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President Cleveland
When Grover Cleveland contracted cancer, it didnt kill his career; it killed someone elses.
In early June of 1893, President Grover Cleveland discovered a large tumor on the roof of his mouth. The cancer was progressing quickly. Doctors determined that if the patient were to survive, the growth had to be removed. But the procedure was complicated, and Clevelands doctors feared the surgery could trigger a stroke. There was also a 15 percent chance in those days that the president could die under the knife. After weighing his options, Cleveland chose to have the tumor removed, under one condition: The operation had to be conducted in total secrecy. The president feared that Wall Street -already reeling from falling stock in the midst of a depression- would panic if news of his illness leaked. Even his vice president, Adlai Stevenson, was to be kept in the dark.
On the morning of June 30th, under the cover of night, President Cleveland and six of the nations finest physicians assembled on board the Oneida, a yacht anchored in New York harbor. Sitting in a deck chair, the president smoked cigars and chatted amiably with the men as the boat set sail for Long Island Sound. The following morning, the doctors scrambled below deck to prepare for the surgery. In lieu of an operating table, a large chair was bound to the mast in the yachts parlor. A single light bulb, connected to a portable battery, would provide all the light. The doctors boiled their instruments and pulled crisp white aprons over their dark suits. Shortly after noon, the president entered the parlor and took his seat.
Using nitrous oxide and ether as anesthetics, the doctors removed the tumor, along with five teeth and much of Clevelands upper left palate and jawbone. The procedure lasted 90 minutes. It also took place wholly within the patients mouth, so that no external scars would betray the clandestine operation.
Four days later, on July 5, Cleveland was dropped off at his summer home on Cape Cod.
He healed remarkably fast. By the middle of July, he was fitted with a vulcanized rubber prosthetic that plugged the hole in his mouth and restored his normal speaking voice. All the while, the public was told that the president had merely suffered a toothache.
THE HEALTH CARE CONTROVERSY
Elisha Edwards
On August 29, The Philadelphia Press published an expose by Elisha Jay Edwards. The headline read, The President a Very Sick Man. Edwards, the papers Manhattan correspondent, had been tipped off by a New York doctor whos heard rumors of a secret surgery. After some additional digging, Edwards located Ferdinand Hasbrouck, the dentist who had administered the anesthetic to Cleveland, and verified the details.
The Philadelphia Press story was remarkably accurate. In fact, it still stands as one of the greatest scoops in the history of American journalism. But it wasnt perceived that way by the public. The Cleveland administration categorically denied the charges and launched a smear campaign to discredit and embarrass the reporter. Newspapers denounced Edwards as a disgrace to journalism and a calamity liar. The tactics were effective. The public sided with Cleveland, whod built his reputation as the Honest President. Meanwhile, Edwards career was effectively ruined. For the next 15 years, the veteran reporter could barely find work. In 1909, he landed a job as a columnist for a struggling young newspaper called The Wall Street Journal. But Edwards career was still tainted by the allegations that hed faked the story about Grover Cleveland.
Dr. W.W. Keen
One of the doctors who performed the surgery, W.W. Keen, always regretted how Edwards had been so unjustly maligned. In 1917, a quarter-century after the operation and a decade after Clevelands death, Keen finally decided to do something about it. He published a confessional in The Saturday Evening Post, hoping to vindicate Mr. Edwards character as a truthful correspondent. The admission was successful. The old newspaperman was inundated with congratulatory letters and telegrams, and the outpouring deeply moved him. Edwards even wrote to Keen to thank him for restoring his reputation.
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The article above is reprinted with permission from the July-August 2011 issue of mental_floss magazine. Get a subscription to mental_floss and never miss an issue!
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