Editing Grover Cleveland (section)

==Election of 1896 and retirement (1897–1908)==
[[File:Grover Cleveland - NARA - 518139 (cropped) (2).jpg|thumb|upright|left|Cleveland in 1904]]
Cleveland's agrarian and silverite enemies took control of state Democratic parties over the course of his second term, such that Cleveland's pro-gold ideology was marginalized outside of urban areas in solidly Democratic states such as Arkansas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Niswonger |first=Richard L. |date=1975 |title=Arkansas and the Election of 1896 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40027649 |journal=[[The Arkansas Historical Quarterly]] |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=41–78 |doi=10.2307/40027649 |jstor=40027649 |access-date=August 15, 2024 }}</ref> They gained control of the national Democratic Party in [[1896 United States presidential election|1896]], repudiated his administration and the gold standard, and nominated William Jennings Bryan on a free-silver platform.<ref>Nevins, 684–693</ref><ref>R. Hal Williams, ''Years of Decision: American Politics in the 1890s'' (1993)</ref> Cleveland silently supported the [[National Democratic Party (United States)|Gold Democrats]]' third-party ticket that promised to defend the gold standard, limit government, and oppose high tariffs, but he declined their nomination for a third term.<ref>Graff, 128–129</ref> The party won only 100,000 votes in the general election, and [[William McKinley]], the Republican nominee, triumphed over Bryan.<ref>{{Leip PV source 2|year=1896| as of=February 23, 2008}}</ref> Agrarians nominated Bryan again in [[1900 United States presidential election|1900]]. In [[1904 United States presidential election|1904]], the conservatives, with Cleveland's support, regained control of the Democratic Party and nominated [[Alton B. Parker]].<ref>Nevins, 754–758</ref>

[[File:McKinley sworn in.jpeg|thumb|Outgoing President Cleveland, at right, stands nearby as William McKinley is sworn in as president by Chief Justice [[Melville Fuller]].]]

After leaving the White House on March 4, 1897, Cleveland lived in retirement at his estate, [[Westland Mansion]], in [[Princeton, New Jersey]].<ref>Graff, 131–133; Nevins, 730–735</ref> He was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1897.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Grover+Cleveland&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=February 28, 2024 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> For a time, he was a trustee of [[Princeton University]], and was one of the majority of trustees who preferred the dean [[Andrew Fleming West]]'s plans for the Graduate School and undergraduate living over those of Woodrow Wilson, then president of the university.<ref>Graff, p. 131; Alexander Leitch, ''A Princeton Companion'', Princeton Univ Press, 1978, "[http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/cleveland_grover.html Grover Cleveland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130626001650/http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/cleveland_grover.html |date=June 26, 2013 }}"</ref> Cleveland consulted occasionally with President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) but was financially unable to accept the chairmanship of the commission handling the [[Coal Strike of 1902]].<ref>Nevins, 748–751</ref> Cleveland still made his views known in political matters. In a 1905 article in ''The Ladies Home Journal'', Cleveland weighed in on the [[women's suffrage]] movement, writing that "sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by men and women in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence."<ref>''Ladies Home Journal'' 22, (October 1905), 7–8</ref>

In 1906, a group of New Jersey Democrats promoted Cleveland as a possible candidate for the [[United States Senate]]. The incumbent, [[John F. Dryden]], was not seeking reelection, and some Democrats felt that the former president could attract the votes of some disaffected Republican legislators who might be drawn to Cleveland's statesmanship and conservatism.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dryden Forces Gather to Make Their Fight|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1906/11/11/archives/dryden-forces-gather-to-make-their-fight-conference-of-south-jersey.html|access-date=March 4, 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 11, 1906}}</ref>

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