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Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was the 22nd (1885–1889) and 24th (1893–1897) President of the United States, and the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms. He was the only Democrat elected to the presidency in the era of Republican political domination between 1860 and 1912, and was the first Democrat to be elected after the Civil War. His admirers praise him for his honesty, independence and integrity. As a leader of the Bourbon Democrats he opposed imperialism, taxes, corruption, patronage, subsidies and inflationary policies. His intervention in the Pullman Strike of 1894 in order to keep the railroads moving angered labor unions. His support for the gold standard and opposition to free silver angered the agrarian wing of the party.

Critics complained that he had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters--depressions and strikes--in his second term. He lost control of his Democratic party to the agrarians and silverites in 1896.