Democratic Campaign
In July, Grover Cleveland
broke campaign precedent by delivering an acceptance speech
before 20,000 supporters at New York City’s Madison Square
Garden in lieu of the customary notification meeting with a few
party officials at the candidate’s home. Otherwise, he
rejected electioneering publicly for the White House. He
did, however, work actively behind the scenes, writing letters
to newspaper editors and Democratic leaders, as well as
monitoring closely the efforts of his campaign manager, William
C. Whitney. Nationally, the Democrats spent nearly
$2,350,000 (or $46,300,000 in 2002 dollars), which was about
$800,000 (or $15,700,000 in 2002 dollars) more than Republican
expenditures. Cleveland’s formal letter of acceptance,
which was published unusually late (September 26), emphasized
the need for tariff reform and opposed free silver.
Although Cleveland considered high protective tariffs to be bad
economic policy, he disagreed with the Democratic platform plank
that defined any tariff that went beyond raising revenue to be
unconstitutional.
The main stump
speaker for the Democrats was the vice presidential nominee,
Adlai Stevenson. To preempt a Republican plan to make an
issue of his soft-money views, he agreed to sign a statement
backing Cleveland’s hard-money position. On a campaign
swing through the Upper South and Border States, Stevenson
hammered away at the Republican “Force Bill,” declaring that its
defeat was “more important than a hundred tariff bills.”
Nevertheless, Democrats across the country made the steep
McKinley Tariff a major issue in 1892, as they had done
successfully in the 1890 congressional elections. They
pointed to the Homestead Strike as evidence that high tariffs
did not guarantee good wages for laborers in protected American
industries.
At Cleveland’s
urging, a campaign headquarters for the “West” was opened in
Chicago, but the New York political situation remained a problem
for the nominee. Specifically, the loyalty of Tammany Hall
and Senator David Hill were in question. Whitney finally
convinced the very reluctant candidate to meet with his
home-state enemies on September 8. Cleveland refused to
promise patronage or other political benefits, and at one point
threatened to withdraw from the race, but Whitney eventually
managed to wrest pledges of active support from the Hill and
Tammany machines. Senator Hill had refused to attend, but
did briefly speak on behalf of the national party without
mentioning Cleveland by name.
The Election Results
On Election Day, November 8,
Cleveland won the popular vote over Harrison and Weaver by the
largest margin in 16 years, 46%-43%-9% (5.6 to 5.2 to 1
million). It was the third consecutive time that he had
achieved a popular majority in a presidential election; a feat
equaled only by Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt (who
surpassed it with four). Cleveland’s victory in the
Electoral College came with 277 votes to Harrison’s 145 and
Weaver’s 22. The Populist became the only third-party
nominee to win electoral votes between 1860 and 1912 by
capturing the states of Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, and
winning one electoral vote in both North Dakota and Oregon.
Yet, the Populist Party lost six House seats and failed to break
the Democratic hold on the South. Cleveland carried the
four key swing states of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and
Indiana, and became the first Democrat to win Illinois and
Wisconsin since before the Civil War. Democrats gained a
slight majority in the Senate, but saw their hold on the House
reduced by 40 seats. Nevertheless, it was the first time
since 1858 that Democrats controlled the presidency and both
houses of Congress.
Sources consulted: William A.
DeGregario, The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents (New
York: Random House, 1993); Rebecca Edwards and Sarah
DeFeo, “The Populist Party,” 1896: The Presidential
Campaign: Cartoons & Commentary, a Vassar College
Website, iberia.vassar.edu/1896/populists.aspl; Henry F. Graff,
Grover Cleveland (New York: Time Books, Henry Holt &
Co., 2002); Hicks, John D., The Populist Revolt
(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1931); H. Paul Jeffers,
An Honest President: The Life and Presidencies of Grover
Cleveland
(New York: William Morrow, 2000); H. Wayne Morgan,
“Election of 1892,” in History of American Presidential
Elections, ed. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., New York:
Chelsea House Publishers, 1985; “Populist Party,” The
Columbia
Encyclopedia, Sixth edition, 2001,
www.bartleby.com/65/po/Populist.aspl; Homer E. Socolofsky and
Allan B. Spetter, The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison,
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1987; and,
Richard E. Welch, Jr., The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland,
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1988.
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