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Rose Elizabeth "Libby" Cleveland (June 13, 1846 – November 22, 1918) was an American author and lecturer. She was acting first lady of the United States from 1885 to 1886, during the presidency of her brother, Grover Cleveland. Receiving an advanced education in her youth, Cleveland rejected traditional gender norms and sought a career for herself in a variety of literary and academic positions. When her unmarried brother was elected president, she acted in the role of first lady until his wedding with Frances Folsom. She used the role of first lady as a platform for her support of women's suffrage, expressing little interest in the household management associated with first ladies.
Rose Cleveland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Acting First Lady of the United States | |
| In role March 4, 1885 – June 2, 1886 | |
| President | Grover Cleveland |
| Preceded by | Mary McElroy (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Frances Cleveland |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rose Elizabeth Cleveland June 13, 1846 Fayetteville, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 22, 1918 (aged 72) Bagni di Lucca, Tuscany, Kingdom of Italy |
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Grover Cleveland (brother) |
| Education | Houghton Academy |
After leaving the White House, Cleveland authored several fiction and nonfiction works, many relating to women's rights. She was editor of a literary magazine for several months, and she continued teaching and lecturing elsewhere. She met Evangeline Marrs Simpson in 1889, and the two became romantic partners, interrupted for several years by Simpson's marriage to Henry Benjamin Whipple. After reuniting, they moved to Italy in 1910, where Cleveland spent her final years engaged in relief efforts for war refugees during World War I and then for Spanish flu patients before contracting the disease herself and dying in 1918.
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Rose Elizabeth Cleveland was born in Fayetteville, New York, on June 13, 1846. The ninth and youngest child of Reverend Richard Falley Cleveland and Ann Neal Cleveland, she was known as "Libby" within her family.[1]: 181 Even as a young child, Cleveland rejected gender norms where she encountered them, preferring an active lifestyle outdoors over more traditional women's activities.[2]: 9 The Clevelands moved to Holland Patent, New York, in 1853, and their father died shortly afterward when Rose was seven years old.[1]: 181
Rose's brother Grover Cleveland saw to it that she was well-educated, personally paying for her schooling.[3]: 392 She attended Houghton Academy in Buffalo, New York, from 1864 to 1866.[2]: 9 Shortly after graduating, she took a position at the school teaching history and literature. The following year, in 1867, she taught literature, math, and Latin at the Collegiate Institute in Lafayette, Indiana. She then taught at Hamilton College and at a girls school in Muncy, Pennsylvania, before returning home to her family home in Holland Patent, "The Weeds", during a period of illness.[2]: 10 Here she returned to Houghton Academy to again teach history,[2]: 10 and she also began teaching Sunday school.[1]: 181 Eventually, her time in Holland Patent was spent caring for her mother until her death in 1882.[1]: 181 Besides teaching, Cleveland became a prominent lecturer in the state of New York, speaking at schools about things such as history and women's rights.[2]: 11 [3]: 141
When her brother Grover was elected to be the governor of New York in 1882, Cleveland declined a teaching job in New York City so that she could assist him at the Executive Mansion.[4]: 266 During this time she published her first two poems in The Independent.[2]: 11 Cleveland was with her brother at the Executive Mansion when he learned that he had been elected president,[5]: 248 and she stood by him during his presidential inauguration.[6]
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When Cleveland's brother Grover became president of the United States, he had no wife to serve as first lady, so he asked her to fulfill the role.[1]: 181 She accepted the position, though she had little interest in it; she preferred academic life to social life.[6] As was typical of first ladies of the time, she was responsible purely for domestic aspects of the White House, including the organization of social events.[2]: 24 She most commonly held receptions in the Blue Room.[2]: 24 She grew bored with White House reception lines and once said that to pass the time she would conjugate Greek verbs in her head.[7]
