Grover Cleveland (Second Term)

Won back the presidency from the man who'd beaten him four years earlier — then spent the term battling one of the worst economic depressions of the 19th century.

The Only Non-Consecutive Return in American History

Cleveland defeated Benjamin Harrison in a direct 1892 rematch, becoming the only person in American history to serve two genuinely separate, non-consecutive presidential terms — leaving office as an electoral loser in 1889 and returning as a winner in 1893, against the very man who'd beaten him.

Taking Office Directly Into an Economic Collapse

Cleveland's second term began almost immediately into the Panic of 1893, one of the most severe economic depressions the country had experienced to that point — bank failures, mass unemployment, and a prolonged economic contraction that consumed most of his political capital for the remainder of the term.

A Response That Alienated His Own Party's Base

Cleveland's handling of the crisis — including repealing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, a move opposed by his party's pro-silver wing, and ordering federal troops to break up the Pullman Strike, a major national railway labor action — badly split the Democratic Party's coalition, damaging his own standing so severely that his party declined to renominate him for a third term.

Grover Cleveland (Second Term)

Grover Cleveland (Second Term)

The Only Non-Consecutive Return in American History

Taking Office Directly Into an Economic Collapse

A Response That Alienated His Own Party's Base

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