18. ULYSSES S. GRANT (I am the very model of a modern major general)
Born: April 27, 1822, Point Pleasant, Ohio
Died: July 23, 1885, Mount McGregor, New York
Term: March 4, 1869- March 4, 1877
Political Party: Republican
Vice President(s): Schuyler Colfax, Henry Wilson
First Lady: Julia Dent Grant
Before the Presidency: The dominance of Ohio politicians would begin with this man. Grant grew up the son of a tanner in Ohio. They made a decent living, but it was hard work and Grant swore he wouldn’t follow in his father’s footsteps. He wasn’t necessarily the best student though he wasn’t a ruffian by any means. He did develop a great knack for horsemanship.
While Grant had no desire to become a tanner, his father encouraged the young Ulysses to try to improve his lot in life. There wasn’t a lot of money for college, but West Point Military Academy was offering a free college education in return for military service. Grant was reluctant at first, but his father encouraged Ulysses to go for it. While, at West Point, Ulysses struggled at first, particularly with his studies, but his skill with horses was impressive and it was thought he would go into the cavalry. As it turned out, he would go into the infantry instead, having graduated in the middle of the pack.
As it was, Grant would become quite happy with a military career. He was a Lieutenant in the Mexican- American War and was twice cited for bravery. He was appointed a quartermaster and would learn a lot about logistics during that stint. He was also an admirer of General Zachary Taylor. Having said that, Grant really wasn’t what you would call a warmonger. He mourned at the loss of life and hated the destruction that war created.
He went home to St. Louis to marry Julia Dent, then, as a career army man, was sent all over the country from Detroit and New York to Oregon and California. The traveling began to take a toll on the young officer, and it is rumored that he developed a drinking problem during this period. Finally, in 1854, he abruptly quit the Army.
For the next seven years, Grant lived as a private citizen, first on a farm in Missouri where he hired free blacks to tend to his piece of land. He also had a slave given to him by his father in law, but Grant freed the man, certainly proving the compassion that was in him. Later, he moved to Illinois to work at his younger brother’s shop. It was then when the Civil War broke out and the North was looking for experienced officers. Grant was back in the Army.
The Governor of Illinois appointed Grant to lead a regiment, a regiment that Grant had no problem disciplining into a solid unit. The men came to respect and even love Grant as he didn’t make a fuss over minor details. This respect would give Grant more responsibilities as he was quickly promoted as high as Brigadier General.
For much of the Civil War, Grant led his troops with little or no fanfare. Meanwhile, the North, despite having the advantage of being able to make more munitions, wasn’t exactly wiping the floor with the South when it came to the battlefield. The Union Generals seemed reluctant to aggressively pursue the Southern armies and it was something that frustrated President Lincoln to no end.
As for General Grant, he showed a willingness to fight the enemy early on. He knew that the Confederates feared the Union as much as the Union feared them. With that knowledge, and with the support of his troops, they captured two critical forts in Tennessee. Indeed, the Fort Donelson victory is seen as the Union’s first real victory of the war.
The good fortunes, at least in the
PR department, were not to last, however. Grant lost many casualties at the battle of Shiloh and the press had a field day blaming Grant even though he managed a tactical victory.
There was one person that didn’t blame General Grant though, President Lincoln. Lincoln stuck by his tactical commander, and it was rewarded as Grant won the battle of Vicksburg in 1863. This was a huge pivotal victory in the Civil War and Lincoln was to say, “Grant is my man, and I am his.” And within months, Grant was running the Western theatre of the war.
After more successes at Chattanooga and Knoxville, President Lincoln appointed Grant Lieutenant General and commander of all Union forces. Grant brought his most dependable generals along with him including William Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and James McPherson. Grant was transferred to Washington to oversee the war effort and, after more victories, notably the burning of Richmond and Atlanta and Sherman’s march to the sea, Robert E Lee formally surrendered to Grant, now back in the military theatre himself, at Appomattox, Virginia, in April 1865.
In four short years, Grant went from an unknown leather-shop clerk, to probably the most popular person in the United States. In 1866, he was named General of all the armies and was no doubt as famous as Generals Jackson, Harrison, and Taylor before him.
Summary of offices held:
1839-1854: United States Army (Captain)
1861-1869: Union Army (Lieutenant General)
1864-1869: Commanding Genera of the US Army
1867-1868: Acting Secretary of War
What was going on: Reconstruction, the American Indian wars, Panic of 1873, Transcontinental railroad
Scandals within the administration: Credit Mobilier Scandal, Belknap bribery scandal, The Sanborn incident, the Salary Grab Act
Why he was a good President: He led the efforts at reconstruction with a steady hand. He was determined to give former slaves the same rights as any white American would take for granted, and, while not totally successful, was able to make some inroads to that goal. He was also a friend to Native Americans even though the Indian Wars more of less started on his watch.
