Welcome back to the Deep Dive. If you want a
shortcut to being well -informed, you are absolutely
in the right place. Today we're undertaking something
pretty ambitious. We are. We're trying to cut
through, what, a century and a half of skewed
history, myths, outright slander, to really explore
a figure whose true significance is, I think,
only now being fully appreciated, Ulysses S.
Grant. That's absolutely right. I mean, for so
long, the narrative around Grant has been just...
dominated by these two simple and often contradictory
caricatures. You have the quiet, you know, sometimes
seen as this unskilled cigar chomping general
who just kind of happened to win the Civil War.
And on the other hand, the supposedly naive,
corruptible president who just got steamrolled
by a tumultuous era. And if you stop there, you
miss everything. You miss the man of profound
contradiction. Yeah, we have stacks of sources
here detailing the unexpected depth of his moral
compass, his innate military genius, and critically,
his record as arguably the most forceful and
effective civil rights executive the country
had seen up to that point. So our mission today
is really to replace those caricatures with a
complex chronological portrait. We need to analyze
the key phases of his life, the failures, the
military innovations, the moments of political
courage. All of it. To understand how he went
from literally selling firewood on a street corner
to crushing white supremacist terrorism from
the Oval Office. It's an incredible arc. It is.
We're focusing on four key themes. Yeah. sort
of radical modern approach to military strategy.
OK. His principled commitment to civil rights
during Reconstruction. Which is huge and often
overlooked. Huge. Then there's the intense tension
between his personal integrity and the administrative
scandals that really defined his presidency.
Right. The stuff that gets remembered. And finally,
the incredible dramatic evolution of his historical
reputation right up to today. Which all culminates
in our central question for this deep dive. Why
did this man, who was celebrated in death as
this powerful symbol of unity, spend a century
marginalized by historians, often overshadowed
by the very people he defeated? And what does
his dramatic resurgence now tell us about which
leaders we value in American history? Yeah. Okay,
let's unpack this. We have to start before he
was Grant the General, when he was just Hiram
Ulysses Grant, born in Ohio in 1822. And the
first step in understanding Grant is really understanding
his name. which is itself an accident of history.
He was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. Hiram, yeah.
But when he went to West Point in 1839, his nomination
from Representative Thomas L. Hammer mistakenly
listed him as U .S. Grant. And he kept it, which
is the truly great historical twist. The sources
suggest a couple of reasons for this. First,
you know, correcting military records was a bureaucratic
nightmare he just didn't want to deal with. Sure.
But the reason that makes him so relatable, he
inverted his first and middle names to avoid
the initials HUG on his trunk. Oh, wow. Can you
imagine carrying a bag labeled HUG around a military
academy in 1839? He chose U .S. to avoid ridicule,
and that's what gave him the nickname Sam, Uncle
Sam, among his fellow cadets. That's a great
detail. And it speaks to a kind of deep personal
reserve, a desire. to avoid attention, which
really marked him his entire life. It did. And
despite this reserved nature and his initial
dislike for military life, he did have one undeniable,
almost living Darius skill. Horsemanship. Horsemanship.
Right. He wasn't top of his class. He graduated
21st out of 39. But he was known as the most
proficient horseman at West Point. He set a high
jump record on his horse, York, that allegedly
stood for 25 years, which is just deeply ironic
because upon graduation, he was assigned to the
4th Infantry Regiment. So he walked. He walked
instead of riding in the cavalry. Exactly. We
also see the roots of his sort of independent
moral and spiritual character during this period.
He was raised Methodist, but he wasn't outwardly
religious. He prayed privately, never formally
joined any denomination. His son later noted
that he appeared to be agnostic, suggesting he
was a deeply private man who, you know, looked
inward for moral direction rather than following
some external dogma. And before the Civil War,
the greatest professional influence on him was
definitely the Mexican -American War. He served
from 1846 to 1848. He saw significant combat,
notably at the Battle of Palo Alto, and he earned
two brevet promotions for bravery, including
captain. There's one anecdote from the Battle
of San Cosme that just perfectly illustrates
his blend of resourcefulness and bravery. When
Mexican troops pinned down his unit, he ordered
his men to disassemble a mountain howitzer. A
howitzer? Wow. Drag the pieces into a nearby
church steeple, reassemble it under fire, and
then bombard the Mexican positions from above.
I mean, that kind of unorthodox problem. Solving
Initiative was a preview of his Civil War genius,
right? Totally. But the truly crucial insight
we draw from this time wasn't his combat prowess.