Cleveland was more academically-inclined than most women of her era.[7] Among the prominent guests that visited the White House, she was more interested in speaking to those such as historian George Bancroft.[1]: 182 Her education served her well in the White House, where knowledge of history and foreign languages was an asset when speaking to dignitaries from around the world.[2]: 22 Shortly after her time as acting first lady began, she published her first book: George Eliot's Poetry, and Other Studies.[6][4]: 267 She also published a novel, The Long Run, in 1886.[6] Because she was a woman, the press did not treat her seriously as an intellectual.[7] Despite this, her national renown as first lady helped sales, and she ultimately earned $25,000 (equivalent to $848,000 in 2023) in royalties across twelve published editions.[5]: 248 [3]: 393
The president kept the press from taking pictures of Cleveland, meaning that descriptions of her were often second-hand.[4]: 248 She was described by contemporaries as "masculine" and as a "bluestocking".[5]: 248 [4]: 268 Many who knew her found her firm demeanor to be intimidating.[5]: 249 Her seriousness and respectability contrasted with her brother, particularly after he was discovered to have fathered a child out of wedlock.[8] She was also praised for her ability to remember everyone who she interacted with.[4]: 266
Cleveland held strong progressive opinions, and she continued to express them while she was acting as first lady.[2]: 23 She publicly supported women's suffrage, and she supported the temperance movement, banning wine in the White House.[5]: 248 [3]: 141 She lived by the ideal of the New Woman that was advocated by the feminist movement of the time.[2]: 5 She was sympathetic to the Victorian dress reform movement, but she limited herself to wearing low-cut dresses that exposed her shoulders—still a controversial choice.[2]: 25 Cleveland used her platform as first lady to promote the Women's Anthropological Society, which advocated the inclusion of women in science.[4]: 266 She still held other prejudices common of the time, advising her brother not to appoint a significant number of Catholics to government positions.[5]: 249
While she was acting as first lady, Cleveland became the subject of a ballad by Eugene Field in which she asked President Cleveland about whether he intended to marry.[5]: 250 When her brother's bride, Frances Folsom, arrived in Washington in June 1, 1886, Cleveland met her and her mother at the train station and escorted them to the White House. Cleveland approved of the marriage, in large part because it meant that she could return to her previous life.[3]: 141 She helped organize their wedding, and she left the White House after they were married, though she often returned in a social capacity.[2]: 26
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Literary and academic career
A month after Cleveland left the White House, she moved to Chicago to become the editor of the magazine Literary Life. Her brother urged her to decline, fearing that the magazine only wished to take advantage of her relation to the president. He offered her an annual sum of $6,000 (equivalent to $203,467 in 2023) to not take any such position.[4]: 267 She refused any income from her brother, wishing to be financially independent.[2]: 31 To be the editor of a magazine was rare for women at the time.[2]: 42 Cleveland served as editor for only a few months before leaving, as she fell ill and the magazine was having financial problems.[1]: 186 To complicate matters further, her family home, The Weeds, had caught fire.[2]: 42
In 1887, Cleveland moved to New York City to teach history at Sylvanus Reed's School for Girls.[1]: 189 She rarely went out while teaching at the boarding school, instead focusing on her writing.[2]: 49 She left the following year after a disagreement with Reed regarding salary.[2]: 47–48 In the final days of Grover's presidency, the first lady held a lunch in Rose's honor.[3]: 144 Cleveland made several trips to Europe over the following years.[2]: 50 She continued to express her political beliefs after leaving the White House. In 1887, she published a short story that was critical of women's fashion, which she believed was detrimental to women's health. In 1909, she signed the national petition supporting women's suffrage.[4]: 266
Relationship with Evangeline Marrs Whipple
