A Brief History
On June 13, 1893, President Grover Cleveland was only a few months into his second term when he went to his doctor to complain of soreness and a rough patch in his mouth. The doctor determined the President had a tumor in his mouth and removal of the tumor would be the appropriate medical action.
Digging Deeper
Removal of the tumor would entail removing a large piece of Cleveland’s upper jaw, but secrecy was the word of the day and the surgery took place on a yacht sailing off Long Island to keep it from the public. Compare that to today! Nowadays we get every little detail about presidential health, his vital signs, weight, every medical thing you could think of. Not in 1893!
Because the surgery left Cleveland with a disfigured face and adversely affected his speech, he was later fitted with a hard rubber insert which allowed him to look and speak normally. As rumors and speculation about Cleveland’s health eventually appeared in newspapers, a cover story was concocted about the President having to have a couple teeth removed. He served the rest of his second term without the public being told official details of the surgery. Only in 1917, nearly ten years after Cleveland’s death in 1908, did one of the participating surgeons reveal details about the secret surgery.
There was some debate over the years of the exact nature of Cleveland’s tumor, and in the 1980’s a tissue sample was tested revealing it was indeed cancerous, but a slow growing kind.
Cleveland is notable for more than his secret surgery. He is the only president to have been elected twice, but not in succession. He was first elected in the 1884 election and served from January 1885 to January 1889. Cleveland lost the 1888 election to Benjamin Harrison, even though Cleveland won the popular vote. The electoral vote may well have been decided because of election fraud. Cleveland then ran again in 1892 and won the presidency once again, serving his second term from 1893 to 1897.
Prior to becoming president, Cleveland served as mayor of Buffalo, New York, and later as Governor of New York. He was born Stephen Grover Cleveland in Caldwell, New Jersey, and died at age 71 in 1908 in Princeton, New Jersey and is buried there. Cleveland is the only president to have been born in New Jersey, although Woodrow Wilson did serve as governor of that state.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Graff, Henry F. Grover Cleveland (The American Presidents Series). Times Books, 2002.
The featured image in this article, an 1893 US cartoon by Bernard Gilliam depicting president Grover Cleveland trying to manipulate the Democratic Party like a typewriter, is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1924. See this page for further explanation.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube:
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2587 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2587">145 Comments
I don’t understand why the surgery had to be kept a secret. I also feel like it could’ve happened in a better place than a yacht.
I find it interesting how little the public knew about the president in this time compared to all we know now. I also find it interesting that he was able to win an election after losing in between his terms.
I find it interesting that he kept his surgery a secret. I do not understand why it was kept a secret. The surgery might have saved his life.
I think it’s very interesting that his surgery happened in a yacht. It’s so funny because nothing like that would be acceptable in today’s society for a president or anyone for that matter.
Even though I understand the secrecy of the day, I feel like this is an interesting fun fact that would be more well known in present day. I have never heard of Cleveland’s surgery before!
I found it interesting that President Grover Cleveland had a tumor removed because two years ago my little sister had a tumor that was believed to be in her tooth removed, but when in surgery the doctors found out that the tumor was in her gums and lower cheek.
It’s interesting to me that secrecy was so important back then but not today. Perhaps we should give a bit of privacy back to the presidency, but there would be a lot of fear that with this privacy more corruption would abound.
I was very surprised that they were able to keep the surgery so private.
I can not believe that the government was able to keep the surgeries private back in the day.
Back in these days, no one even think that there could be possibility that surgeries are private unless it is on purpose where the government can control the others live. This process has its tricks and secret where the government isn’t clear in that part.
Secrecy was everything then. In that time, it was inconceivable that the general public be granted intimate details about the president’s life, especially anything that might question his ability to lead the country. Now we know everything, probably more than we should.
I didn’t know about his surgery. I don’t think it would be kept a secret if it had happened now.
I am impressed by how well they were able to hid the surgery, I had no idea that he had it.
I think the big reason they hid it was so that the public wouldn’t find out this information and start panicking. That information getting out may spark events they wanted to refrain from.
I can’t believe he hid this so well. Even at this time medicine was advanced enough to help keep it under covers.
The fact this was kept a secret is very impressive. How did he have surgery on a boat?? So different than today.
I think its awesome how he wanted to keep his surgery a secret and he was able to. That would never happen in today’s world.
I never knew about this surgery. I think it is crazy how well they hid that from everyone.
It’s hard to believe that nothing went wrong because of the lack of technology and medicines.
Its hard to believe he didn’t get hurt if the surgery was preformed on a boat
Given the odds of surviving surgery during that time period I’m surprised he didn’t die.