It was his experience as assistant quartermaster.
Which was not a glamorous job. We're talking
logistics, supply chains, provisioning, the deeply
unsexy work of moving an army. Exactly. And Grant
initially disliked the role. But the sources
are unanimous. This was a transformative education
for him. He learned firsthand the critical infrastructure
required to sustain a large mobile force operating
deep behind enemy lines. He realized a war could
be won or lost not by the man firing the cannon.
But by the man ensuring the cannonball got there.
Along with the food. and the feed and the medical
supplies. That's the moment he becomes the systems
thinker of the Civil War. But personally, that
war scarred him deeply. Yeah. He wrote later
that the Mexican War was morally unjust, designed
solely to expand slavery, and that the Civil
War was, in his words, divine punishment visited
upon the U .S. for its aggression against Mexico.
And that moral grounding would later define his
presidency. It's a key part of his character.
Absolutely. And that moral compass was tested
almost immediately after the war. From 1854 to
1861, we see this period that historians call
his low point, seven years of absolute financial
and professional failure. He resigned his commission
in 1854, effective July 31st. The official record
cited drinking, though historians still debate
how frequent and severe the issue really was.
Grant himself admitted that the vice of intemperance
had not a little to do with my decision to resign.
He was basically given a choice. resign or face
a court -martial. And the years that followed
were just brutal. He failed at farming on land
he called hardscrabble, he tried real estate,
the panic of 1857 hit, and he was so poor he
had to sell his gold watch just to buy Christmas
gifts for his kids. And famously, he was reduced
to selling firewood on St. Louis street corners.
This juxtaposition is just stunning. It is. The
man who would one day command a million -man
army was, just a few years earlier, failing spectacularly
as a civilian, completely dependent on his wife's
family to survive. This profound failure just
gives his later success an even sharper edge.
It does. And in the midst of this failure, we
see another critical moral decision, this time
regarding slavery. Now, Grant disliked the institution.
But he wasn't an abolitionist. Right. When he
lived in St. Louis, his wife Julia's family,
the Dent family, they owned slaves. And in 1858,
Grant acquired a slave, a man named William Jones
from his father -in -law, possibly to settle
a debt. But here's the kicker. And this is a
highly specific, deeply significant detail. In
March 1859, Grant legally freed William Jones
via a manumission deed. Think about the financial
reality of that choice. Grant was selling firewood
to survive. William Jones was a man worth at
least $1 ,000 at the time. Which is comparable
to, what, $35 ,000 in today's money? Something
like that. I mean, this was an enormous asset
he desperately needed, yet he chose to free him,
writing later that he simply couldn't bring himself
to hold an enslaved person against his will.
It's a powerful testament to his personal moral
code that exists entirely outside of any political
expediency. By 1860, he finally finds some stability.
He moves his family to Galena, Illinois, to work
in his father's leather goods business, Granite
Perkins. He's paying off debts, stabilizing his
family, finally establishing himself as a reputable
citizen, just as the Union begins to collapse.
So the war really saved him from civilian obscurity.
You could say that, but in retrospect, maybe
he also saved the war. So the Civil War starts,
and Grant's commitment is immediate and absolute.
On April 21, 1861, he famously wrote, We have
a government and laws and a flag, and they must
all be sustained. There are but two parties now.
traitors and patriots. No hedging, no hesitation.
And his rise was meteoric, fueled by that lack
of hesitation and his willingness to take decisive
action. After mustering troops in Illinois, he
quickly moved from colonel to brigadier general,
taking command in the Western theater. And this
is where he earns his defining reputation. Our
reputation forged in 1862 with the capture of
Forts Henry and Donaldson, which were the strategically
vital Confederate strongholds protecting the
Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Right. They
were the gateway deep into the South. Fort Henry
fell pretty quickly to naval gunboats. Fort Donaldson,
though, that was a major confrontation. The Confederate
forces tried to break out but were repulsed,
leading their senior generals, John D. Floyd
and Gideon Pillow, to literally flee the field.
They just abandoned their men. And left command
to General Simon Boulevard Buckner. Buckner,
facing a desperate situation, asked Grant for
terms of surrender. And Grant's famous reply
was just so blunt and absolute. No terms except
an unconditional and immediate surrender can
be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon
your works. Boom. That non -negotiable demand
secured the Union's first major overwhelming
victory, capturing over 12 ,000 Confederate troops.
And the Northern press immediately seized upon
his initials, dubbing him Unconditional Surrender
Grant. It gave the North a desperately needed
hero. But immediately following this victory,
Grant ran straight into the crucible that would
test his leadership and cement his strategy.
The Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. His troops
were at Pittsburgh Landing preparing for a major
offensive. when the Confederates, led by Albert
Sidney Johnston, launched a massive surprise
attack. It was chaos. The Union lines just broke
under the weight of what Grant described as an
alpine avalanche. The first day was a total disaster.
Thousands of Union troops were fleeing. But Grant,
despite being heavily criticized for not anticipating
the attack, refused to retreat. He reorganized
the lines overnight and, with reinforcements,
launched a massive counterattack that won the
second day. But the cost was just staggering.
23 ,746 casualties. It was the bloodiest battle
in U .S. history up to that point. The victory
was his, but the northern press turned on him
ruthlessly. Yeah, they revived the old accusations
of drinking, demanded his removal. And this is
where we get Lincoln's legendary defense. When
his cabinet members urged him to replace Grant,
Lincoln replied, I can't spare this man. He fights.
Exactly. It was a recognition that Grant, unlike
McClellan, understood the true nature of this
war. And Shiloh profoundly changed Grant's own
thinking. He realized the South wasn't fighting
a limited war for concessions. They were fighting
for absolute independence. He wrote that the
battle ended any illusions of a quick victory
and convinced him that the war could only be
won by complete conquest. The absolute destruction
of the Confederacy's ability and will to fight.
That aggressive total war mindset is what fueled
his next major objective, the Vicksburg Campaign
in 1863. Vicksburg was the last Confederate stronghold
on the Mississippi River. Capturing it would
split the Confederacy and secure the entire river
for the Union. This campaign is often cited as
the epitome of Grant's military genius because
it just threw out the established playbook. To
bypass the powerful Confederate guns at Vicksburg,
he marched his army south on the Louisiana side
of the river. While Admiral Porter ran his gunboats
past the city. But once they were across the
river to the east, Grant's army was cut off from
its traditional supply lines. And this is where
his education as a quartermaster during the Mexican
War became invaluable. He made the radical decision
to abandon his his supply lines entirely and
just subsist off the land, foraging. This was
nearly unheard of for a major army. It allowed
him unprecedented speed and maneuverability.
Lee, for instance, could never achieve that level
of freedom in the East because he was always
tied to his supply wagons. Grant's army was able
to defeat Confederate forces in a series of key
battles, including Champion Hill, and march straight
into a siege of Vicksburg, which surrendered
on July 4th, 1863. A strategic masterpiece. It
was. However, during this campaign, we have to
address the most profound dark spot on his military
record, the issuance of General Order No. 11
on December 17, 1862. Right. Amidst complaints
about widespread speculation and illicit cotton
trading, some of which did involve Jewish merchants,
Grant issued an order expelling Jews as a class
from his military district. It was a horrific
blanket order based on anti -Semitic scapegoating.
When the issue reached Washington, Lincoln immediately
rescinded the order on January 3, 1863. Grant
later called it one of the most regrettable acts
of his life. And it's crucial to note that he
spent much of his later career trying to make
amends. During his presidency, he actively appointed
over 50 Jewish people to federal offices, including
powerful posts demonstrating a profound commitment
to reconciliation after that massive mistake.
While that controversy was raging, Grant also
demonstrated his pragmatic humanity toward freed
slaves. As his army moved, thousands of fugitive
African Americans poured into his camps. He established
these contraband camps and organized the former
slaves, incorporating them into the Union effort,
using their labor to pick cotton that was shipped
north. And he got Lincoln's enthusiastic approval
for it. By October 1863, After his victory at
Chattanooga opened the way to Georgia, Lincoln
promoted Grant to major general in the regular
army. And the following year, on March 6, 1864,
the final promotion came. Lieutenant General,
a rank previously held only by George Washington.
Grant was now general -in -chief of all Union
armies. And his working relationship with Lincoln
was immensely strong, mutually respectful. Lincoln
finally had a general who not only fought, but
understood the political necessity of coordinated
simultaneous action across all theaters. Grant's
grand strategy was designed for that complete
conquest, coordinating five major offensives
across the map, making sure Confederate forces
couldn't reinforce each other. He and Meade would
directly engage Lee in Virginia, while Sherman
would destroy Johnston's army and seize Atlanta.
The war became this massive coordinated machine.