Why he was a bad President: He could never really get out from under the various scandals. He laid too much trust in some of his aides, blind loyalty is never an admirable trait. He probably didn’t do such a great job with the Panic of 1873 either.
What could have saved his Presidency: If he had known more of what was going on during the Indian Wars, especially with General George Custer and his disastrous Battle of Little Big Horn (I’m assuming Trolls will elaborate on that in his American History thread). I don’t think he could have done more in the matter of reconstruction given the hostile resistance.
But of course, the real elephants in the room were the various political scandals. Maybe if he had taken the Trumanesque approach, said the buck stops here, and fired the little brats, well maybe he might have been regarded as a better than average President.
What could have destroyed his Presidency: Well, the scandals pretty much made his administration a living hell, obviously, but had the Panic of 1873 been worse wouldn’t have helped. Also, he could have easily done his best Sergeant Schultz impression and looked the other way at the terrorist activities against the blacks in the South. Very much to his credit, he didn’t.
Election of 1868: The political aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination was a bit depressing to say the least. Reconstruction was having its problems, the Radical Republicans had more or less turned the South into an occupied totalitarian state, and the Southern whites weren’t doing themselves any favors with their own acts of oppression as lynchings were already becoming common. And going through an impeachment hearing didn’t help matters much either.
So, it was with this backdrop that the parties convened to nominate their candidates. And the Republicans all but drafted the reluctant Grant to run on their ticket. Grant had served under Johnson in an acting capacity. Grant disagreed with Johnson’s white supremacist policies and wouldn’t support him in his battles with Congress. In fact, his (Grant’s) views were tilting ever so slowly towards the radical Republicans’ viewpoint.
So, Grant was nominated unanimously, and the Republicans ran him with true radical Schuyler Colfax.
On the Democratic side, Former VP nominee George Pendleton was the favorite and led on the first fifteen ballots, but others began to enter the fray including the unpopular President Johnson. In the end, the Democrats went with Former Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, who was even more reluctant than Grant to run.
The main issue of the general campaign was on how to handle reconstruction. Seymour, hoping to stem the tide of vicious attacks against Grant, calmly suggested that reconstruction should be left to the states. Grant didn’t campaign at all, only going as far as to advocate peace, but his supporters certainly wanted the Federal Government’s fingerprints all over reconstruction.
In the end, the popular vote was surprisingly close, but Grant scored an easy victory in the Electoral College.
First term: President Grant’s first year was something of a mixed bag. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed that year but this new railroad industry, led by a group on men derisively known as robber barons, inadvertently would cause the Panic of 1869. Jay Gould and James Fisk, Jr, speculated that if the Government refrained from buying gold, its value would increase and raise farm prices. Grant’s own Brother-in-law was involved in the scheme. Grant would foil their plans by selling $4 million worth of gold and it would lead to a stock market crash.
The market would recover as Gould and Fisk got off scott free. Grant, meanwhile, had other fish to fry. He would veto a series of relief bills. On the other hand, he pushed through the Fifteenth Amendment which gave all citizens (well, male citizens anyway) the right to vote, regardless of race, color, creed, or whether having had been a slave. He took a hands on approach to reconstruction using the military to enforce black emancipation and, in fact, to also give them some political power. He also hoped to improve the prospects of Republicanism in the South from a political standpoint. He signed a series of enforcement acts, one of which was the Ku Klux Klan act. By now, a white supremacist terrorist group known as the Ku Klux Klan, was terrorizing and intimidating black citizens in order to prevent them to vote. This didn’t go well with President Grant, obviously, and he would send troops to South Carolina in 1871 to enforce the act.
There were also some victories on the diplomatic front as well. The US signed a friendship treaty with Great Britain. As a result, the once former foes would enjoy a close diplomatic friendship to this day.
Other issues were also cropping up as there would be an investigation into corruption in New York City centered around one Boss William Tweed and his Tammany Hall. The Great Chicago fire (unrelated to the Grant Administration of course) also happened during this term.
Election of 1872: President Grant was hugely popular going into 1872. There were fractures within the Republican party over reconstruction as a group known as the Liberal Republicans, who were anything but liberal, opposed Grant’s policies on civil rights for blacks as well as Federal Intervention in the South. Though they wouldn’t say it outright, they were advocating a return to white rule in the South. In the end, though, it didn’t matter; Grant was re-nominated unanimously yet again. They did switch Vice Presidents though when they decided to go with Senator Henry Wilson from Massachusetts.
The Liberal Republicans, also upset at the alleged corruption within the Grant Administration, formed their own party and nominated eccentric journalist Horace Greely. The Democrats, meanwhile, couldn’t decide on a candidate so they decided to back the Liberal Party candidate, thus, Greely went from a third party gadfly to a major candidate.
