Grover Cleveland, the only other successful “comeback” to the White House

After his victory against Kamala Harris on Wednesday, November 6, Donald Trump becomes the second president of the United States to achieve the feat of returning to the White House four years after leaving it.

In American history, only five former heads of state have attempted to regain power after losing it. Only one succeeded: Democrat Grover Cleveland, re-elected in 1892 after losing the White House in the previous election.

The same feat, for two personalities at odds with each other: if the Republican Donald Trump won after an exuberant campaign, it was the modesty and probity of the Democrat Grover Cleveland who once again seduced the voters, one hundred and thirty-years ago. two years.

The first Democratic president elected after the Civil War

Originally from New Jersey, fifth son of a Presbyterian pastor, Grover Cleveland entered politics at the age of 44, after having worked for several years as a lawyer. Elected mayor of Buffalo in 1881, he subsequently became governor of New York and built a solid reputation as a politician of integrity, reformer and above all very committed to the fight against corruption, the great scourge of the end of the 19th century.

It is also this theme that allowed him to narrowly win his first presidential election in 1884. The Democratic candidate owes his victory to the support of his party, but also to that of a few Republican rebels, the Mugwumpwho denounced the corruption of their own candidate, James G. Blaine, suspected of favoritism in favor of powerful railroad companies.

Republican votes allow Grover Cleveland to carry the key state of New York. If the final results are very close in terms of popular votes (48.5% against 48.2%), his lead is more comfortable among major voters (219 votes against 182). He thus became the first Democratic president elected since the end of the Civil War.

A dispassionate first mandate

Grover Cleveland's first term was marked by his modest lifestyle in the White House, the opposite of the style of his predecessor. In terms of reforms, the Democratic president is trying to clean up certain sectors, such as the navy or the railways. Saver of public funds, he also remains famous for having opposed a law to help Texas farmers hit by drought. Mindful not to encourage “government paternalism”President Cleveland still advocates for minimal intervention by the federal government.

At the end of his first term, Grover Cleveland did not arouse “ni haine ni enthusiasm”, notes academic Georges Ayache, author of a work on American presidents (1). Candidate for re-election in 1888, he narrowly lost to the Republican candidate, Benjamin Harrison, who did not obtain the majority of popular vote but won the support of voters (233 votes against 168 for the outgoing president).

Historic re-election

Four years later, the former president tried his luck again. The context seems more favorable due to the discontent of part of the population caused by excessively high customs duties. A situation which once again pushes certain Republican voters into the arms of the Democratic candidate.

In 1892, Grover Cleveland thus managed to take his revenge on the man who had beaten him the previous time: he won the majority of the popular votes and especially that of the electors (277 against 145). This second term was marked by an economic crisis and a serious depression.

Grover Cleveland is harsh in the face of the social movements that are shaking the country. He did not hesitate to mobilize the police, declaring in particular regarding a postal strike: “Even if I have to mobilize the Army and Navy to get a postcard to Chicago, I will do it. »

As the years went by, President Cleveland lost popularity. He did not run for a third term (which was possible at the time) and left power to Republican William McKinley. According to Georges Ayache, Grover Cleveland will have been a president “integrity” more « sans relief ». History will remember above all that he was the first and only, before Donald Trump, to serve two non-consecutive terms. Another originality is that he was and still remains the only president to have been married at the White House.