwise inimical to the public interest. He would do the same as president.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Chief Magistrate<\/h2>\n<p>Cleveland\u2019s mundane life took an unlikely turn after he ran for mayor in 1880.\u00a0At that time, his career picked him up like a tornado, and \u2014 just three years later \u2014 the whirlwind deposited him in the Oval Office.\u00a0From his inauguration in 1885, Cleveland\u2019s presidency was quite different from that of other modern presidents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland didn\u2019t take office with delusions of grandeur. He made no wild assurances of a nationwide transformation or policy panaceas. His promise was a simple one: under his direction, the federal government would fulfill its constitutional obligations \u2014 nothing more and nothing less.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Woodrow Wilson, who was in many ways the anti-Cleveland, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/1897\/03\/mr-cleveland-as-president\/519858\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> Cleveland was \u201cthe sort of president the makers of the Constitution had vaguely in mind \u2026 exercising his powers like a chief magistrate rather than like a party leader.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest issues facing Cleveland\u2019s administration was the tariff. Republicans had long advocated for high tariff rates in order to protect American manufacturing. Having controlled the federal government since the Civil War (no Democrat had occupied the White House since 1861) they were able to set tariffs as high as they and corporate lobbyists wanted.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland, meanwhile, argued that the Constitution only authorized the government to set tariffs high enough to cover the government\u2019s expenditures. When he took office, the government was running a budget surplus, leading him to conclude that it was unfairly overtaxing its citizens. As Senik writes, \u201cin contrast to how the issue would often be framed in future generations, Cleveland came to the conclusion that lowering tariffs was the true populist position.\u201d With the righteous energy that characterized his political career, Cleveland began a crusade for tariff reform that continued through both of his presidential terms. Though he never succeeded in passing the sweeping rate reductions he sought, he didn\u2019t stop fighting as long as he was in office.<\/p>\n<h2>A Multifaceted Life<\/h2>\n<p>Cleveland was all business, all the time. But his private life was no less interesting than his public life. Senik provides the reader with a thorough account of Cleveland\u2019s sex scandal, his marriage to his best friend\u2019s daughter, and a clandestine cancer surgery that nearly claimed his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland lived a multifaceted life.\u00a0But as Senik argues in \u201cA Man of Iron,\u201d it was his public character, not his personal life, that mattered most to the American people. The winner of the popular vote in three consecutive presidential elections, Cleveland proved that one does not need to pander in order to win elections. Voters will reward politicians who prove their integrity by adhering to their constitutional duties and treating tax dollars as a public trust, rather than as a bottomless pit.<\/p>\n<p>With eloquent prose and engaging historical analysis, Senik\u2019s biography elevates Cleveland\u2019s overlooked career and makes it relevant to contemporary readers.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Tyler Curtis is a lender at a community bank in Missouri, and holds a degree in economics from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He has also published with the <a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/people\/tyler-curtis\/\">Foundation for Economic Education<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the heels of the \u201cdrain the swamp\u201d populism of the Trump presidency, America once again has an executive branch that gleefully builds bureaucratic excess, with supersizing the IRS among<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1308,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1626243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1626243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1626243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1626243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1626243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}