The politician who intimidated TR: 7/8: A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland by Troy Senik
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John Batchelor
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🗓️ 22 May 2023
⏱️ 11 minutes
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The politician who intimidated TR: 7/8: A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland by Troy Senik
https://www.amazon.com/Man-Iron-Turbulent-Improbable-Presidency/dp/1982140747?ref_=ast_author_dp#customerReviews
Grover Cleveland’s political career—a dizzying journey that saw him rise from obscure lawyer to president of the United States in just three years—was marked by contradictions. A politician of uncharacteristic honesty and principle, he was nevertheless dogged by secrets from his personal life. A believer in limited government, he pushed presidential power to its limits to combat a crippling depression, suppress labor unrest, and resist the forces of American imperialism. A headstrong executive who alienated Congress, political bosses, and even his own party, his stubbornness nevertheless became the key to his political appeal. The most successful Democratic politician of his era, he came to be remembered most fondly by Republicans
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| 0:00.0 | I'm John Bachelorette, Troy Sennick. His new book is A Man of Iron, The Turbulent Life |
| 0:09.9 | and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland. Here to four we've concentrated on what we |
| 0:14.8 | call domestic politics. Price stability, inflation, deflation, and there's national deflation |
| 0:21.6 | in that second term that is far more alarming than the inflation they thought they were dealing |
| 0:27.2 | however there's also the contest over what Mark Twain will call imperialism. |
| 0:34.4 | Imperialism will show itself again and again in the Spanish War at the end of this decade under |
| 0:39.6 | McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt but it begins with episodes as far as I can understand in the Cleveland's |
| 0:47.5 | time over three far-flung pieces of real estate. We'll begin with the story of Nicaragua. They're |
| 0:55.3 | looking for what will eventually become the Panama Canal. How does Cleveland equit |
| 1:00.8 | himself when it comes to the question of the adventurism in Nicaragua? He can't bring himself to |
| 1:07.3 | support it. This is something that he inherits from the Arthur administration. There's a treaty |
| 1:12.0 | to build something similar if not precisely the same as what becomes the Panama Canal across |
| 1:17.3 | Nicaragua and it's important to understand why he can't abide it. He actually likes the idea. He |
| 1:21.6 | understands the inherent value of a trans-oceanic canal. The reason he can't sign off on it is because |
| 1:28.9 | the terms of this agreement would lead Nicaragua to be an American protectorate and Cleveland does |
| 1:34.9 | not think that the wisdom of the founding fathers on foreign policy needs any updating. So to his |
| 1:40.3 | mind, anything that implicates the United States in a permanent relation with an international power |
| 1:45.7 | or we would have that kind of responsibility for Nicaragua, he can't abide. So this is the reason |
| 1:51.4 | he leaves that treaty behind and that we end up having to wait a few decades until we get this |
| 1:56.3 | trans-oceanic canal and of course the huge change that it ends up precipitated. |
| 2:02.3 | And the challenge of foreign policy for Cleveland given that he sees his role as |
| 2:09.3 | delimited from what we understand today. Does he believe that he has a free hand in it without |
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