In 1881, Grover, Cleveland was an obscure Buffalo, New York attorney.

In 1885, he was president of the United States.

No one in public life has ever risen higher faster. He did it not by dent of a great fortune

or great connections, but by virtue of his virtue. He was a man of unassailable integrity.

He did what he thought was right no matter the political cost.

In an era notorious for rampant corruption, Cleveland's integrity drove his fellow politicians crazy and made him a

hero to voters. The proof? He won the popular vote in three consecutive presidential

elections, a feat accomplished by only two other presidents,

Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt.

Cleveland also won the Electoral College vote in the first and third of those elections, making him the 22nd and 24th

President of the United States.

Born on March 18th, 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey, Cleveland was the fifth of nine children.

His father was a minister from a line of ministers stretching back at least four generations.

But Cleveland took up the law, where his indefatigable work habits and attention to detail served him well.

By his mid-20s, he'd established himself as a leading attorney in Buffalo.

He was a workaholicolic and seems to have had little

interest in marriage or family. He preferred to spend his free time visiting

Buffalo Taverns for beer and Bratworth's. It was in one such tavern that his political career began.

There, Cleveland was dragooned by local Democratic power brokers into running for city mayor,

a privilege that better connected prospects had already

turned down. The mayor's office was known to be a single of corruption. That as it

turned out made it the right job for Cleveland.

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