And this led to the brutal overland campaign
of 1864. Grant's new philosophy was continuous,
relentless pressure. He vowed to fight through
to the end, even if it took all summer. His forces
suffered immense casualties, nearly 18 ,000 at
the wilderness. But unlike previous Union commanders,
Grant did not retreat. He just flanked Lee and
moved south, always trying to wedge his forces
between Lee and Richmond. The peak of this relentless,
terrible strategy was the Battle of Cold Harbor
in June 1864. Grant believed if he could break
Lee's lines at this vital road hub, the war might
end quickly. But Lee's men had constructed these
massive, reinforced entrenchments. Grant ordered
a frontal assault against a heavily fortified
position, leading to catastrophic losses. 12
,000 to 14 ,000 Union casualties in less than
an hour tripled the Confederate losses. The horrific
scene led to a massive spike in anti -war sentiment
in the North. It's a key moment of reflection
for Grant. He later wrote in his memoirs with
genuine sorrow that he regretted that the last
assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. It shows
that despite his unconditional surrender determination,
he wasn't callous toward human life. He was just
convinced of the strategic necessity of the move,
even when it proved disastrous. The Overland
Campaign then transitioned into the nine -month
siege of Petersburg. Grant was determined to
deny Lee supplies, eventually capturing the vital
railroad links. And despite the stunning failure
of the Battle of the Crater, a massive mine explosion
that became a bloodbath due to poor leadership,
the slow grinding siege worked. By March 1865,
the Confederate logistical system had entirely
collapsed. Lee was trapped, his army starving
and deserting by the thousands. The end came
swiftly. Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond
on April 2nd. Grant pursued, and on April 9,
1865, they met at Appomattox Courthouse. And
Grant's behavior here defined the post -war terms.
He was compassionate and generous. He offered
terms that were essentially a national healing
mechanism. Confederate soldiers and officers
were paroled immediately, allowed to return home,
not to be disturbed by U .S. authority. And they
were allowed to keep their personal property,
crucially their horses, because they will need
them for spring plowing. Grant ordered his victorious
troops to stop all celebration, saying simply,
the war is over, the rebels are our countrymen
again. That generosity was critical. It set the
precedent that Civil War leaders would not be
prosecuted for treason, a precedent Grant insisted
upon when Andrew Johnson later attempted to try
Lee. And just five days later, the tragedy of
Lincoln's assassination. Grant and Julia had
declined the invitation to Ford's theater. which
spared Grant, who's almost certainly a target
in the conspiracy. Grant was genuinely grief
-stricken, later describing Lincoln as the greatest
man I have ever known. The transition to peace
was instantly thrown into turmoil. The shift
from general to president really began with his
complicated break from Andrew Johnson. As commanding
general, Grant adamantly upheld the Appomattox
amnesty, opposing Johnson's immediate punitive
demands to prosecute Lee. Initially, Grant tried
to work with Johnson, but Johnson's extremely
lenient reconstruction policies, which allowed
former Confederates to quickly regain power,
just appalled Grant. He privately called Johnson's
public speeches a national disgrace. The relationship
broke entirely over the dismissal of Secretary
of War Edwin Stanton. Johnson tried to fire Stanton.
violating the recently passed Tenure of Office
Act. And for our listener, the Tenure of Office
Act was a check on presidential power. It required
the Senate's approval before the president could
remove cabinet members. Johnson just defied it.
Grant briefly served as interim secretary of
war, but he resigned to avoid fines and a political
clash with Congress. Johnson subsequently accused
Grant of lying and duplicity about his intentions,
which cemented a massive public break. And that
public feud made Grant a hero to the radical
Republicans in Congress who were pushing for
stronger protections for freedmen in the South.
His nomination for president in 1868 was almost
inevitable. He accepted the nomination, believing
he was the only one who could unify the fractured
nation. And he campaigned on that simple, powerful
slogan, let us have peace. He won the election,
but the analysis of the vote is fascinating.
He actually received a minority of the white
vote. Right. His victory was entirely dependent
on the nearly 500 ,000 votes cast by newly enfranchised
African -Americans in the South. And despite
the success, he lost Louisiana and Georgia due
to widespread voter suppression and violence
from groups like the Ku Klux Klan. which absolutely
galvanized his commitment to enforcement. So
Grant was sworn in in 1869, and we have to analyze
him first and foremost as a highly effective
civil rights executive whose actions were, I
mean... Nothing short of radical for the time.
