If I were to tell you that there was once a president that was or did these 8 things...

1.) Believed in small government

2.) Was dedicated to following the Constitution no matter what

3.) Was loyal to the gold standard

4.) Had great integrity

5.) Was equal with both political parties in his decision making

6.) Battled lobbyists in Washington

7.) Blocked bailouts

8.) Help America get out of a depression

and that he wasn't Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, or FDR, would you be able to figure out who it was? Or would you even believe that such a president existed? Well, he did...his name? Grover Cleveland.

Now, you might hear that name and go, "Oh yeah, I think I've heard his name before" but do you know that he really did do all 8 of those things? I'm going to take each point and try to show how he carried them out during his presidency.

 1.) The fact that Cleveland was a Democrat shouldn't make you think that he was all big government. On the contrary, as we will see in later points, he was more like a modern day good Republican in his actions. He just held to his beliefs in what America was meant to be, and tried as hard as he could to keep the government small.

 2.) President Cleveland was headstrong on staying within the laws of the Constitution. Many of his decisions went against people in his own party because he followed the Constitution diligently. In Larry Schweikart's book,A Patriot's History of the United States, he describes Cleveland's loyalty to the Constitution in this way, "Displaying a willingness to completely disregard either public opinion or Congressional influence to do what he though morally and Constitutionally right..." The book goes on to say how Cleveland supported the Dawes Severalty Act and stayed true to the gold standard because of his belief in the Constitution.

 3.) Cleveland knew that a strong gold standard was good for the country. He held to it even when many in his party were going for silver and worthless paper. When Cleveland was working to keep the gold standard, a fellow Democrat called him "an old bag of beef" and said that he was acting worse than "when Judas betrayed Christ."

 4.) If there was ever a politician that had integrity, it was Cleveland. When he was running for his first term, Cleveland's competitor came out with a story that Cleveland had an illegitimate child. However, when someone came to Cleveland with some evidence that his competitor had had an affair, he got the evidence and burned it! Can you imagine a politician doing that today?

 5.) President Cleveland --unlike many presidents today-- did not show favoritism to his party. Again, in A Patriot's History of the United States there is this story of Cleveland's fair handling of both parties. "Cleveland imposed the same standards on his own party as on the Republicans...Only once did a delegation of Democrats approach Cleveland about tossing a capable Republican from a position in order to fill it with a member of their own party, and the president dismissed them."

 6.) Yes, even back in the late 1800s, there were special interest lobbyist. One such group was the Grand Army of the Republic. The group did do some good things, and was meant to take care of veterans of the Civil War. However, over time they started getting bills passed through the House and Senate that gave pensions to people with ridiculous claims! Pensions were only suppose to be given to those who had been wounded in the war, but claims were coming in from people who had had injuries either way before or way after the war! President Cleveland recognized this ridiculous spending that was being done, and chose to veto as many bogus bills as he could! His hard work paid off in the end, and Congress stopped supporting the lobbyists.

 7.) Today, we hear so much about bailouts. Bailouts to California, bailouts to car companies etc...even in President Cleveland's days, there were groups that wanted federal bailouts. One group in particular was a group of Midwest farmers that wanted millions of dollars in a loan to help them buy seed. Cleveland blocked it, and told the farmers that nowhere in the Constitution did it allow for this to be done. He stated that this was the duty of private charities, and not of the government. Private charities did come in and help the farmers, and in the end they raised more money than what the federal government would have given them.

  8.) In 1893 there was a economic panic in the nation. There was a large gold drain, and because of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, the US Treasury was almost bankrupt! President Cleveland acted quickly by repealing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, but that was not enough to stabilize the economy. It wasn't until robber baron J.P. Morgan phoned the president that hope appeared on the horizon. Morgan offered the president a massive loan to help the economy get stable. During their conversation, the men realized that there was a sub-treasury in New York that only had $9 million left in it, and a $10 million payment was about to be taken out of it! This would have led to a bankrupted US government! Morgan quickly acted, and helped the president get a loan (which Morgan made $7 million off of), which then stabilized the economy. However,instead of being praised for saving the country, Cleveland was belittled by the press and his silver loving Democratic friends for making a deal with the so called gold devil.

 Conclusion:

  What a rare find in a president we had in Cleveland. He wasn't perfect, but was honest, dedicated to Americans, and willing to stand for the right thing. He was the last president to answer the White House door himself, and he truly cared for the preservation of the Constitution.

  Just think if we could have a president like this? Yes George Washington, John Adams and Jefferson were also honorable men, but Grover Cleveland had to face so much in a time where there was no thought of honor or honesty. He didn't care about gaining political favor, he just thought about following the Constitution and doing what was good for the American people. How sad it is that very little is dedicated to the great, unknown president! May God raise up another Grover Cleveland.

~Karen

 Born in Plymouth, Vermont, on July 4, 1872, Coolidge was the son of a village storekeeper. He was graduated from Amherst College with honors, and entered law and politics in Northampton, Massachusetts. Slowly, methodically, he went up the political ladder from councilman in Northampton to Governor of Massachusetts, as a Republican. En route he became thoroughly conservative.

As President, Coolidge demonstrated his determination to preserve the old moral and economic precepts amid the material prosperity which many Americans were enjoying. He refused to use Federal economic power to check the growing boom or to ameliorate the depressed condition of agriculture and certain industries. His first message to Congress in December 1923 called for isolation in foreign policy, and for tax cuts, economy, and limited aid to farmers.

He rapidly became popular. In 1924, as the beneficiary of what was becoming known as "Coolidge prosperity," he polled more than 54 percent of the popular vote.

In his Inaugural he asserted that the country had achieved "a state of contentment seldom before seen," and pledged himself to maintain the status quo. In subsequent years he twice vetoed farm relief bills, and killed a plan to produce cheap Federal electric power on the Tennessee River.

The political genius of President Coolidge, Walter Lippmann pointed out in 1926, was his talent for effectively doing nothing: "This active inactivity suits the mood and certain of the needs of the country admirably. It suits all the business interests which want to be let alone.... And it suits all those who have become convinced that government in this country has become dangerously complicated and top-heavy...."

Coolidge was both the most negative and remote of Presidents, and the most accessible. He once explained to Bernard Baruch why he often sat silently through interviews: "Well, Baruch, many times I say only 'yes' or 'no' to people. Even that is too much. It winds them up for twenty minutes more."

But no President was kinder in permitting himself to be photographed in Indian war bonnets or cowboy dress, and in greeting a variety of delegations to the White House.

Both his dry Yankee wit and his frugality with words became legendary. His wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, recounted that a young woman sitting next to Coolidge at a dinner party confided to him she had bet she could get at least three words of conversation from him. Without looking at her he quietly retorted, "You lose."

In a letter to the press on August 2, 1927, Calvin Coolidge announced "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."

By the time the disaster of the Great Depression hit the country, Coolidge was in retirement. Before his death in January 1933, he confided to an old friend, ". . . I feel I no longer fit in with these times."