A risky move but needed to be done and impressive to keep it a secret even though there was no social media back then.
I thought it was interesting that Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms, when he won back the presidency after losing to Benjamin Harrison.
i have never heard of Clevelands surgery before it is crazy how they hid it from everyone. what if something bad were to happen with the surgery? either way it is a good fact to learn.
I can’t believe they preformed his surgery on a yacht while it was on the water! That would never happen today!
It’s interesting that Cleveland kept his surgery away from the public, especially because it affected his speech and look drastically.
I feel like if he did tell the public they wouldn’t think he would be fit for the job and that it’s too much stress for a sick man. I can see why he did it but also see the public view of he shouldn’t be keeping a big secret like that. How did the people not know with how his speech and face changed?
i never knew about the surgery i guess it was easier back then to keep the public in the dark than it is today
You definitely would not hear about a secret yacht surgery for a president in this day and age!
It is interesting to see the difference of todays world and back then. Todays president would not be able to get away with keeping something that big a secret with all the publicity.
I find it interesting that the public never noticed the way his face structure more than likely changed. It is weird how I have never heard of this!
its amazing that Cleveland was able to keep his jaw a secret
if the president today were to get his jaw removed it would probably end up on every major and minor news station, it would be on every social media account and it would be talked about forever. Its crazy how times have changed.
Today’s president would not get away with anything like that with all the publicity
I had no idea President Grover Cleveland had this secret surgery. A tumor in the upper jaw had to have been painful and it is surprising to me that the public did not find out considering his face was “disfigured.” -ACL
This is amazing that the public never found out.
I can only imagine how painstakingly careful the doctor had to be during surgery on a yacht.
I wonder what the public’s reaction would have been if they had known about Grover’s surgery.
Its interesting how now we need to know every detail about a presidents health and back then they knew very little.
This is very interesting. It is very surprising that Grover is still alive knowing that it took place on a boat and not having the supplies we have today.
This would be an impressive marvel for even today’s standards.
I hate that being a public figure seems to require everyone knowing every detail regarding their personal and professional lives. Much of the information shared is inconsequential.
I was not aware the Grover Cleveland had a portion of his jaw removed due to cancer. I think that if a president or any celebrity tried to hide something like that today it would be very difficult because of all of the media and attention placed on these individuals.
This is very interesting about how little they knew but still survived.
Considering the times, this surgery was definitely a medical feat. But what caught my eye in this article was the mention of election fraud. Some things never change.
I would never believe that a presidents health was so dire to an election
I’m amazed that he was able to hide it so well.
This remind me of the TV show “Toddlers in Tiaras” because they little girl wear these things called “flippers” which can almost like fake teeth to make themselves look better to the judges. Its the same thing for the president because they want tomato themselves look better for the public and media
I really surprised he fared so well having surgery on a boat! This article was very interesting and I did not know this about Cleveland. Interesting to hear there may have been election fraud back then too!
I did not realize that Cleveland had a part of his jaw removed! I could not imagine keeping a secret like that from the country until death.
It is amazing that was able to be kept a secret!
I am not really understanding why Cleveland kept his secret about his jaw removal. I get why he would want to seem healthy as can be for the elections sake, however, if something was seriously wrong with him and he was elected, it would have put the US in serious turmoil if he would have passed away. I think that is extremely irresponsible.
I can not believe they were able to keep a secret like that. In today’s times, you would never be able to keep a secret like that from Americans. It just shows the difference in confidentiality between then and now.
Just reading the title of this article gave me the chills. Without the media and technology we have now, I’m not too surprised that they were able to keep it a secret. I do find it a little crazy that he had his surgery on a yacht!
I cannot believe that the government was able to keep a secret this large for this long! I’m sure that without the media and different technology that we have available today it was much easier.
I was shocked that President Grover Cleveland was able to keep such a severe medical issue a secret. Politics and media are so obviously different now, considering the many questions surrounding Hillary Clinton’s health.
I always knew that Grover Cleveland served nonconsecutive terms but I was not aware that he lost a large piece of his upper jaw. The fact that this was kept a secret is also different than today’s politicians as well as celebrities. It is different because the media will post about something the minute they hear about it, rather than keeping it secretive. This just goes to show how we may or may not trust our politicians if the media is saying something negative.
I was amazed to see how long President Cleveland was able to keep the secret of his tumor. I think it was easy to get away with back then when the media was not as crazy as it is today.