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In 1889, Cleveland met Evangeline Marrs Simpson while staying in Florida and began a romance with her.[4]: 267 The two had similar interests and educational backgrounds.[2]: 70 Their relationship progressed over the following years, and their correspondences became more explicitly sexual.[9] The relationship was known by their families,[8] but there is no indication that the public knew of their relationship's romantic nature.[4]: 267 Their relationship ended in 1892, when Simpson was engaged to the bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple, despite Cleveland's protests. Cleveland felt betrayed by Simpsons' decision to marry, and she traveled to Europe for a year to escape the situation.[2]: 72 She returned to the United States to work as a teacher, but she returned to Europe after the wedding in 1896, staying for another three years.[2]: 73 Her correspondences with Evangeline Whipple were formal and emotionless.[8] Cleveland returned to The Weeds in 1899, living for a time with a new partner, Evelyn.[2]: 73–74 Cleveland and Whipple began their frequent correspondence again after the bishop's death in 1901, and they had reunited by 1905.[2]: 74
When Whipple's brother fell ill in Italy in 1910, they moved to the country to care for him.[8] They chose to remain in the country afterward, settling in Bagni di Lucca.[4]: 267 Cleveland felt less of an inclination to write while living in Italy, as social norms were more relaxed in Italy in a way that allowed expats to have same-sex relationships.[2]: 6 When World War I began, Cleveland and Whipple contributed to the war effort, both before and after Italy entered the war, and Cleveland began giving speeches to encourage additional support for refugees of the war.[2]: 75–76 In 1918, Cleveland and Whipple founded a girls school in Bagni di Lucca. When the Spanish flu reached Italy, they and a third woman, Nelly Erichsen, began treating the sick until Erichsen contracted the disease and died.[2]: 78 Cleveland contracted the flu while caring for Erichsen, and she died on November 22, 1918.[2]: 78 [4]: 267 Her funeral was attended by many of the refugees that she had helped, as well as the American consul and the mayor of Bagni di Lucca. Her coffin was draped with the 13-star flag of the United States, and the mayor ordered all businesses closed for the day.[2]: 79 Whipple was later buried beside Cleveland upon her own death twelve years later.[9]
Cleveland's romantic letters to Whipple were acquired by the Minnesota Historical Society as part of their collection on Henry Benjamin Whipple. They were kept sealed until the Gay Task Force of the American Library Association requested that they be catalogued in 1978.[4]: 267–268 They were published as a full collection in 2019.[8]
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Rose Cleveland wrote or contributed to multiple literary works in her lifetime. Her writings often explored themes of women's rights and social norms surrounding gender and sexuality.[2]: 2 She wrote multiple works of fiction about a doctor treating an unknown illness. In some cases, the illness is an allegory for subjugation of women.[1]: 188
The works written or co-written by Cleveland include:
- "Sketches of History" – An 1885 collection of lectures[2]: 12
- George Eliot's Poetry, and Other Studies – An 1885 collection of literary analysis essays[4]: 267
- The Long Run – An 1886 novel[6]
- "The Dilemma of the Nineteenth Century" – A satirical 1886 poem about women's rights, published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine[1]: 187
- "Woman in the Home" – An 1886 essay about women's rights, published in The Chautauquan[1]: 187
- "Robin Adair" – An 1887 short romance story, published in Godey's Lady's Book; Cleveland used the story to criticize women's fashion[4]: 267
- How to Win: A Book for Girls – An 1887 book co-authored by Cleveland with suffragist Frances Willard[6]
- "My Florida" – An 1890 essay encouraging readers to visit Florida[1]: 190
Cleveland also contributed to writings by others:
- You and I: Or Moral, Intellectual and Social Culture – An 1886 collection of essays about etiquette with an introduction written by Cleveland[2]: 31
- Literary Life – A literary magazine of which Cleveland was the editor for several months in 1886[4]: 267
- American Magazine of History – A magazine with which Cleveland was involved[2]: 47
- The Social Mirror – An 1888 updated edition of You and I with a modified introduction written by Cleveland[2]: 49
- Our Society – An 1893 etiquette book that uses a variation of Cleveland's introduction from You and I and The Social Mirror[2]: 49
- Soliloquies of Augustine – Translated by Cleveland in 1910 with annotations[6]
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