President Grover Cleveland’s Address

This is Part 9 of our series “Opening Day of the World’s Fair,” which explores the events of May 1, 1893, at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The full series can be found here.

Scarcely had Director-General George R. Davis finished his address, when President Cleveland slowly arose from his seat. He swept his eyes first over the occupants of the platform and then over one of the greatest audiences that ever a man had faced. Without formal introduction, he gazed for a moment upon the great multitude before him.

Enthusiasm became cyclonic

The instant the crowd saw him, it sent up a volume of cheers that made all previous noises seem like silence. It seemed to shake the massive dome of the building behind him and reverberate through the grounds like the rattling of musketry. Foreigners and natives alike joined in the acclaim to the highest representative of the sovereign people of the republic.

A flutter of white handkerchiefs shimmered from the ladies’ side of the platform, and instantly it was taken up by the thousands of the sex who occupied the gondolas and launches on the water far in the distance. The more the handkerchiefs were waived, the louder the cheers, and so for a space of several minutes the men vied with the women in maintaining the demonstrations. The enthusiasm became cyclonic. All the while Mr. Cleveland stood erect, his left hand behind him, his right nervously fingering the button of his frock coat.

President’s hand calms the storm

His face wreathed in smiles, Grover Cleveland was moved by the prospect unfolded before his eyes. He turned in one direction and then another, greeting the tumultuous applause. The human waters raged and seethed. He courteously acknowledged the plaudits of the multitude, then lifted his right hand in an effort to command silence. This calmed the storm.

The dignity that becomes a great office was manifest in President Cleveland’s bearing. He stood out in all the majesty of power that is of the people, comes from the people, and returns to the people.

Nature concurred. A cloud mist that enveloped the Quadriga sculpture on the Peristyle and the veiled Statue of the Republic standing in the Grand Basin disappeared as Grover Cleveland raised aloft his hand.

Every atom stood still

At last the throats and arms alike grew tired, and a semblance of quiet once more came over the throng. For the first time was there rapt attention. For the first time an acre or two of the masses took off their hats, turning all their section of the sea as white as if a million dolphins had stirred up salt foam there.

As whistles sounded the hour of noon, President Cleveland began his short and impressive address. Every atom stood still that might hear the words of the president of the United States.

Machinery that gives life to this vast Exposition is set in motion

This is what he said. This is what Grover Cleveland said:

I am here to join my fellow-citizens in the congratulations which befit this occasion. Surrounded by the stupendous results of American enterprise and activity and in view of magnificent evidences of American skill and intelligence, we need not fear that these congratulations will be exaggerated. We stand to-day in the presence of the oldest nations of the world and point to the great achievements here exhibited, asking no allowance on the score of youth. The enthusiasm with which we contemplate our work intensifies the warmth of the greeting we extend to those who have come from foreign lands to illustrate with us the growth and progress of human endeavor in the direction of a higher civilization. We who believe that popular education and the stimulation of the best impulses of our citizens lead the way to a realization of the proud national destiny which our faith promises, gladly welcome the opportunity here afforded us to see the results accomplished by efforts which have been exerted longer than ours in the field of man’s improvements, while in appreciative return we exhibit the unparalleled advancement and wonderful accomplishments of a young nation, and present the triumphs of a vigorous, self-reliant and independent people. We have built these splendid edifices, but we have also built the magnificent fabric of a popular government, whose grand proportions are seen throughout the world. We have made and here gathered together objects of use and beauty, the products of American skill and invention; but we have also made men who rule themselves. It is an exalted mission in which we and our guests from other lands are engaged, as we co-operate in the inauguration of an enterprise devoted to human enlightenment; and, in the undertaking we here enter upon, we exemplify in the noblest sense the brotherhood of nations. Let us hold fast to the meaning that underlies this ceremony, and let us not lose the impressiveness of this moment. As by a touch the machinery that gives life to this vast Exposition is set in motion, so at the same instant let our hopes and aspirations awaken forces which in all time to come shall influence the welfare, the dignity and the freedom of mankind.

_____________________

Answered the solemnity of the occasion

The President made his composition match the words of Lincoln in the fresh furrows of the cannon of Gettysburg. The address was dignified and sober. It contained no eloquent passages which will live in the memory, but was marred by no rhetorical flourishes and by no straining for effect. The elevated tone of the short, well-considered, and well-worded address fully answered the solemnity of the occasion. If he were not a man of profound sentiment he might have passed over the deeper meaning that underlay the ceremony. But he found it in a lesson of self-government which he was quick to apply.

The president’s delivery was deliberate and impressive, every word clearly enunciated. Mr. Cleveland spoke his concluding words slowly with emphasis. As he spoke the final sentence, just a few minutes after noon, his eyes wandered to the table close at his left hand. By touching the gold and ivory button, he would complete the electrical circuit and set into motion the machinery powering the fairgrounds, signaling the official opening of the World’s Columbian Exposition.

The moment of moments on the day of days had finally arrived.

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SOURCES

(See our note about sources here.)

Dedicatory and Opening Ceremonies of the World’s Columbian Exposition. (Chicago, Stone, Kastler & Painter, 1893.

“Epoch in History” Chicago Herald May 2, 1893, p. 1

“Formally Opened” Chicago Inter Ocean May 2, 1893, p. 5.

“‘Gath’ of the Fair” Chicago Daily Tribune May 2, 1893, p. 9.

“Opened to the World” Chicago Eagle May 5, 1893, p. 6.

Pickett, Montgomery Breckinridge “Opening of the Great Fair” Harper’s Weekly May 13, 1893, p. 442.

“President Cleveland’s Address” Chicago Daily Tribune May 2, 1893, p. 12.

“Ready for a World” Chicago Daily Tribune May 2, 1893, p. 1.

“Viewed from Above” Chicago Daily Tribune May 2, 1893, p. 5.

“The World’s Columbian Exposition” Harper’s Weekly May 13, 1893, p. 2.