The general election was a foregone conclusion. Greeley didn’t even bother to campaign and Grant remained hugely popular. In the end, Grant won in a landslide
Second Term: Speaking of corruption and just two months after the election, the Credit Mobilier scandal exploded. It involved the Union Pacific Railroad. In this, railroad directors used a dummy corporation known as the Credit Mobilier Corporation to pay themselves. This fraud would involve bribes that would tarnish various congressmen as well as thirteen Senators. This also trickled into the Grant Administration and involved not only the present Vice President, Schuyler Colfax, but also the incoming Henry Wilson.
It wouldn’t get better for President Grant. While more scandals were threatening Congress, the Panic of 1873 happened. This would be worse than the panic four years earlier and was the worst financial crisis since 1837. Grant’s response was to veto the Greenbacks bill and switch the US back to a gold standard. As such, the US went with a hard currency course for the rest of the century and established the Republican Party as the party of fiscal conservatism.
The worst moment of Grant’s administration occurred in 1875 when the Whiskey Ring scandal broke. Grant’s Treasury Secretary wanted to investigate distillers accused of defrauding federal agents. Grant encouraged Secretary Bristow and would find himself in the hot seat when it was discovered that the scandal, known as the Whiskey Ring, led right to his own administration, starting with his personal secretary, Oliver Babcock. Grant himself was not implicated and Babcock would be found innocent, though he would lose his job.
And something good came out of it. President Grant made Civil Service reform a priority as he formed the Civil Service Commission as a way to thwart the decades old spoils system. Unfortunately, he didn’t get much from Congress on that platform, however.
It seemed as if the various scandals that plagued the Grant Administration would all but destroy his Presidency and, indeed, it was the reason he had been ranked as one of the nation’s worst Presidents.
But he also wanted to assimilate the Native Americans into the American way of life, hoping to give them US citizenship, encouraging them to become farmers, and giving them their own lands on reservations. Unfortunately, the bigoted white settlers (and the cavalries, anyone hear of General Custer?) had something to say about that and the infamous Indian wars would explode during this second term.
Post Presidency: In 1876 there was an attempt by Congress to limit the President to two terms out of fear that Grant may try for a third run.
But Grant said early on that he didn’t plan to run (maybe he should have in retrospect, no fault of Hayes or Tilden). Instead, he helped to monitor the disputed election wanting to make sure the dispute was handled fairly with no favor to either party.
So, Grant left the office with the country in stable condition at least and he embarked on a two year trip around the world with his wife, Julia. He was greeted warmly by most of the world as he was seen as a hero who restored American Democracy. He would return to the United States with a renewed popularity as well and considered a run for the Presidency in 1880 as President Hayes refused to run for a second term. It wasn’t to be, however as there was too much of a stop Grant movement within the party.
The last years of Grant’s life were rather sad as he was hit with financial ruin. He had to rely on the kindness of friends to keep him afloat.
But he was far from a pathetic figure. He discovered he enjoyed writing and he wrote for Century Magazine about his Civil War experiences. This gave him some income. He also was befriended by a famous author that went by the name of Mark Twain.
And that would prove to be a boon for Grant’s family, for Grant was tragically diagnosed with throat cancer. He spent his last months working on his autobiography, which Twain would publish. He had hopes that this book would help to provide for his family when he was gone. He finished the book just days before his death and the book indeed would provide for his family and for the rest of their lives. He hit a home run right at the end.
Grant’s funeral was a spectacular one as the well loved hero would have one and a half million spectators to view the procession.
And, yes, Ulysses S. Grant is buried in Grant’s Tomb.
Odd notes: Grant was given a slave. He freed the slave a year later.
https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-ulysses-s-grant/
Grant was invited to attend Ford’s Theatre the night Lincoln was shot but he politely declined the offer (Julia Grant couldn’t stand Mary Todd Lincoln- not a lot of people could)
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...-s-grant-facts
Final Summary: Let’s face it. Like most of the Generals before him, Grant was way over his head when he entered the Presidency and, as noted before, he never could really get out from under the various scandals that plagued his administration.
But Grant himself was an honest man and he did grow with the Presidency (Taylor really didn’t and Harrison never really had a chance). And there was no doubt this was a great man of decency. He did what he could to help blacks in the South. And people forget that it was he who forged the great friendship with England that we enjoy today.
And even if he wasn’t a great President so to speak, he tried to be a good one, much like many not so successful Presidents past and future. And he was no doubt one of the best loved Americans in history.
I also can’t forget he was the one who got the ball rolling with Civil Service reform. Hayes would also push for it and Garfield was ready to bring it home (And, after Garfield’s assassination, Arthur, in fact, did)
But, oh those scandals.
Overall rating: C+
https://millercenter.org/president/grant