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Grover Cleveland: Secret Jaw Operations - Foreword

   
 
Cancer
jaw cancer		 On June 13, 1893, Cleveland noticed a "rough place" on the roof of his mouth. It was diagnosed as cancer, precipitating one of the most celebrated incidents in the history of Presidential medicine. [More]

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.

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 FOREWORD.

It had been Dr. Bryant's intention, as he repeatedly told me, at the proper time to publish a full account of the operations on President Cleveland, but for various reasons he delayed writing it. Unfortunately he died unexpectedly in April, 1914, leaving his task undone. Almost all those who took part are also dead. Commodore Benedict, Dr. Erdmann and myself are now the only ones still living who were on board the Oneida in July, 1893, and Dr. Erdmann and I the only persons who were present at the two operations. Hence I felt it a duty to make the facts matter of public record before all of us had passed away.

Accordingly I wrote to Mrs. Thomas J. Preston, Jr., (formerly Mrs. Grover Cleveland) asking her consent to the publication of the facts in the case as a contribution to the political, financial and surgical history of our country. After a personal interview she kindly acceded to my suggestion.

For permission to republish the article I have to thank Mr. George H. Lorimer, Editor of the Saturday Evening Post, in which magazine the article appeared on September 22, 1917.

At the beginning of the article I have alluded to "Holland," Mr. E. J. Edwards. In a letter published in the Philadelphia Press of September 26, 1917, he states in detail how he learned the facts. It does not seem to me to be necessary to reproduce his narrative here as it is not pertinent to my story. Those who are curious can consult the original.

I have corrected one or two minor errors in the original paper and with his kind permission have added considerable new matter chiefly from the article by Mr. Robert L. O'Brien.

One satisfaction in publishing this article is that it enables me to vindicate Mr. Edwards' character as a truthful newspaper correspondent. His veracity was violently assailed. "Fakir" and "calamity liar" were among the obnoxious epithets applied to him. After suffering in silence for twenty-four years his vindication is now complete.

WILLIAM WILLIAMS KEEN.

Philadelphia,
    November 15th, 1917.

     Resources[Top]
Disclosure: Doctor Zebra gets a few pennies if you click & buy from Amazon.
  1. Boller, Paul F. Jr. Presidential Anecdotes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. ISBN 0-19-502915-1 @ Amazon   [a] p. 178

  2. Brodsky, Alyn. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character. NY: St. Martin's Press, 2000. ISBN 0-312-26883-1 @ Amazon   [a] p. 315 [b] p. 310

  3. Bumgarner, John R. The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician's Point of View. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-89950-956-8 @ Amazon   [a] p. 136 [b] p. 137 [c] pp. 136-137 [d] p. 140
        Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.

  4. Dugan, James. Bedlam in the boudoir. Colliers. 22 Feb. 1947; pages 17, 69-70.
        Credibility is dubious. Just before a list of Presidents, the article states: "Twenty of the 32 Presidents ... are proved or believed on a thick web of circumstance to have been nocturnal nuisances in the White House."

  5. Howe. M. A. DeWolfe. George von Lengerke Meyer: His Life and Public Services. NY: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1920.
        Meyer was Postmaster General under Theodore Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy under William Howard Taft.

  6. Keen, William Williams. The Surgical Operations on President Cleveland in 1893. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1917.
        The corresponding magazine article was published in the Sept. 22, 1917 Saturday Evening Post on pages 24-55.

  7. McElroy, Robert. Grover Cleveland: The Man and the Statesman. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1923.

  8. Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (ed). Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of American. 2nd ed. London: Burke's Peerage Limited, 1981. ISBN 0-85011-033-5 @ Amazon
        Enumerates the ancestors and descendants of American presidents up through Ronald Reagan.

  9. Nevins, Allan. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1933.   [a] pp. 162-169
        Won the Pulitzer Prize for biography.

  10. Nevins, Allan (ed.). The Letters of Grover Cleveland: 1850-1908. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1933.

  11. Pendel, Thomas F. Thirty-Six Years in the White House. Washington: Neale Publishing Company, 1902.
        Pendel was door-keeper at the White House from the time of Lincoln to the time of Theodore Roosevelt. Full text is available on-line at loc.gov. It's a rather dry book, and reads as if it were written by an old man. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?lhbcbbib:1:./temp/~ammem_rEou::

  12. Pringle, Henry F. The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1939.

  13. Stoddard, Henry L. It Costs to Be President. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1938.   [a] p. 215
        Stoddard was editor and owner of the New York Evening Mail from 1900 to 1925.

  14. The Grover Cleveland web page at the White House.

  15.  (22 matches when checked in November 2003)
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