Why The President Chose Defeat

PHOTO: President Grover Cleveland tending his garden in Tamworth with his sons Francis and Richard. Francis was later instrumental in starting the Barnstormers Theatre.

by Robert Hanaford Smith, Sr.
Weirs Times Contributing Writer

“I like New Hampshire people. When I am in New York City or in Boston, people stare at me and follow me along the streets. It is very annoying; but up here among these New Hampshire farmers I am entirely free from such annoyance. These farmers are a proud people. They regard themselves just as good as I am, and there is no reason why they should not. They do not even turn their heads when I meet them along the road.”
Those were the sentiments of former President Grover Cleveland to fellow politician and Boston Herald columnist Samuel L. Powers during a visit to his summer home in Tamworth after Cleveland’s second term as the country’s highest office holder. Powers spent a few days fishing for bass with Cleveland on the western shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in the summer of the year 1904.
That fishing trip was the first meeting of the columnist and the former President who gave Mr. Powers some interesting thoughts to write about. Two things seemed certain: one, that President Cleveland loved New Hampshire; secondly that Cleveland was more concerned about maintaining his integrity than being elected the President of the United States.

The former president was 67 years old when on this particular fishing trip with the columnist and the President’s friend, Dr. Finlay, who, like the President, had homes in Tamworth and Princeton. As Mr. Cleveland stood in the boat at the beginning of the day of fishing, he expressed his appreciation for the beauty of the big lake with its hundreds of islands and the view of the mountains. It was this, he declared that motivated him to buy a summer home in New Hampshire.
“Where in the world can you find a more beautiful and picturesque scene than that which surrounds us?,” he asked. Apparently Mr. Cleveland looked the part of an experienced fisherman with the appropriate gear and attire, and according to Powers, “…possessed a natural buoyancy which made him appear much younger..” than his 67 years.
Cleveland approached the fishing with a calm and patient demeanor, unlike his writer friend who was eager to find the fish. The retired President was also interested in the birds and animals that lived in and around the Lake, which was evident as the trio observed an eagle landing on a tall pine tree on Six Mile Island and listened to the cry of a loon. When they stopped at Five Mile Island for lunch Cleveland took time to observe the wild flowers.
The columnist’s thoughts turned to the past when Grover Cleveland had made the decision which cost him his job at the time of the 1888 election. This Winnipesaukee fisherman and lover of the outdoors had also been the Governor of New York and President of the United States for two terms, but not consecutive terms.
In 1888 a man named Cady Herrick, a judge in Albany, New York, was also the chairman of the New York Democratic State Committee. Grover Cleveland had been nominated by the Democrats to run for a second term as President of the United States. The President and the New York political organization of Tammany Hall were not on the best of terms, and the President was not in the habit of granting the requests made to him by Tammany. Let me add that Cleveland gained the title of “the man of the iron will.”
The chieftains at Tammany Hall had a member of their organization that they wanted appointed to an important government office, but the President had not done so and indicated that he wouldn’t make the appointment. The position of Tammany Hall was that if Cleveland did not make the appointment they would not support him to become President for a second term. Judge Herrick proceeded to call a meeting of the Democratic State Committee to discuss the matter. The committee in turn sent its chairman, Mr. Herrick, to Washington to discuss the matter with the President.

On arriving at the White House in Washington late on an afternoon Cady Herrick was told by the President that he had a dinner to go to, but would see him at 11:00 o’clock that night. The late night meeting took place with Herrick arriving at the White House as the guests were leaving. President Cleveland took the New York committee chairman into a dining room, shut the door, and let his guest explain what had happened at the New York meeting and the decision of the Tammany Hall folk that they would not support the President for a second term unless he appointed one of their members to become the collector of the port of New York (or whatever the open office was). Without their support they felt that New York’s votes would not be in favor of Cleveland and he would lose the election.
When Herrick finished explaining the situation the President arose from his chair, walked around the table a couple times while deep in thought, and then gave Judge Herrick his answer. He is quoted as saying, “I think, Herrick, that what you say is probably true, that if I fail to make the appointment demanded by Tammany I am likely to lose the state of New York, and if I lose New York very likely I shall lose my re-election. The Lord knows that I greatly desire a re-election, which would be an endorsement by the American people of my administration. But the price which you demand is more than my conscience will allow me to pay. You may go back and say to the Democratic committee of New York that, rather than appoint a man whom I know to be absolutely unfitted for an important office, I will go down to defeat.”
He did indeed go down to defeat in the 1888 election, receiving 168 votes to the Harrison’s 233 votes. New York’s 36 electoral votes went to Harrison, costing Cleveland the election. In 1892, however, Cleveland was re-elected, defeating President Benjamin Harrison by 277 electoral votes to Harrison’s 145.
Maybe the fresh air and being among people who respected his privacy helped President Cleveland to make honorable decisions, and undoubtedly influenced his expressed preference to be fishing rather than run for a third term as President of the United States. As he enjoyed fishing on that summer’s day on Lake Winnipesaukee his wife and children enjoyed sailing around that same scenic body of water.
In discussing other men in public office Mr. Cleveland expressed a high opinion of Senator Hoar, a Massachusetts Republican, recalling a letter that the Senator had written at the time of the death of Cleveland’s little daughter, Ruth. It was, said Cleveland, the most beautiful letter he had ever seen. Mr. Powers saw Cleveland as a man of strong sympathies, who loved his home, was fond of children and loyal to his friends, and “who believed in the honest administration of law and loyal devotion to all the duties of citizenship.”

NH History