As a nursing major I am always interested in medical advancements. With all of the knowledge that there is out there with infection I cannot imagine a surgeon who would preform surgery on a yacht in what I would assume was not a sterile area. Sterility is key to preventing infection post-op, and it makes me shutter thinking about how many times this surgeon probably broke sterility.
It was so amazing that President Cleveland could keep this secret for so long time until he died. I can image how surprised when American citizens finally arrive at the truth. And I would respect this president. In order to his job, he had to have an operation on a yacht.
President Cleveland should be respected. And we can see that the reason of his secret can be kept might be because of the respectful of the media.
I cannot believe that something as serious as a tumor was kept hidden for such a long time. It really goes to show how much time can change things, as that would have been such a serious problem in today’s society and the news would spread around that the president had a tumor like wildfire.
I had no idea President Grover Cleveland had a tumor or that his surgery was on a yacht. This was all very surprising.
I had heard about a president missing part of his upper jaw, but never knew which one. I would never think to have surgery on a yacht. It did surprise me that it took until his death to find out he had surgery and that it was cancerous.
I thought it was interesting how the surgery took place on a yacht in order to confuse people, I think it was a good method.
I had never heard about this and I find it interesting that the surgery took place on a yacht to keep it away from the public.
I can’t imagine going on a cruise for a surgery!
He stayed in office after the removal of the tumor and no one found out about it. That blows my mind because today with the media everyone would hear about this within minutes of it happening. It is something to stop and think about.
Something like this does not seem like it would be uncommon for the age in time. I am sure there were several problems and issues that presidents and people of power had that were never released to the public.
The beginning of this article made a very good point, if President Barack Obama had any type of medical issues we would know about it hours later. People get paid to stalk and follow celebrities and public figures now a days. Boy have times changed.
looking at the picture, i see his natural teeth were very straight. lucky him
I find interesting that President Cleveland won the popular vote but not the electoral vote because of voting fraud. Sounds like some of the issues we are uncovering about this year’s election.
This one makes you scratch your head and wonder what other secrets have yet to be unveiled.
It is good ida the rough plat for mouth. interesting article
It does not surprise me that nobody knew about the surgery. They believed that it showed weakness which the government did not want to show in a president.
Keeping things such as this secret during that time was not uncommon at all even for people not in the public eye. Any physical malady was hidden away and simply not spoken of. It really makes you realize just how intrusive today’s society really is.
Back when things were kept private. They did not want to worry the public, not such a bad idea. I am sure we think we know everything, but it has become clear that there is not as much transparency as we might believe.
I can’t imagine what the surgical process was like back then. The fact that they used a yacht on a body of water to do a pretty in depth surgery was a key indicator of how medically advanced they were NOT. What if he would have had issues? He stops breathing? now you have to wait to get to the shore to even get him to a hospital. I finding it amazing how people ever survived medical procedures and surgeries back then. It also makes me question if all of the hoops we jump through now are as necessary and we are educated to believe they are.
I don’t understand the benefit of withholding the medical information about the President. Obviously, there are some details that should be respectfully kept private, but I would hope that if Obama had a life-threatening illness that it would be brought to the attention of the American public!
Making the President’s health public opinion is not the smartest way to handle it. I think at some point it should come out but not until need be. I’m pretty sure he is not the only President to hide medical procedures or updates.
I can’t imagine anything the President does being kept secret from the public today because of all the tools people use to spy on others. It also is pretty amazing that back then people respected other people’s privacy and who knew about the surgery didn’t reveal the secret.
Was shocked to see such a high ranked official keep their personal life private. Rarely do you see that happening. Now a days your whole life profile is put out their for everyone to read about.
Interesting story. Certain aspects of the president do not need to be revealed to the people. They should be entitled to a level of privacy.
Wow, I cannot believe that Grover was able to hide his surgery. After all it was indeed a cancerous tumor. This is the first that I have heard of surgery being performed on a yacht. If this were the current president, you would see this news on the front page of every magazine.
I find it incredible that he was able to hide something like that from the public and able to do the surgery on a yacht, something we wouldn’t even think of attempting outside of a hospital today. What I wonder is why he kept it a secret. If the surgery was successful why hide it?
Because I am from Northeast Ohio, I think that the name Grover Cleveland is my favorite president name. It is hard to believe that back in that day surgery was done on a sailing ship. That sounds like something that would be completely off the market and not allowed.
Dealing with today’s society they absolutely do want to know everything about the President which is not a bad thing to a certain degree. Some things should be private but I feel like conducting a surgery on a yacht while sailing is a big much.
