President Cleveland devoted his term of office to the defense of the gold standard. His administration issued bonds in early 1894, late 1894, early 1895, and early 1896 to purchase gold that it used to maintain the gold standard. Cleveland’s failure to secure meaningful reform of tariffs on imports and his intervention to crush the Pullman railroad strike alienated many Democrats already upset with the President’s dogged defense of the gold standard. A movement for badly needed reform of the banking system developed, but despite support from Cleveland’s administration, Congress did nothing. Bankers, most famously J.P. Morgan, did act, reorganizing bankrupt railroads so that they could both pay their bills and make investments that would let them handle more traffic more efficiently. In 1895, the economy showed signs of recovery, but a diplomatic collision with Britain over Venezuela at the end of the year halted progress.