They truly were. He understood the debt owed
to black voters. He strongly supported and signed
the 15th Amendment, prohibiting states from denying
the right to vote based on race. And under his
watch, the last three Confederate states, Mississippi,
Virginia and Texas, ratified it and were readmitted
to Congress, completing the formal restoration
of the union. But beyond the 15th Amendment,
his most significant and often overlooked structural
move was the creation of the Justice Department
in 1870. This was a revolutionary move. Until
then, federal law enforcement was just haphazard.
Grant created a dedicated centralized department,
empowering the attorney general to prosecute
enemies of Reconstruction and enforce federal
laws robustly across the states. And he immediately
gave the Justice Department the tools they needed.
Three enforcement acts passed between 1870 and
1871, often called the Ku Klux Klan acts. These
acts targeted those who tried to deprive citizens
of their rights or conspired to overthrow state
governments. And Grant used these laws with unprecedented
force. By October 1871, he declared the situation
in parts of South Carolina to be in a state of
insurrection, suspended habeas corpus, and sent
federal troops to aid U .S. marshals and prosecutors.
His Attorney General Amos T. Ackerman and Solicitor
General Benjamin Bristow arrested and prosecuted
thousands of Klansmen. The federal court system
convicted hundreds, forcing many Klansmen to
flee the state entirely. This aggressive, muscular
use of federal power effectively crushed the
Klan. by 1872. It's a monumental achievement
that has been just sidelined by history. Grant
used the power of the federal government to suppress
domestic terrorism and secure the rights of his
citizens, allowing African Americans to vote
in record numbers in 1872. It was a victory for
civil rights that the nation would not see again
for nearly a century. And this political courage
was immediately contrasted by major financial
challenges, starting just six months into his
presidency with the Gold Corner Conspiracy of
1869. This was a sophisticated manipulation of
the gold market orchestrated by the infamous
railroad tycoons Jay Gold and Jim Fisk. They
wanted to drive up the price of gold dramatically,
which would in turn drive up the price of agricultural
exports, benefiting their Erie Railroad. And
to make the scheme work. They needed Grant to
promise that the Treasury Department would not
sell off its massive gold reserves, thereby limiting
the supply. They exploited Grant's lack of financial
understanding and his trusting nation, building
a close relationship with his wife's brother
-in -law, Abel Corbin, who acted as a direct
insider. And they succeeded in driving the price
of gold to astronomical levels. On Friday, September
24. known as Black Friday, the market was in
a total panic. When the price hit 143 and 18,
Treasury Secretary George Boutwell, acting on
Grant's direct order. Grant finally realized
the full threat flooded the market by selling
four million dollars of government gold. And
the bull market instantly collapsed. The price
plummeted from 160 to 133 in 13 minutes, wiping
out countless small investors and triggering
a bear market panic that caused economic damage
for months. Grant stopped the scheme and later
survived a congressional investigation that cleared
him of any wrongdoing, confirming he was a target
of exploitation. But the scandal established
this narrative that he was easily influenced
and surrounded by. And the economic turmoil didn't
end there. In his second term, the Panic of 1873
was triggered by the collapse of the major investment
bank J. Cook & Company, ushering in the Long
Depression. This forced Grant to make a defining,
yet politically risky decision regarding currency.
To understand this, we need to clarify a fundamental
economic concept for our listener. The gold standard
versus greenbacks. Right. The country had two
types of money. The gold standard meant currency
was backed by physical gold. providing stability
and national credit. Greenbacks were paper currency
issued during the Civil War, not backed by gold,
and thus inherently inflationary. So when the
Depression hit, many Western and Southern farmers,
debtors, and Republicans who wanted to stimulate
the economy favored inflation, meaning they wanted
more greenbacks printed. This led Congress to
pass the Inflationary Ferry Bill in 1874, which
would have added $64 million in greenbacks to
circulation. Grant, advised by conservative bankers
and reformers, believed this inflationary policy
would destroy the financial credit of the nation.
Despite immense political pressure from his own
party and the risk of losing the 1874 midterm
elections, he vetoed the bill. It was a massive
statement of fiscal responsibility. It solidified
the Republican Party's commitment to the gold
standard, ensuring long -term national credit
stability at the cost of immediate economic stimulus.
And it showed Grant acting decisively against
his own political self -interest. He later followed
this up by signing the Specie Payment Resumption
Act in 1875, ensuring the eventual return to
full gold -backed currency. So now we have to
confront the duality of his presidency. The towering
success in civil rights and financial stability
is constantly overshadowed by the administrative
turmoil and corruption that plagued his administration.