I would not be surprised if more secret medical incidents also happened to other presidents. I find it more surprising that he was willing to run again for president a second time after losing. I would think to serve as President one time would be enough for me.
I am stunned to learn that Cleveland’s surgery was done on a yacht. This does make me wonder what other medical issues were hidden from the public back in the day.
It is amazing to think that things could be kept quiet at one time. With social media and the Internet right at our fingertips nothing seems to be a secret anymore.
I don’t think that citizens need to know medical conditions about a president. It doesn’t make a difference to me about their health as long as they are doing their job. Today’s society wants to know everything about a person and there are certain things that should not be public knowledge and a person health should be one. Presidents are human too and should be given a certain amount of privacy.
I like the fact back then things were kept quiet. You don’t see that now and this is why we have a lot of problems. I always said why do we need to know every little detail.. plus if we know then our enemies know and that could be a problem.
Grover Cleveland is hippest presidential name. I did not know that he had mouth cancer tumor, and had his upper jaw removed.
I can’t even imagine performing or even being a patient of someone performing a surgery on a yacht. I suppose that is mainly how they were able to keep it a secret. Who would ever imagine you were on a yacht to have surgery and not for entertainment purposes.
Very scary how far they went to keep the surgery secret, just imagine all the things that could have gone wrong. I applaud him for doing such a great job keeping it a secret all that time.
Not a surprise on President Cleveland. Back then, secrecy and privacy were the norms for society Wish we could have seen another pic of the specimen he spoke of in the video.
That was certainly a surprise about the tumor. I think some things should be kept private. That is why HIPPA was invented. It should apply to the presidents as well.
I would have kept it private as well. Some things do not need to be shared and if you do not want to it is your right.
Why was it donated if it was meant to be kept private? Interesting.
I think that it was interesting it was kept private. Now a days we know every detail about everything and I think somethings should be kept private if the person wishes them to.
If this were to happen to a president today, it would be all over facebook, in the newspapers, and everyone would know about it. Nothing is private anymore!
It is amazing how the news and technology has changed. Today if this were to happen it would flood the newspapers, social media, and news! Nevertheless I feel it should be up to that person just how much is released to the media.
I found it astonishing that the surgery actually took place on a yacht sailing off Long Island. Given the wave action, I don’t believe that a yacht would be the appropriate venue for an operation, especially on the President of the United States. Nevertheless, given today’s press and the glare of the public, I don’t believe the President would be able to get away with a surgery of that magnitude.
I don’t see why every small detail of a person’s life needs to be broadcasted. If a person wants privacy then let them have it, but then again people’s job’s would be endangered. The yacht probably wasn’t very sanitary for having any type of surgery.
Exactly my thoughts, Kyle! Doesn’t a surgeon need their patient to be lying still? Water moves. Also, the fact that he got a rubber insert, told no one, and served the rest of his term is awesome. That was a different, tougher generation of people.
I commend those of that time that kept things private. It is much different than today. I do get an unsettling feeling about having a major surgery done on moving waters. That seems a little scary.I would never do it but kudos to this man!
I had to get stitches on a Navy ship in the middle of the Atlantic…. Hopefully Cleveland had steady water and sturdier hands working on him than I did!
Again, I work in the medical filed and couldn’t imagine performing a procedure on a yacht. But, then again our military had performed on ships and other conditions. Furthermore, it is amazing how the President was able to keep it from public knowledge.
It is amazing the difference in privacy over the years for any important person, even those important for vague reasons. I wonder though, why such secrecy? Was he worried about the American people’s trust in his capabilities?
It was surprising Cleveland was choosing by people twice for president. His secret surgery was not showing to public which was showing that he was working hard, and don’t want to people to worry about his healthy problem.
Secret indeed! I had no clue. I bet celebrities today would enjoy that kind of privacy. We know every detail of their lives these days.
I like how cleveland was hide his surgery to public, because he does not want to people worry about their president. It was showing that he had been elected twice which means he was a nice and kind president. Finally, his death was showing how he was having his healthy problem while he was president.
As the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle has created an apparent need for anything that could be considered newsworthy, I can’t imagine any notable public figure could get away with keeping such reconstructive surgery a secret for very long today. The current President can’t even get away with saying something in the wrong tone without it being blown up in the news and on social media!
I am impressed that Cleveland was able to get a rubber insert and hide his surgery from the people. I love the medical field, and the fact that this was able to hide a huge surgery back then really excites me for where the medical field is now. It’s crazy the things they can do.
