About the Program
Matthew Algeo recounts the secret surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from President Grover Cleveland in June 1893, during one of the worst economic moments in American history. The surgery, performed on a yacht, resulted in the disappearance of the President for five days and was kept hidden from the public for twenty years. The author reports on the team of doctors that removed a third of the President's upper jaw, the newspaper reporter who divulged the story only to meet denials from the President's office and claims of fabrication, and the eventual release of the news in 1917. Matthew Algeo speaks at the Museum of American Finance in New York City.