ELECTION #26, 1888. The NASTY-METER is 7.

QUOTE from Matthew Quay, Republican campaign manager in 1888: "Benjamin Harrison would never know how many Republicans were compelled to approach the gates of the penitentiary to make him president."


The CANDIDATES in 1888.

DEMOCRAT: GROVER CLEVELAND.

The election of 1888 was close and dirty. Cleveland had labored hard for civil service reform and an end to high tariffs. He felt, as did many Democrats, that the high tariffs lined the pockets of the rich Republican tycoons while making the cost of goods prohibitive for the average working folks.
One unfortunate decision Cleveland made was to rely on his 75-year-old VP running mate, Allen Thurman, to compaign for him. During his speeches Thurman would forget what he was supposed to be talking about and start complaining about his rheumatism. (not exactly a good way for Cleveland to win votes.)

REPUBLICAN: BENJAMIN HARRISON.

Harrison was a distinguished Civil War vet and Indiana senator. He was aloof and the second choice of many Republicans at the convention. The 1884 nominee Blaine still had plenty of support but Harrison won due to his good bloodlines - he was the grandson of President William "Old Tippecanoe" Harrison. But just as important was he supported the high tariffs that made the Republicans tycoons so rich - and a lot of them were at the convention.
He was also a smarter campaigner, smarter than Cleveland anyway. He never left his Indianapolis home but what he would do is make a brief address to a crowd of people gathered in his front yard and then send if by telegraph to the Associated Press for nationwide dissemination. That way he was in the news everyday and they were his own carefully edited words. He wasn't going to make a blunder like the preacher did for Blaine four years earlier which cost him the presidency.

The CAMPAIGN in 1888.

The Republicans again attacked Cleveland about his sex life. While in office he had married Frances Folsom, the daughter of his former law partner. The Republican joy about the marriage was that she was only 21 years old and he was 49. Many Republicans were titillated by the incestuous nature of their union because she used to call Cleveland "Uncle Cleve." The Republicans referred to Cleveland as the "Beast of Buffalo" and even spread rumors that he beat her. Frances issued a rebuttal saying the Republican claim was nothing but "a foolish campaign ploy without a shadow of foundation."
And Harrison had the benefit of Republican money. Lots of it. The Republican campaign manager, Matthew Quay, remarked that he would "fry the fat" out of Republican businessmen who benefitted from the protective tariffs - and he did, collecting more than $3,000,000, much of which came from the American Iron and Steel Association. At the same time, mill workers received slips tucked into their pay envelopes threatening them with the loss of their jobs if tariffs were authorized and cheap foreign goods were to flood the country.

The WINNER was BENJAMIN HARRISON and he became the 23rd president of the U.S.

Even though Harrison lost the popular vote he won the electoral.

Cleveland had 5,534,488 popular and 168 electoral.

Harrison had 5,443.892 popular (about 90,000 less than Cleveland) but 233 electoral so he became president.

It took a lot of dirty tricks to win the election for Harrison. There was vote buying in Indiana, where Republican party operatives ("called floaters") were now paid as much as $15.00 a head to march people to the polls before they got too drunk to vote.
Another big Republican victory was in New York State, where 36 electoral votes went to Harrison after the Democratic candidate for governor made a deal with Harrison's people - the deal was: In return for enough Republican votes to give him the governorship, he would deliver New York to Harrison for president. (and he did)

The dirty tricks in this campaign were such that Republican bigwig Matthew Quay remarked pointedly, Harrison would never know how many Republicans "were compelled to approach the gates of the penitentiary to make him president."