Grover Cleveland the Veto King
Yesterday the current occupant of the White House issued his first veto, over-riding Congress’s vote to reject his claim of a national emergency on the border and to stop presidential overreach and retain their Constutional power of the purse. Which news, of course, reminds us — well, probably only me, actually — of Grover Cleveland, the Veto King. In the first of his two terms, Grover Cleveland vetoed 414 bills. That was twice as many vetoes as issued by all of the first 21 presidents, combined. In his second term, Cleveland issued another 170 vetoes. Combined, Grover signed-off on 584 vetoes. Only Franklin Roosevelt, who served twice as long with four terms and 16 years, had more vetoes than Grover with 635. Fun Fact: Grover had nearly twice as many vetoes per year served as FDR. Cleveland, of course, was famous for his honesty and his anti-corruption efforts, first as mayor of Buffalo and then as governor of New York. He carried this anti-corruption a...