# Do people know about Grover Cleveland's nonconsecutive-ness? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 16, 2006, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861 "2006-04-16T06:02:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/1 "2006-04-16T06:02:23Z")
Background: I was having a discussion of American politics with a friend of mine, and talk turned to GWB. My friend said something like, “GWB is a horrible president. He’s worse than all 42 men who came before him.” I pointed out that although GWB is indeed the 43rd president, he’s only the 42nd seperate man to hold the office, since Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th president. And my friend was flabbergasted. He’s a pretty smart, well-informed guy, but he had no idea that we’d had a nonconsecutive president. So my questions are:[ul][li]Do people know that we had a president serve nonconsecutive terms?[_]Do people know that that president was Grover Cleveland?[_]Do they understand the impact that this has on number of presidents vs. presidential number from McKinley on?[/ul][/li]Not exactly earth-shattering, but I \*am \*curious. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/2 "2006-04-16T06:04:01Z")
I don’t know how many people know about Grover Cleveland. I would say, though, that “served non-consecutive terms” is the only thing most people know about him. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/3 "2006-04-16T06:07:39Z")
Is your friend American? We all learned about Cleveland’s non-consecutive presidencies in grade school; I imagine it’s much less known in the rest of the world. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/4 "2006-04-16T06:36:43Z")
[QUOTE=Mayo Speaks!] So my questions are:[ul][li]Do people know that we had a president serve nonconsecutive terms?Do people know that that president was Grover Cleveland?[/QUOTE][/li] I knew that part, mostly because of Grandpa Simpson. “Big deal! When I was a pup, we got spanked by Presidents till the cows came home. Grover Cleveland spanked me on two nonconsecutive occasions.” > [@](#): > > Do they understand the impact that this has on number of presidents vs. presidential number from McKinley on?[/ul] This, I never realized until now. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/5 "2006-04-16T06:43:38Z")
> [@HowieReynolds](#): > > I knew that part, mostly because of Grandpa Simpson. “Big deal! When I was a pup, we got spanked by Presidents till the cows came home. Grover Cleveland spanked me on two nonconsecutive occasions.” I thought of that quote immediately, but I couldn’t remember who said it. That’s what I think of when I heard Cleveland’s name. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/6 "2006-04-16T06:44:33Z")
I knew, but only because it was a quiz question in a book. Now do you non-Brits know about our Monarchs and Prime Ministers?! ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/7 "2006-04-16T06:44:48Z")
I’m not very well-informed about our presidents, but I do know that Cleveland served non-consecutive terms. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/8 "2006-04-16T06:44:55Z")
I’d say it’s probably one of those semi-common trivia facts that a lot of people know. But since it doesn’t really matter, a lot of people have probably forgotten it, too. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/9 "2006-04-16T21:10:40Z")
It’s probably the only thing many people do know about Grover Cleveland. That and the mustache, anyway. However, lots of people probably have never connected the number of presidencies with it. I expect it’s not that crucial a fact in most people’s minds. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/10 "2006-04-16T21:19:00Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I knew, but only because it was a quiz question in a book. > > Now do you non-Brits know about our Monarchs and Prime Ministers?! Well, I know there have been a number of British Prime Ministers who served non-consecutive terms (Gladstone served, what, 5 of them?). So long as you retain the loyalty of your party’s top members, you can become Prime Minister several different times. That’s not a big deal in Britain, or in any nation with a parliamentary system. But in the U.S., a sitting President who loses an election is pretty much finished, once and for all. There was absolutely no way the Democrats would have thought about nominating Jimmy Carter for President after his loss in 1980, and there was no chance of George H.W. Bush making a comeback in 1996. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/11 "2006-04-16T21:23:02Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Now do you non-Brits know about our Monarchs and Prime Ministers?! Yes, rather well, in fact. But then, I teach European History, so that’s cheating. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/12 "2006-04-16T21:23:13Z")
Actually, we have had 43 men in office serving as presidents. Less common, more fun trivia - know who? (It’s almost appropriate to be asking today, of all days) I think that if people are going to know who Grover Cleveland was, they will most likely know his non-consecutive terms. All else that comes to mind, for me, was being a trust buster, being the only president married in the White House, and being pretty lackluster as a president otherwise. Oh, and Rushmore - Max attended Grover Cleveland High School. (Yes, my perception of reality is very much based entirely on cinema history.) ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/13 "2006-04-16T21:47:16Z")
> [@ZebraShaSha](#): > > Actually, we have had 43 men in office serving as presidents. Less common, more fun trivia - know who? (It’s almost appropriate to be asking today, of all days) [Yep](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rice_Atchison), although Wikipedia says it is an urban legend. How disappointing! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/14 "2006-04-16T22:13:28Z")
Depending upon the age of the person, it wouldn’t surprise me. I had a conversation with a twenty-something a few days ago, and she had never heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/15 "2006-04-16T22:19:23Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#): > > [Yep](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rice_Atchison), although Wikipedia says it is an urban legend. How disappointing! That’s Freaking Cool, I never realized how crazy it was to claim a VP signed in before a President as the actual President. Mea culpa! ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/16 "2006-04-16T23:01:01Z")
My favourite piece of Grover Cleveland trivia is that, according to Arthur Walworth’s biography of Woodrow Wilson, GC and Wilson were great friends who had a terrible falling out and GC became Wilson’s nemesis. After Cleveland died, Wilson had difficulty reconciling his feelings for Cleveland. mm ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/17 "2006-04-16T23:35:15Z")
My favorite blink-and-you-miss-it joke from the pilot of _Futurama_: in the Head Museum, where the heads of famous people are preserved in jars, there’s a section of “U. S. Presidents,” and there are two Grover Cleveland heads, one on either side of Benjamin Harrison’s. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/18 "2006-04-17T01:54:54Z")
My favorite trivia for Cleveland deals with his first election, where he went up against James G. Blaine. It was one of the dirtiest campaigns in US history. Cleveland was accused of fathering an illegitimate child (Cleveland respons was “Tell the truth,” and he admitted it – though there is some question as to whether the child was his). Blaine was caught up with the [Credit Mobilier](http://www.bartleby.com/65/cr/CreditMo.html) scandal. It led a newspaper to say, basically, “Cleveland has an unblemished record in office, and a scandalous one in his personal life. Blaine has an unblemished personal life, but a scandalous public life. We should elect Cleveland and put him the public life where he is so upright, and return Blaine to the private life he is undoubtedly better at filling.” ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/19 "2006-04-17T02:57:49Z")
I think that it’s pretty common knowledge along with Taft is the fat one and William Henry Harrison only served for a month. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861/20 "2006-04-17T03:34:20Z")
**Mayo Speaks!** You’d be surprised at how many people are unaware of this (or maybe it just slips their mind.) A rather prestigious message board entered into a discussion about the dangers of being President. The topic centered on the fact that _43 people_ had been President and the discussion carried on for 29 postings until a perspicacious message board member had to alert everyone about the error: > **[George Bush is a Brave Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=286424)** > > So is Bill Clinton and any other president of the United States or presidential contenders like John Kerry. I’ve considered the criticism of presidents like Clinton and Bush who’ve sent young people into harms way while having a history that would... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-know-about-grover-clevelands-nonconsecutive-ness/352861.md?page=2)