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. 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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AUTHOR'S NOTE.
Besides my own notes written at the time of the first operation and afterward, I have had the advantage of the original notes by Dr Joseph D. Bryant, the surgeon in charge of the case; the notes of Dr. Robert M. O'Reilly, United States Army, who gave the ether; of Dr. Ferdinand Hasbrouck, the dentist; and of recent interviews with Dr. John F. Erdmann, Doctor Bryant's then assistant, now the widely known surgeon in New York City; with Commodore E. C. Benedict, and K. C. Gibson, D.D.S.; and of correspondence with Mr. E. J. Edwards -- "Holland" -- of the Philadelphia Press.
I have also consulted various newspapers of the time, particularly the Nation, the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, and many clippings from a number of daily newspapers; several Lives of Mr. Cleveland, Mr. Cleveland's "Presidential Problems," and various books dealing with the financial conditions in 1893, especially Peck's "Twenty Years of the Republic," Dewey's "National Problems," and Burton's "John Sherman."
My thanks are also due to Mr. James Ford Rhodes for valuable suggestions.
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