ABSTRACT
As president, Grover Cleveland gave little attention to party organization, least of all to the national chairmanship. The chairmanship now seemed to be an honorific offering to older leaders and, at times, an immobilized hostage to a faction. The active management of presidential campaigns became the work of the nominee and his intimate friends, as in the cases of Grover Cleveland and William Jennings Bryan. Relatively minor aspects of the national committee’s functions, such as the selection of convention dates and locations, became the testing grounds of factional strength. Senator Gorman had a great deal to say during the next meeting of the national committee on February 22, 1888, and, with Bamum in the chair, the opportunity to say it. The protectionist-reductionist dispute went forward in the national convention’s resolutions committee. The convention took the unusual step of renominating Cleveland first and then receiving the report of the platform committee.
