A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland

“A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland” by Troy Senik is a compelling, well-researched, fun-to-read and well-argued book-length fan letter to Grover Cleveland’s integrity.Over the last few years, we’ve read nearly all of the other Cleveland biographies, from the informative to the dull to the boring to the downright salacious (by a television click-baiting muckraker). This book is better than the others, especially if you want to better understand WHY someone might want to admire a long-dead American politician on who built a career on honesty and steadfastness.“A Man of Iron” is one of our favorites Cleveland bios, and not simply because it casts Grover in a warm light. It’s well-researched, well-written, very readable and makes a compelling argument that Grover Cleveland should be better remembered. The book is stuffed with great biographical tidbits and Gilded Age trivia, comes with a handy “Key Figures” section, and finishes with a compelling Afterward essay in which Senik explains exactly why Grover should not be forgotten by 21st century Americans. Spoiler: It’s his integrity. You’ll want to read it to understand why.Devoting chapters to all the important moments in Grover’s life, ‘A Man of Iron’ deftly connects Grover’s actions as sheriff, mayor, governor, candidate and two non- consecutive terms as president to the author’s overarching themes. I’m a huge fan of all the chapters through the 1884 presidential campaign. While I’m a Cleveland fan, I’m not a policy geek. Troy Senik makes very readable and clearly explains the issues and Grover’s roles in the presidential wonky policy stuff (tariffs; monetary policy; civil service reform, which are less interesting to us personally than Grover’s personality and charming gruffness, which are well covered as well). These policy chapters are quite readable and go by quickly likely thanks to Troy’s time as a White House speechwriter in the Bush II administration, presumably making wonky policy issues understandable to listeners.Historians may balk at this biography explaining why some of the events that feel weird or wrong or contradictory to modern eyes and ears make sense as Cleveland was a man of his times. If you’re looking for an insight into Grover Cleveland, we highly recommend this book.

Troy Senik has written an important and interesting book, filled with facts and anecdotes, in economical, dynamic prose. He is unquestionably a talented writer. His subject is an important one: Grover Cleveland, a great man and POTUS, unfortunately lost to the dustbins of History, if not reviled in some quarters.Mr. Senik is a Jeopardy! winner and it shows - the quantity of information and details packed into this fairly short book is astounding, particularly in the footnotes, which give important context and historical background to Cleveland's story.I'd give this book five stars but for two reasons:- Mr. Senik seems to have gone through a list of unusual words which he wanted to use in this book, IMO not always to good effect.- Mr. Senik's grasp of economics seems excellent (I am not an economist) , but his interpretation of Cleveland's legalist and minimalist understanding of the office of POTUS seems slanted, to the point that he criticizes Cleveland for being legalistic and constitutional at the expense of being 'humanitarian', and attributes this to Cleveland's 'inflexibility', missing the point which he himself makes, quite adroitly: Cleveland had a deep seated belief in the principles of limited national government outlined in the US Constitution, and great faith in the ability of the American people to govern themselves, without governmental intrusion.If Cleveland appeared stubborn and inflexible, it was because of his deep seated personal convictions.IMO that is no knock on Grover Cleveland, but a positive attribute.Granted, the American presidency has changed over last century, and today we look for a more active, dynamic POTUS than in Cleveland's time. Arguably that change began with Theodore Roosevelt and his 'bully pulpit', and was greatly expanded by FDR and LBJ, among the most noteworthy. Mr. Senik appears to use the modern presidency as his metric when evaluating Grover Cleveland - a great mistake IMO: Any historical figure must be discussed and evaluated in the context of their own times. Moreover, there are many today who doubt the benefit, and even the constitutionality of the modern presidency. Had Grover Cleveland lived today, he would be among the most vocal of such doubters, IMO.Regardless, read this book - "You just might learn something", or more than just 'something', but a great deal.

I offer several general observations about this new Cleveland Biography. First, the author, Troy Senik, served as a speech writer for President George W. Bush. Senik clearly acknowledges earlier Cleveland biographies both from the late 19th century and most notably Allan Nevins’s Pulitzer Prize winning 1932 biography, Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage. Second, I believe the book is especially well written and exceptionally readable. The book also, in my view, reflects excellent research and writing skills. Third, in addition to the end of chapter footnotes one might expect to find in a presidential biography, the author’s numerous and highly informative insights/footnotes printed on specific pages add great color and understanding into the political and economic environment of the late 19th century. Fourth, I recommend first reading the “Acknowledgements” and “Sources and Methods” sections of the book to appreciate the challenges of writing presidential biographies that cannot rely on presidential libraries [President Eisenhower signed the Presidential Libraries Act in 1955] along with carrying out much of the research and writing during the COVID pandemic. Readers will note that President Cleveland is the only U.S. President to be elected for two non-consecutive terms (1884 and 1892). In addition, the 1892 election “marked the only time in the history of the republic that two men with experience serving as president have faced each other in a contest for the White House.” (p.211) For readers who appreciate good writing and value an informative explanation of a time of transformation in our nation’s history, I recommend A Man of Iron for your consideration.

I had know very little about Cleveland as President and this book has filled that gap in my knowledge. He was an honest man and his only failing in my opinion is that he did not concern himself with the troubles of black Americans. This of course was a fault with all Presidents up until Kennedy and Johnson. It’s book that is well worth reading and America would be better off if more Presidents had behaved like him.

Interesting life of a forgotten president.

I don’t know if any of you’ve read the H. Paul Jeffer’s book “An Honest President”, but if you have, you might not get a whole bunch more from this book about Grover Cleveland, the 22nd, and 24th President of the United States, a ma who had a reputation for incorruptibility, and inflexibility, in a time when both were seen a good thing.I don’t know if you’ve read the recent Jimmy Carter biography, by Stuart Eizenstat that portrayed Carter as someone who couldn’t get out of his own way, because of his view of the world. If ever there was a politician that reminded me of Carter, it was the Cleveland in this book.Grover Cleveland was a small town lawyer who probably had a pre-marital love-child in his 30s, but managed to go from that to 3x Presidential Nominee, (via sheriff, mayor, and governor) in 15 years. By the end of his second presidency he had become so unpopular that he had caused his party to splinter so drastically that it would never be the party of Jefferson again, and barely ever get the presidency in the next 30 years.Grover Cleveland was a Democrat whose view that the “government should create a strong economy, and thenget out of people’s way” caused a major realignment in American politics, and changed the Democratic, and Republican parties forever. It’s a depressing read, because I’m instinctively centrist, and the centre-left got destroyed for a generation, because of his inflexibility in office.So all in all, you might find the story a bit blah, but will tell you a lot about a significant realignment in 19th Century American politics.