It is true, however. Bachelor President Grover Cleveland, at age 49, was married in the White House.
When he was elected in 1884, the heavy-set (300 pounds!) mustachioed scowly-looking President was the target of every Washington matron: the most eligible man in the country, eminently suitable for their widowed or spinster sister/daughter/niece or other relative. He was not interested.
The Best Kept White House Secret
No one knew it at the time he was sworn in, but he was about to become secretly engaged to Miss Frances Folsom, a twenty-one year old recent graduate of Wells College. The reasons for secrecy were many. First and foremost, the President believed adamantly that his personal life was his own business and had absolutely nothing to do with his presidential duties. Secondly, he had had his fill of the “ghouls of the press” during his election campaign. They had discovered that years earlier he had fathered an illegitimate child. He admitted the paternity, and documented his financial responsibility. The country forgave him. He soured on reporters.
But perhaps more than anything, he did not want himself or Frances to be scandalized. Not only was she young enough to be his daughter, an eyebrow raising tidbit of cradle-robbing in itself, but she had been his legal ward for several years. Oscar Folsom had been Cleveland’s law partner and best friend. When Frances was born, “Uncle Cleve” provided the baby buggy. When Folsom was killed in a carriage accident some years later, Cleveland, as executor of the estate, assumed guardianship of the little girl and her mother. He provided for them and was an integral part of their lives. He gave Frances her first bouquet, her first long gown and high-heeled slippers, and arranged for her college education. He was, in fact, a quasi-relative. That was more than a raised eyebrow. The connotations could have been just as scandalous as his illegitimate child.
The Secret is Uncovered
Shortly after Cleveland became President, Frances and her mother went to Europe for the grand tour and an opportunity to purchase a trousseau. The secret held. Cleveland wasn’t talking. Frances did not even tell her closest friends. But about the time the Folsom women were ready to return, the newspaper reporters got wind of a big scoop. Exactly what triggered the speculation is still debated. Perhaps it was the fact that the President had just closed on a large house in Georgetown, and was preparing to become a commuter.
Most of the speculation that Cleveland was about to marry centered on Emma Folsom, Frances’ mother. It was logical. She and Cleveland were close in age. They had known each other for years. But when the truth was discovered, that pretty, young Frances, with the peaches-and-cream complexion and slim figure was going to marry Grover Cleveland, well into middle age and nowhere near an Adonis, the country was delighted! The bands started playing the latest hit song from The Mikado: “He’s Going to Marry Yum-Yum”.
Cleveland, the Presidential bridegroom, had made all the arrangements himself. It might be the social event of the year, but it was miniscule. Less than fifty invitations were issued, all handwritten by the President. He engaged the minister and even made amendments to the vows. He planned the honeymoon. His sister, who had been filling in as acting-First Lady for a year, ordered the supper, chose the flowers and sent for the Marine Band. All Frances and her mother had to do was purchase their gowns and show up.
The press was banned. The White House windows were blacked out so they could not even get a glimmer. The details of the wedding and honeymoon were so shrouded in secrecy that it became a major challenge for the reporters to learn anything.
The Press Cover the Honeymoon
The President and his new bride slipped out of the White House undetected, and whisked off to the railroad station for their honeymoon train to the Maryland mountains. Newspapermen were hot on their trail, and hired a private train to follow. Reporters surrounded the President’s cottage and kept watch with binoculars, describing every possible detail they could glean from waiters and housekeepers. Their breakfast and dinner menus were posted on the front pages. “Mrs. Cleveland Fishes” was another of their newsworthy headlines.
Grover Cleveland would spend the rest of his Presidency in a futile fight against the intrusion. Frances Cleveland, however, was the darling of the press. They adored her, and she never seemed to mind the glare of publicity, which was non-stop. After his term ended, the Clevelands could retire in sort-of privacy for four years. Then he was elected again. By this time they were parents, with another baby on the way. The Frances-watch began all over again.
Cleveland’s antipathy toward the media never ended. In his second term, it was discovered that he had cancer of the jaw, requiring immediate surgery. Just as he had planned a year of clandestine engagement, he planned the secret medical procedure, swearing the doctors to silence. The patient recovered, and the doctors kept their word. The public did not learn of Cleveland’s operation for a quarter century, and by then he had been dead for a decade.
Nobody keeps secrets like that anymore!
Sources:
- Brodsky Alyn - Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character. NY, St. Martin's Press, 2000
- Foster, Feather - The First Ladies, Sourcebooks 2011
- Means, Marianne - The Woman In the White House, Random House, 1963
Feather Schwartz Foster - Feather Schwartz Foster, author-historian. Making the First Ladies come to life.