I love to learn about the medical history of our former presidents. It is very interesting that Cleveland had his surgery on a boat just to keep it a secret from the public. I wonder why he didn’t want anyone to know that he had this major surgery.
I enjoyed reading this article because I had never heard of Grover’s surgery before. I thinks it’s crazy that Grover had to have his surgery on yacht in Long Island just to keep the public from finding out. I wonder how hard it was to keep such a secret until his death in 1908! I can definitely see how hard it would be for a president to do something like this today due to the widespread use of technology and the need to broadcast every detail of someone’s life to the public.
I don’t think it is unheard of that President Grover Cleveland did not want the public to know of his health problems. As the leader of our country, I could see why he would not want to show weakness or wavering to the people he is leading.
I think it was smart of President Grover Cleveland to not share his health problems with the world. If he did, people would question whether or not he was fit to lead this country and why would you want your people second guessing yourself?
Im surprised I have never heard that President Cleveland had a cancerous tumor removed from his jaw. Especially since health histories and vitals with presidents today.
I don’t understand why it was such a big deal that it be kept a secret but I found it interesting that the operation was done on a yacht.
I did not know about president Cleveland’s jaw surgery or his non-consecutive election victories until now. Very interesting.
This information about Cleveland is new to me. I enjoyed learning about the medical history though.
This goes to show the advancement in communication through technology in today’s society. Today, there is nothing the president could do to hide such a big procedure from the public. It would be tweeted and broadcasted before he even had the chance to tell his family.
It’s really interesting and honestly quite amazing how well they were able to hide the President’s surgery for all that time. They definitely took many measure to make sure it didn’t reach the public, I wonder why?
As a nursing major, I find it interesting to learn of President Cleveland’s medical history. I also think it is crazy that the surgery was kept from the public, because that would be impossible today.
It’s is crazy that Cleveland went on a yacht to have surgery, just to keep the public from finding out.
That is crazy that President Cleveland had part of his jaw removed and was able to keep it a secret. What is even crazier is that he had the surgery on a yacht.
I had now idea that President Grover Cleveland had so much of his jaw removed, and I was surprised he was able to keep it such a secret.
This article recognizes how invasive the media is in private lives today. It also addresses an electoral vote win which sounds a lot like our recent experience.
This article shows the impact of media. I understand why the President wanted to keep his tumor secret, but I do think Americans have a right to know in case something would go wrong during surgery. However, knowing what the President does 24/7 and knowing his vital signs and weight is a little excessive.
I think this article does a great job showing the impact of media back then and shows how it has an even bigger impact now. i do believe that we the people had a right to know about Cleveland’s tumor just not his vital signs and such that’s too far. But this shows how bad the American people want to knwo what the president is doing 24/7
I was unaware that President Cleveland had so much of his jaw removed but even more interestingly, he was able to keep it a secret for the rest of his presidency let alone until he passed away!
I did not know about Cleveland’s drastic surgery and that he is the only president to have been elected twice, but not in succession. It is interesting the unique things presidents are known for
It is really impressive that he was able to keep this away from the public because with today’s social media would have made something like this nearly impossible.
I think that it was very impressive that the President of the United States was able to keep a major surgery like this away from the public. Nowadays, the public seems to eventually find out everything due to the press and social media.
Today, if an important political figure doesn’t tip at a restaurant, the whole world will know. It goes to show how communication has come so far that the public used to not even know about surgeries.
He got most of his jaw removed and nobody knew?! That is amazing. Nowadays, if someone does something like that, EVERYONE knows. Congrats to him! He did a good job on keeping that secret!
I can’t envision anything the President does being kept mystery from the general population today due to every one of the apparatuses individuals use to keep an eye on others. It likewise is quite astounding that in those days individuals regarded other individuals’ security and who thought about the surgery didn’t uncover the mystery.
I cant imagine the things we do not know that happen in high level government.
Wow! This story not only interests me historically, but also medically as well. I still can’t believe that nobody was aware of this. Today, that would never happen. The whole entire world would know, and it would be spread all over social media!
Another fun fact, Grover Cleveland was once the Sheriff of Erie County in New York, from 1871 to 1873
It is insane that Cleveland went on a yacht for surgery just to keep the media away.
I don’t see why he was worried about the public knowing about a mouth tumor that was easily removable; however, it is impressive that he went through such great lengths to hide a surgery.
Its hard to believe that something as big as a tumor could be covered up. It just shows the advancements in technology we have today.
I don’t think I would want to have surgery on a boat they could’t come up with a more stable place to have a surgery. It should make Hillary feel better knowing she isn’t the only person to win the popular vote but lose the presidential election.