[Stephen] Grover Cleveland (1837-1908)

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Rudolph Evans, American, 1878–1960

[Stephen] Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), 1937

Bronze
Princeton University
PP158
Read More: Grover Cleveland at Princeton University (PP158)

Grover Cleveland’s relationship with Princeton began in 1896, when he offered an address at the Sesquicentennial Celebration and subsequently made the acquaintance of Andrew Fleming West, later dean of the graduate school. Cleveland and his first wife liked Princeton so much that, at the close of his second term as president, they made their home on Hodge Road. Cleveland was soon elected as a trustee and remained active in University affairs until his death, advocating for the development of the graduate college and opposing Woodrow Wilson's quad plan. Cleveland is buried in Princeton cemetery, and his association with Princeton is commemorated by the Cleveland Tower of the Graduate College, a collegiate gothic tower designed by Ralph Adams Cram and erected in 1913. 

Read More: Hawaii Restoration Day Ceremony (PP158)

Beginning in 2007, Hawaiian Restoration Day has remembered President Grover Cleveland’s support for the government of the Hawaiian Republic and his advocacy of Queen Lili'uokalani. When the Hawaiian queen was overthrown in 1893, President Cleveland denounced the coup d’état and supported the restoration of the queen as head of state of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Cleveland withdrew his opposition when it became clear that the overthrow was an indigenous affair. Nonetheless, each year in April, a delegation of Hawaiians from the Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center in Honolulu comes to Princeton to pay tribute to the former president and his support of Hawaiian sovereign rights. They decorate his gravestone and the bust of Grover Cleveland in Cleveland Tower with beads, shells, and coins, as is Hawaiian custom.