"When Grover Cleveland took office in 1885, one world was ending and a new one was emerging. The signs were everywhere: transcontinental railroads were still being built, the telephone was still a novelty, and the lightbulb had just been invented. In the political arena, Cleveland bridged the time between the old and the new - from when Congress dominated national affairs to the modern era when they would become more sharply focused around the president."--BOOK JACKET.