office was in poor health and needed an assistant on whom he
could rely to do the work. Hence Cleveland was called into
service. His actual occupancy of the position prompted his party
to nominate him to the office; and although he was defeated, he
received a vote so much above the normal voting strength of his
party that, in 1869, he was picked for the nomination to the
office of sheriff to strengthen a party ticket made up in the
interest of a congressional candidate. The expectation was that
while the district might be carried for the Democratic candidate
for Congress, Cleveland would probably fail of election. The
nomination was virtually forced upon him against his wishes. But
he was elected by a small plurality. This success, reenforced by
his able conduct of the office, singled him out as the party's
hope for success in the Buffalo municipal election; and after his
term as sheriff he was nominated for mayor, again without any
effort on his part. Although ordinarily the Democratic party was
in a hopeless minority, Cleveland was elected. It was in this
campaign that he enunciated the principle that public office is a
public trust, which was his rule of action throughout his career.
Both as sheriff and as mayor he acted upon it with a vigor that
brought him into collision with predatory politicians, and the
energy and address with which he defended public interests made
him widely known as the reform mayor of Buffalo. His record and
reputation naturally attracted the attention of the state
managers of the Democratic party, who were casting about for a
candidate strong enough to overthrow the established Republican
control, and Cleveland was just as distinctly drafted for the
nomination to the governorship in 1882 as he had been for his
previous offices.