Grover Cleveland, of New York, became President in 1885. The Republican party had been in power for twenty-five years, and when Mr. Cleveland was elected the change of officers was as great as in the days of Andrew Jackson. Cleveland was a man of the highest integrity and the most unfaltering courage, so that the change proved beneficial to the entire land.
Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, sister of the President, presided at the White House until his marriage, June 2, 1886, to Miss Frances Folsom, who became, next to Dolly Madison, the most popular woman who ever entertained in the historic old house.
In March, 1889, Benjamin Harrison became Chief Magistrate. The first Mrs. Harrison was a woman experienced in Washington society, and was much loved by a very large circle.
In 1893 Grover Cleveland again became President, and in 1897 William McKinley, probably the best-loved man by the people of any President since the days of Mr. Lincoln.
Mrs. McKinley, altho an invalid, with the assistance of her nieces, kept up the reputation and social festivities of the White House.
Theodore Roosevelt became President September, 1901, and closed a brilliant and successful administration March 4, 1909. His administration will be remembered in history as a strenuous fight against wrong-doing in high places. He will be honored for having secured to the United States proper recognition in world politics and for having promoted peace and good will among nations.
William Howard Taft, of Ohio, was inaugurated President March 4, 1909. No man has ever been called to this high office with a broader training. He is a graduate of Yale, has received the degree of LL.D. from five universities, is a distinguished lawyer, has been a wise judge, and a successful governor of the Philippine Islands at the difficult period of transition. As a traveler he has looked into the faces and is personally known to all the great rulers of the world. He has visited Cuba and the Panama Zone (the spheres of probable disturbance), and has therefore had the training which should fit him to deal wisely with both the domestic and the foreign problems likely to arise.
Mr. Taft was married in 1886 to Miss Helen Herron, of Cincinnati. They have two sons and one daughter. Mrs. Taft has had a large social experience, and is considered one of the most cultured women ever called to direct the affairs of the White House.
XXIX
INTERESTS IN WASHINGTON WHICH CAN NOT
HERE BE FULLY DESCRIBED