We have to start by acknowledging Grant's fundamental
personal integrity. Everyone, even his critics,
described him as personally honest. But he was
also deeply trusting, maybe naive, and often
displayed a crippling, excessive loyalty to old
friends and military subordinates who proved
to be deeply corrupt. Post -Civil War, America
was an age of massive speculation and corruption,
and nearly all of Grant's departments faced congressional
investigation. Yet, alongside the corruption,
we see Grant implementing structural reforms
that were decades ahead of their time. Exactly.
He created the first civil service commission
in 1871, establishing competitive exams and merit
based classification for positions. He advanced
civil service reform more than any prior president.
He also appointed proven reformers, notably Jacob
D. Cox and later Zachariah Chandler in the Interior
Department, who ruthlessly fired corrupt agents.
But his biggest anti -corruption success came
through his appointment of Benjamin Bristow as
Treasury Secretary. Bristow immediately launched
an intense investigation that uncovered the notorious
whiskey ring, which was a massive collusion scheme
between distillers and Treasury officials. And
to explain this clearly for the listener, this
wasn't simple graft. The Whiskey Ring was a complex
network operating mainly in St. Louis, Milwaukee
and Chicago, where distillers intentionally evaded
the federal excise tax on liquor. They paid kickbacks
to the Treasury officials who were supposed to
be monitoring their output, allowing them to
pocket millions of dollars that should have gone
to the federal government. Bristow struck hard
and broke the ring, leading to 110 convictions
and the recovery of millions in unpaid taxes,
a massive win for integrity. But it led directly
to the worst scandal for Grant personally. Because
Bristow's investigation discovered that Grant's
private secretary, Orville Babcock, a man Grant
deeply trusted and who had served him faithfully
during the war, had received kickback payments.
He even tipped off the ringleaders about the
investigation. This created an extraordinary
loyalty dilemma. Grant famously wrote to his
attorney general regarding the investigation,
let no guilty man escape. However, when Babcock
was indicted, Grant's loyalty proved stronger
than his judgment. He gave a deposition in defense
of Babcock's character, declaring his confidence
in his secretary was unshaken. Babcock was ultimately
acquitted by the St. Louis jury, but Grant's
public defense severely eroded his credibility
on the corruption issue, allowing his critics
to claim he was protecting guilty men. And though
Grant eventually dismissed Babcock after he was
implicated in a separate conspiracy, the damage
was done. And the list of scandals just continued.
Secretary of War William W. Belknap was impeached
in 1876 for taking quarterly kickbacks from traderships
at Indian posts. Even Grant's own brother, Orville,
was involved in trading post corruption. The
cumulative effect just defined his image. In
his 1876 annual message to Congress, Grant offered
this heartfelt apology to the nation, recognizing
his failures of trust, stating, Failures have
been errors of judgment, not of intent. Shifting
focus, we have to examine foreign policy, where
Grant, despite his limited experience, managed
one of the most significant diplomatic successes
of the 19th century under the guidance of his
extremely capable secretary of state, Hamilton
Fish. That success was the Treaty of Washington
in 1871, which settled the Alabama claims against
Great Britain. To put this into context, during
the Civil War, Britain, despite official neutrality,
allowed Confederate warships like the CSS Alabama
to be built in their shipyards. These ships severely
damaged the Union merchant fleet. After the war,
the U .S. sought reparations for this clear failure
of British neutrality. The diplomatic tension
was extremely high. Grant and Fish agreed to
an unprecedented move, arbitration by an international
tribunal in Geneva. This decision secured peace
with Great Britain, avoided potential warfare,
and resulted in a successful $15 .5 million settlement
for the U .S. It established a mechanism for
peaceful international dispute resolution and
turned Britain into America's closest international
ally for the next century. A huge win. A huge
win. Yet this triumph was balanced by a major
diplomatic failure. The proposed annexation of
Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. Grant,
driven by this expansionist impulse and a desire
to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, saw the annexation
as a strategic necessity. He also framed it as
a humanitarian effort, arguing that acquiring
the island would provide a safe haven for black
people fleeing the terror of the Klan and white
supremacist groups in the South. He called it
an answer to the crime of Ku Kluxism. But he
was so zealous that he circumvented standard
diplomatic channels and sent his military aide,
Orville Babcock, to secure unauthorized annexation
treaties. He then used intense pressure to force
his cabinet to accept them. However, the plan
was fiercely opposed by the powerful chairman
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Charles
Sumner. A renowned abolitionist and radical Republican,
Sumner opposed it on anti -imperialist grounds,
fearing the U .S. was imposing its will on a
weak nation. The Senate defeated the treaties.
