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Grover Cleveland: Baby Ruth's Final Illness

   
 
diphtheria prophylaxis Cleveland's 12 year old daughter Ruth developed diphtheria in January 1904. Cleveland and the rest of his family were treated prophylactically with anti-toxin [7a].

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

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 Here are excerpts Cleveland's diary in 1904 [7a]:
January 2d, Ruth is a little sick with tonsilitis.

January 3rd, Ruth is still sick, but better.

January 6th, Doctor said this morning Ruth had diphtheria ... a trained nurse came at 5:25. Prof. West was here. Dr. treated us all with antitoxin and reported that Ruth was getting on well. Houghton Murray came in the evening and we played cribbage until 12. At 2 o'clock in the night word came ... that Ruth was not so well. Dr. Carnochan came at 2:30 and Dr. Wykoff at 3:30. We had been excluded from Ruth's room, but learned that dear Ruth died before Dr. Wykoff came, probably about 3 o'clock A.M., Jan. 7th.

January 8th, [In a trembling, almost illegible hand] We buried our daughter, Ruth, this morning.

     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 [c] p. 4 [d] p. 312

  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.   [a] pp. 327-328

  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.   [a] p. 1 [b] p. 615

  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.   [a] p. 1072

  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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