VI.

Last Years

As Cleveland neared the end of his term, it was evident that he had lost control of the Democratic Party. When the party nominated Nebraska Congressman and journalist William Jennings Bryan for president on a silver platform in 1896, Cleveland’s supporters, called the national, or gold, Democrats, nominated a rival candidate for president. Cleveland did not get involved in the campaign, and the Republican candidate, Ohio Congressman William McKinley, easily defeated both Democratic nominees.

After turning over the presidential office to McKinley on March 4, 1897, Cleveland retired to a home he had bought in Princeton, New Jersey. He became a member of the Anti-Imperialist League, which, in 1898, opposed the annexation of the Philippines. In 1904 there was talk of a third term for Cleveland, but he discouraged it. In that year he published a book called Presidential Problems, a defense of his administrations.

During his last years, Cleveland served as a trustee of Princeton University. There he met the university’s president and future U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921), and they became close friends. After a three-month illness, Grover Cleveland died on June 24, 1908, at his Princeton home. His last words were, “I have tried so hard to do right!”