Grover Cleveland 1884 presidential campaign

An 1884 cartoon which ridicules Blaine as the tattooed-man with many indelible scandals.

In the years leading up to 1884, the Republican Party was divided into two factions—the Stalwarts and the Reformers.[1][2] In 1884, Reformer James G. Blaine was able to defeat incumbent Stalwart U.S. President Chester A. Arthur's attempt at renomination.[1][2] In Arthur's place, Blaine himself was nominated as the Republican Party candidate for President in 1884.[1][2] Meanwhile, U.S. Senator and former general John A. Logan was selected as Blaine's running mate after Robert Todd Lincoln withdrew his name from consideration.[2]

1876 Democratic candidate and former New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden was initially the 1884 front-runner for the Democrats.[2] Due to his poor health, however, Tilden withdrew his name from consideration for the 1884 Democratic nomination.[2] After Tilden's withdrawal, then-current New York Governor and former Buffalo Mayor Grover Cleveland (known as "Grover the Good"[3]) emerged as the front-runner for the Democrats.[2] As Governor, Cleveland was notable for implementing civil service reform in New York as well as for preserving Niagara Falls as a state park.[2] In addition, Cleveland's position on the tariff issue was unclear—thus allowing him to appeal to both high tariff supporters and low tariff supporters.[2] Plus, the fact that he was from a swing state (New York) further strengthened Cleveland's appeal among Democrats.[2] Finally, Cleveland won a lot of support for cutting off the patronage of the corrupt New York City political machine known as Tammany Hall while he was New York Governor.[2]

On the first ballot at the 1884 Democratic National Convention, Cleveland won 392 delegates to 170 delegates for his closest rival, Delaware U.S. Senator Thomas F. Bayard.[2] Afterwards, Cleveland's campaign managers worked behind the scenes to prevent opponents of Cleveland's from consolidating around any single candidate.[2] This strategy was successful as Cleveland won the nomination with 683 delegates at the second ballot.[2] For Vice President, Indiana U.S. Senator Thomas A. Hendricks (previously the 1876 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee) was chosen (as Cleveland's running mate).[2] During the campaign, Hendricks would serve as an attack dog for Cleveland and constantly hammer the Republican ticket and Republican Party for their record, agenda, and character.[4]

Running on a platform of honesty and reform, Cleveland was helped by the fact that many reformist Republicans—known as Mugwumps—were uncomfortable with their candidate (James G. Blaine).[4] Specifically, the Mugwumps disliked Blaine's corruption, his imperialist foreign policy as President Garfield's Secretary of State, and his opposition to civil service reform and other reforms.[4]

An anti-Cleveland cartoon highlights the Halpin scandal.

While a revelation by the Buffalo Evening Telegraph on July 21, 1884 about Cleveland allegedly fathering a child out of wedlock (by Maria Halpin) threatened to hurt Cleveland's campaign, Cleveland was able to take control and handle this issue by telling the truth.[4] Specifically, Cleveland pointed out that, while he didn't think that this child was his, he nevertheless took responsibility for this child due to him being the only bachelor among his friends.[4][5] Also, Cleveland pointed out that he put the child up for adoption (with this child later being adopted by a wealthy couple) once Mrs. Halpin's alcoholism threatened this child's welfare.[4] This clarification, Cleveland's apparent honesty, and the fact that Cleveland stood his ground allowed him to successfully recover from this scandal.[4] Maria Halpin herself (in an 1884 interview) and Charles Lachman (in a 2011 article) questioned the veracity of Cleveland's side of this story.[5][3][6]

In spite of Blaine's conversion in support of civil service reform, the Mugwumps were unconvinced and continued to support Cleveland.[7] Meanwhile, two events hurt Blaine's campaign in its final days.[7][8] Firstly, Catholic Irish-Americans voters were alienated from Blaine when Blaine supporter and clergyman Samuel Burchard portrayed the Democrats as the party of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion."[7][9][8] Secondly, Blaine attended a dinner at a New York restaurant called Delmonico's which was filled with wealthy people (such as Jay Gould and John Jacob Astor); in turn, this caused Blaine to be portrayed as a supporter of the wealthy and as uncaring about the plight and needs of the working class.[7][8]

Due to the very close vote in New York, it was several days before the results of this election became known.[7] Ultimately, Cleveland won New York state by 0.10% (1,149 votes)--and with it the decisive votes in the Electoral College—while winning the national popular vote by less than 0.30%.[7][10][8] Specifically, Cleveland was helped in New York state by the support of the reformist-minded Mugwumps[11] as well as by the fact that Prohibitionist nominee John St. John took some votes in New York from Blaine.[7] After the election, Blaine attributed his loss in New York to the bad weather as well as to Samuel Burchard's gaffe; without these factors, Blaine believed that he would have won New York by 10,000 votes (and thus won the U.S. Presidency).[12]

Overall, 1884 was the first time in 28 years—specifically since before the American Civil War—that the Democrats won an election for the U.S. Presidency.[13]

• Grover Cleveland 1888 presidential campaign
• Grover Cleveland 1892 presidential campaign