Grover Cleveland

  Comment: It should be remembered that in the pre-antibiotic era such injuries could be fatal.

[Cleveland] and his friendly opponent, Lyman K. Bass, agreed to drink only four glasses of beer daily. But after they had met a few times on warm summer evenings to talk things over, they decided that their ration was too skimpy and so began to "anticipate" their future supply. A few evenings later, Bass suddenly exclaimed: "Grover, do you know we have anticipated the whole campaign?" Cleveland nodded sorrowfully. The next night, however, both of them brought huge tankards to the saloon, christened them "glasses," and had no problem with the ration after that.

Ultimately, on July 1, the President underwent a risky operation aboard his yacht. At his insistence, his illness and surgery were kept secret from the public, the press, the Cabinet, and (one presumes) the Vice President. A second, less risky operation was performed aboard the yacht on July 17.

Afterwards, direct questions about the President's health were answered falsely. "Cleveland is alleged to have said that he had done more lying in the period just before his surgery and the period immediately thereafter than he had ever done in the remainder of his life" [3d]. It was 25 years before the secret was compromised.

Second, he snored [4].

Third, he had a thick neck. (At the time of his cancer operation in 1893, Cleveland was 56 years old and was "extremely corpulent, with a short, thick neck" [2d].)

Although at risk, I have not yet found evidence suggesting he actually suffered from the disease. It will be difficult to find such evidence. Unlike Taft, "who was fascinated by his ailments and would describe them with minute detail" [12a], Cleveland wrote few letters about his personal affairs or personal feelings until his last years [10a].

There was little that could be done for Ruth, however. Cleveland's diary palpably shows the grief he suffered at her rapid, unexpected death. [More] Ruth had been a national celebrity since her birth in the White House. The candy bar named after her lives on ("Baby Ruth").

  Comment: Although current research is demonstrating that an active intellect is correlated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer dementia, the decline of President Cleveland sounds more abrupt than the typical Alzheimer course. It is unlikely that the theories of Root and Wilson are correct.