Ruth Cleveland (October 3, 1891 – January 7, 1904), popularly known as Baby Ruth, was the eldest of five children born to

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

and

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...

Frances Cleveland Frances Clara Cleveland Preston (née Folsom born as Frank Clara; July 21, 1864 – October 29, 1947) was an American socialite, education activist, and the first lady of the United States from 1886 to 1889, and again from 1893 to 1897 as t ...

. Her birth between Cleveland's two terms of office caused a national sensation. Interest in her continued even after her father's second presidential term was over. A sickly child, Ruth Cleveland contracted

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

on January 2, 1904. Doctors thought her case was mild, but she died five days after her diagnosis. She is buried in Princeton Cemetery.

In popular culture

The

Curtiss Candy Company The Curtiss Candy Company was founded in 1916 by Otto Schnering near Chicago, Illinois. Wanting a more "American-sounding" name (due to anti-German sentiment during World War I), Schnering named his company using his mother's maiden name. Their ...

asserted that the "

Baby Ruth Baby Ruth is an American candy bar made of peanuts, caramel, and milk chocolate-flavored nougat, covered in compound chocolate. It is distributed by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero. History In 1920, the Curtiss Candy Comp ...

" candy bar (formerly known as Kandy Kake from 1900–1920) was named after Ruth Cleveland. The renaming of the candy bar took place in 1921, thirty years after Ruth Cleveland's birth and seventeen years after her death. That same year, legendary baseball player George Herman Ruth, better known by the nickname

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

, was nearing the top of his popularity, having just broken the single-season home run record. As

Richard Sandomir Richard Elliot Sandomir (born September 4, 1957) is an American journalist who is an obituary writer for '' The New York Times''. He wrote about sports, male-pattern hair loss and television; he is the author of several books including ''Bald Like ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' pointed out, "For 85 years, Babe Ruth, the slugger, and Baby Ruth, the candy bar, have lived parallel lives in which it has been widely assumed that the latter was named for the former. The confection's creator, the Curtiss Candy Company, never admitted to what looks like an obvious connection – especially since Ruth hit 54 home runs the year before the first Baby Ruth was devoured. Had it done so, Curtiss would have had to compensate Ruth. Instead, it eventually insisted the inspiration was "Baby Ruth" Cleveland, the daughter of President Grover Cleveland. But it is an odd connection that makes one wonder at the marketing savvy of Otto Schnering, the company's founder.""Sandomir, Richard. "Baseball adopts a candy, whatever it's named for". The New York Times (New York: New York Times Company). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 16, 2012.

References

External links

* 1891 births 1904 deaths 19th-century American women 20th-century American women Children of presidents of the United States Cornell family Grover Cleveland family Respiratory disease deaths in New Jersey Infectious disease deaths in New Jersey Deaths from diphtheria Burials at Princeton Cemetery Princeton Day School alumni {{US-poli-bio-stub Child deaths

In popular culture

See also

References

External links