Grant, outraged by Sumner's opposition, retaliated
by maneuvering to strip Sumner of his powerful
Senate chairmanship. This became a major political
feud that destabilized Grant's relationship with
the radical Republicans in Congress who had been
his strongest allies on Reconstruction. We should
also briefly mention the 1871 Korean Expedition,
which was sent to open trade and resulted in
the Battle of Ganghwa. militarily successful,
but it ultimately failed to achieve its diplomatic
goal of opening trade, adding a little footnote
to his expansionist foreign policy. And finally,
let's look at his federal Indian policy, often
known as the peace policy. Grant's stated goal
was fundamentally assimilationist. He sought
to move Native Americans from tribal sovereignty
to becoming individual citizens, encouraging
them to adopt European customs and language.
He demonstrated good faith by appointing Elias
Parker. and assimilated Seneca, who had served
on his wartime staff, as the first Native American
commissioner of Indian affairs. To tackle the
rampant corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
the very corruption that entangled Belknap and
his own brother Grant established the Unpaid
Board of Indian Commissioners. This board aimed
to replace profit -driven entrepreneurs with
missionaries from various religious denominations.
But the policy was just riddled with contradictions
that doomed it. The 1871 Indian Appropriations
Act ended the sovereign tribal treaty system,
effectively making Native Americans wards of
the federal government, not nations. And the
contradiction became violently clear when gold
was discovered in the Black Hills, sacred territory
protected by treaty for the Sioux. White settlers
trespassed immediately. Grant, bowing to political
pressure and the demands of the economic depression,
decided not to enforce the exclusion of minors,
essentially forcing Native Americans onto smaller
reservations. This betrayal directly contributed
to the Great Sioux War, culminating tragically
in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
Grant openly castigated Custer in the press,
blaming the massacre on Custer's recklessness.
But despite over 200 battles fought during his
presidency, the policy survived, ensuring Indian
policy remained under the Interior Department
rather than the War Department after he left
office. The accumulated effect of the scandals,
the depression, and just the exhaustion of Northern
political will led to a massive shift. The Democrats
took control of the House in 1874, stripping
Grant of his ability to fund and support Reconstruction
efforts. This is where we see the final tragic
failure of Reconstruction. In the South, Redeemer
Democrats. These white supremacist groups formed
armed organizations like the Red Shirts and the
White League, using open violence and voter fraud
to reclaim power. Grant later regretted not issuing
a proclamation to help Republican governors maintain
order in states like Mississippi when the violence
escalated, admitting the political support in
the North had just evaporated. He had crushed
the Klan once, but the political will to sustain
that enforcement was gone. And when Grant left
office in 1877, his final act concerning the
South was heartbreaking. To resolve the disputed
1876 presidential election between Republican
Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden,
Grant facilitated the peaceful compromise of
1877. In short, the Republicans got the White
House, but in exchange, the federal government
agreed to immediately end the enforcement of
racial equality and remove the last federal troops
from the South. It was the final nail in Reconstruction's
coffin. ushering in 80 years of institutionalized
Jim Crow segregation, completely reversing Grant's
greatest achievement. So Grant leaves office
in 1877, famously proclaiming he was never so
happy in my life. Despite having no permanent
home, he was not idle. He immediately embarked
on this unprecedented two and a half year global
tour. This journey, initially funded by liquidating
a mining investment, made him the first president
to circumnavigate the world. It was a massive,
unofficial diplomatic mission. It was basically
an attempt to introduce the United States as
a major global power. Absolutely. He met with
Queen Victoria, Tsar Alexander II, Otto von Bismarck,
Emperor Meiji. His reception was generally overwhelming,
demonstrating a global respect for the man who
won the Civil War. When he finally returned to
San Francisco, he was greeted by ecstatic, cheering
crowds. And his popularity spurred the third
term attempt in 1880 as the stalwart faction
of the Republican Party rallied around him, arguing
for a non -consecutive return to the White House.
At the convention, he had more delegates pledged
to him than any other candidate. His old ally,
Roscoe Conkling, delivered this electrifying
nomination speech, declaring that when asked
which state Grant hails from, our sole reply
shall be, he hails from Appomattox and its famous
apple tree. But the party was fractured. After
36 ballots, Grant remained short of a majority,
and the nomination eventually went to the compromise
candidate, James A. Garfield. And that ended
Grant's political life for good. After his political
ambitions ended, he faced utter financial ruin,
demonstrating yet again the stunning complexity
of his life. Yeah, it's important context that
in the 19th century, there were no federal presidential
pensions. Grant's income was limited. So he invested
heavily in a Wall Street brokerage house, Grant
and Ward, run by his son Buck, and a brilliant
but utterly conniving man named Ferdinand Ward.
