细节
CLEVELAND, Grover (1837-1908), President. Autograph letter signed ("Grover Cleveland") to Thomas Nash, Albany, 11 February 1885. 3 pages, 8vo.
"FRIGHTENED, ANXIOUS AND OVERWHELMED": CLEVELAND'S PRE-INAUGURATION JITTERS
Denying a newspaper report that he is planning to visit Philadelphia, President-elect Cleveland explains that he is far too stressed-out to do any traveling before he heads to Washington for his Inauguration: "I am overwhelmed with work and anxiety, and am frightened every time I take note of the flight of time and recall how much I have to do before the fourth of March. So I shall stay here, and work and worry I suppose, until I start for Washington." Preparing to assume the Presidency and organize a government would provide "work and anxiety" enough for anybody, and Cleveland always found office-seekers a nuisance. Yet he was also prone to occasional and sometimes debilitating bouts of anxiety and depression (see also his 14 June 1898 letter to L. Clarke Davis, sold Christies, 14 November 2005, Forbes Collection Part Three, lot 140, $11,000). Other health problems dogged him throughout his life, such as gout, brought on by his heavy beer drinking. While president he had a tumor removed from the roof of his mouth, a legacy of his persistent cigar smoking.
"FRIGHTENED, ANXIOUS AND OVERWHELMED": CLEVELAND'S PRE-INAUGURATION JITTERS
Denying a newspaper report that he is planning to visit Philadelphia, President-elect Cleveland explains that he is far too stressed-out to do any traveling before he heads to Washington for his Inauguration: "I am overwhelmed with work and anxiety, and am frightened every time I take note of the flight of time and recall how much I have to do before the fourth of March. So I shall stay here, and work and worry I suppose, until I start for Washington." Preparing to assume the Presidency and organize a government would provide "work and anxiety" enough for anybody, and Cleveland always found office-seekers a nuisance. Yet he was also prone to occasional and sometimes debilitating bouts of anxiety and depression (see also his 14 June 1898 letter to L. Clarke Davis, sold Christies, 14 November 2005, Forbes Collection Part Three, lot 140, $11,000). Other health problems dogged him throughout his life, such as gout, brought on by his heavy beer drinking. While president he had a tumor removed from the roof of his mouth, a legacy of his persistent cigar smoking.