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Much is unique about Cleveland. He was the winner of the popular vote in Presidential elections three times—in 1884, 1888, and 1892. Even when he lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888, he still got more votes than his opponent. He was the only Democrat elected to the presidency in the era of Republican political domination that lasted from Lincoln to Taft (1861 to 1913.)
Back in a time when the two major political parties were inclusive enough to have liberal and conservative wings, Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats. They were opposed to high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism and subsidies to business, farmers or veterans. It's ironic that many historians regard him as a great conservative for his battles for political reform and fiscal restraint.
Cleveland was also renowned for his honesty. For example, in his first campaign for President, his Republican opponents discovered reports that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child while he was a lawyer in Buffalo. They chanted "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?". Faced with this scandal, Cleveland's instructions to his campaign staff were: "Tell the truth." Cleveland admitted to paying child support in 1874 to Maria Crofts Halpin, the woman who claimed he fathered her child named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Halpin was involved with several men at the time, including Cleveland's friend and law partner, Oscar Folsom, for whom the child was also named. Cleveland did not know which man was the father, and many believe that he assumed responsibility because he was the only bachelor among them.
During his second term, the Panic of 1893 happened(that was what they called depressions in those days) and Cleveland was unable to reverse it. He also pulled a Ronald Reagan and the Air Traffic Controllers move when he intervened in the Pullman Strike of 1894 to keep the railroads moving. This angered labor unions nationwide. His support of the gold standard and opposition to Free Silver alienated the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party.
After leaving the White House on March 4, 1897, Cleveland retired to his estate, Westland Mansion, in Princeton, New Jersey. He served as a trustee of Princeton University, and was one of the majority of trustees who preferred Dean West's plans for the Graduate School over those of Woodrow Wilson, then president of the university. In a 1905 article that he wrote for The Ladies Home Journal, Cleveland wrote "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."
Cleveland's health had been declining for several years, and in the autumn of 1907 he fell seriously ill. The following year, on June 24, 1908, he suffered a heart attack and died. His last words were "I have tried so hard to do right." He is buried in the Princeton Cemetery of the Nassau Presbyterian Church.
Cleveland's portrait was on the U.S. $1000 bill and he also appeared on the first few issues of the $20 Federal Reserve Notes from 1914. Since he was both the 22nd and 24th president, he will be featured on two separate dollar coins to be released in 2012 as part of the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005.