A great literary market is opening up for books about U.S. presidents from the last quarter of the 19th century. Following the superb
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
, a book about the medical missteps that prematurely ended James Garfield's life, comes this virtual sequel about how rapid advances in medicine helped save the live of Grover Cleveland just 12 years later.
"The President is a Sick Man" is written in a very accessible style that provides a rapid user-friendly overview of the politics of that era. Cleveland, first elected President in 1884, was the first Democratic candidate to assume the office since James Buchanan; he then narrowly lost re-election to Benjamin Harrison, a liberal Republican, in 1888, but on the heels of an economic crisis, won a rematch in 1892, and became the first (and so far, only) President to win non-consecutive terms (in those days, the Democratic party was much more akin politically to today's Republican party). And then he developed oral cancer, which could have ended that second term very quickly. Cancer was not something that one defeated in 1893.
From there, the book quickly backtracks to show us how Cleveland, a hard-living bachelor, made his unlikely rise to President from Buffalo, New York, having possibly fathered a child out of wedlock in his younger days (and, the author lets linger for most of the book, may have contracted syphilis). The wife he took while President was young enough to be his daughter. But, beyond that, we also get a medical overview that brings us up to date since Garfield was killed; Joseph Lister's theories on antiseptics have taken prominence, and Dr. William Keen, who assumed Cleveland's care, is an American icon who, the author tells us, "spanned the chasm between medieval and modern medicine."
Cleveland's cancer surgery was radical for its time and would be unthinkable today -- he was smuggled in secrecy to a friend's yacht, and the operation was performed (in nearly sterile conditions!) on a boat moored in the Long Island Sound in mid-summer. Cleveland then recovered far from Washington D.C. for most of the summer, even while Congress was attempting to pass landmark legislation regarding the Panic of 1893. The economy had collapsed in large measure due to the bursting of the railroad bubble and, some said, the 1890 enactment of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. This sets up the book's suspense: would Congress act to repeat the Silver Act, at Cleveland's insistence but in spite of his summer-long radio silence. Here's a hint: after Cleveland, the Democratic Party would not win the White House again for another 20 years.
Apart from the political and economic history lessons, "The President is a Sick Man" also gives us historical background on Dr. Keen, and on the newspaper business, which at that time did not exactly favor impartial investigative journalism. Elisha Jay Edwards is the journalist who uncovered the secret surgery. The White House put up a mighty front, discrediting Edwards, and the story of the secret surgery remained secret for another 20 years. In spite of that, when Cleveland left office in 1897, he was, the author tells us, "probably the most despised man in America." Cleveland lived until 1908 (with his youngest child living, astonishingly, until 1995!). Dr. Keen lived long enough to not only bookend his Civil War service with World War I experience, but with a much less successful time attending to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1921, when the latter was stricken with paralysis...
This is a lot of material to cover in less than 300 pages, but Algeo does it admirably. The book is easy to read, but very informative, and a good entry into study of late 19th-century politics. It also brings into the spotlight one of our less-remembered Presidents, and reminds us that financial crises did exist prior to January 2009.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2013
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Top reviews from other countries
Nancy M. Pringle
A must read is you like history.
Reviewed in Canada on May 11, 2017
R Helen
A fun and entertaining read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2014