Ward was a financial criminal running a sophisticated
Ponzi scheme. He was rehypothecating the company's
securities, essentially using the same assets
as collateral for multiple fraudulent loans.
And Grant, who Ferdinand Ward himself later called
a child in business matters, invested $100 ,000
of his own money. When the firm collapsed in
May 1884, it triggered a market crash, the Panic
of 1884. Grant was left completely destitute.
Wealthy businessman William Henry Vanderbilt,
recognizing Grant's service, offered to forgive
his $150 ,000 personal loan. But Grant, driven
by that profound personal honor that defined
him, refused. He insisted on honoring his debts.
To try and repay what he could, he sold off everything
he owned, including his cherished Civil War mementos.
The national sympathy was overwhelming. Here's
the man who saved the union, brought down by
a croak he foolishly trusted, refusing charity
out of sheer principle. Facing destitution and
then diagnosed with throat cancer likely caused
by his relentless cigar smoking, Grant began
a frantic race against time, writing his personal
memoirs to secure his wife Julia's financial
future. Congress, in a rare show of bipartisan
support, restored him to the rank of general
of the army with full retirement pay. But the
crucial intervention came from his friend, the
author Mark Twain. Twain recognized the unfairness
of Grant's previous publishing offers and offered
him an unprecedented contract, a staggering 70
percent royalty. far superior to the industry
standard 10%. So Grant wrote intensely, often
in terrible pain, completing the memoir just
four days before his death on July 23, 1885.
The book was a phenomenal commercial and critical
success, earning Julia about $450 ,000 in royalties,
which is the equivalent of approximately $15
.7 million today, securing her future just as
he intended. And the memoirs are regarded as
a literary masterpiece, not just for their military
insights, but for their honest, concise, and
compelling prose, cementing his image as this
honorable, reserved Western hero. At his death,
the national outpouring was tremendous. He was
memorialized as a powerful symbol of unity. Tens
of thousands marched in his funeral procession,
and his pallbearers included both Union commanders
like Sherman and Sheridan and former Confederate
leaders like Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph
E. Johnston. But that unity did not last. His
reputation began to decline rapidly after his
death, damaged heavily by the pervasive Lost
Cause movement, which sought to mythologize Lee
and the Confederacy. Crucially, his historical
standing was decimated by the early 20th century
historians known as the Dunning School. And for
our listener, the Dunning School were academics
who largely believed that Reconstruction was
a failure precisely because it empowered African
-Americans. And they exaggerated the scandals
of Grant's administration to condemn him for
his robust enforcement of civil rights. So Grant
was marginalized for a century, viewed as an
unsuccessful president and an unskilled general
who simply relied on overwhelming force. The
scandals completely overshadowed the radical
political courage he showed against the Klan.
But the 21st century has brought a dramatic necessary
recovery. Modern scholarship has forcefully rehabilitated
his image, emphasizing his personal integrity,
his skill as a modern strategist who pioneered
total warfare, and above all, his principled,
forceful defense of African -American civil rights
during Reconstruction. And the concrete proof
is in the rankings. The C -SPAN survey ranking
president saw Grant jump from 33rd all the way
to 20th, indicating his recovered status as an
effective, morally driven... leader who is now
finally receiving credit for his use of federal
power to fight voter suppression and for his
diplomatic successes. So there you have it, Ulysses
S. Grant, the quiet, sometimes failed civilian
who became the Union's decisive commander and
whose greatest victory, one that we are only
now truly acknowledging, was securing basic rights
for newly freed Americans against overwhelming
political and domestic terrorist opposition.
Which brings us to a final provocative thought
for you to mull over. Grant led the Union to
victory by pursuing complete conquest over the
Confederate armies, demanding unconditional surrender.
We know that when faced with the political and
social warfare of Reconstruction, he eventually
deferred to the loss of Northern political will
in 1877. So consider this. Had Grant been able
to apply that same uncompromising, unconditional
surrender resolved to the political enemies of
Reconstruction, those who sought to dismantle
the 15th Amendment and Institute Jim Crow, by
maintaining a forceful federal presence indefinitely,
even at the cost of national harmony, would the
subsequent century of codified racial injustice
in America have been avoided? It forces us to
ask whether moral victories sometimes require
political costs no democracy is willing to pay.