WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.279 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. If you want a 00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:04.580 shortcut to being well -informed, you are absolutely 00:00:04.580 --> 00:00:06.759 in the right place. Today we're undertaking something 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:09.140 pretty ambitious. We are. We're trying to cut 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:12.279 through, what, a century and a half of skewed 00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:16.179 history, myths, outright slander, to really explore 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:20.339 a figure whose true significance is, I think, 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:24.140 only now being fully appreciated, Ulysses S. 00:00:24.179 --> 00:00:25.879 Grant. That's absolutely right. I mean, for so 00:00:25.879 --> 00:00:28.120 long, the narrative around Grant has been just... 00:00:28.379 --> 00:00:31.519 dominated by these two simple and often contradictory 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:33.939 caricatures. You have the quiet, you know, sometimes 00:00:33.939 --> 00:00:36.719 seen as this unskilled cigar chomping general 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:39.159 who just kind of happened to win the Civil War. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:41.520 And on the other hand, the supposedly naive, 00:00:41.659 --> 00:00:43.920 corruptible president who just got steamrolled 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:46.780 by a tumultuous era. And if you stop there, you 00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:48.600 miss everything. You miss the man of profound 00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:50.759 contradiction. Yeah, we have stacks of sources 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:53.960 here detailing the unexpected depth of his moral 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:56.560 compass, his innate military genius, and critically, 00:00:56.700 --> 00:00:59.219 his record as arguably the most forceful and 00:00:59.219 --> 00:01:01.140 effective civil rights executive the country 00:01:01.140 --> 00:01:03.880 had seen up to that point. So our mission today 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:06.799 is really to replace those caricatures with a 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:10.239 complex chronological portrait. We need to analyze 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:13.540 the key phases of his life, the failures, the 00:01:13.540 --> 00:01:15.640 military innovations, the moments of political 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:18.180 courage. All of it. To understand how he went 00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:20.519 from literally selling firewood on a street corner 00:01:20.519 --> 00:01:23.819 to crushing white supremacist terrorism from 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:26.840 the Oval Office. It's an incredible arc. It is. 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:29.900 We're focusing on four key themes. Yeah. sort 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:32.959 of radical modern approach to military strategy. 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:35.640 OK. His principled commitment to civil rights 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:38.019 during Reconstruction. Which is huge and often 00:01:38.019 --> 00:01:41.099 overlooked. Huge. Then there's the intense tension 00:01:41.099 --> 00:01:44.739 between his personal integrity and the administrative 00:01:44.739 --> 00:01:46.840 scandals that really defined his presidency. 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:49.620 Right. The stuff that gets remembered. And finally, 00:01:49.700 --> 00:01:52.219 the incredible dramatic evolution of his historical 00:01:52.219 --> 00:01:55.359 reputation right up to today. Which all culminates 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:58.489 in our central question for this deep dive. Why 00:01:58.489 --> 00:02:00.730 did this man, who was celebrated in death as 00:02:00.730 --> 00:02:03.109 this powerful symbol of unity, spend a century 00:02:03.109 --> 00:02:05.829 marginalized by historians, often overshadowed 00:02:05.829 --> 00:02:08.389 by the very people he defeated? And what does 00:02:08.389 --> 00:02:11.310 his dramatic resurgence now tell us about which 00:02:11.310 --> 00:02:14.330 leaders we value in American history? Yeah. Okay, 00:02:14.389 --> 00:02:17.430 let's unpack this. We have to start before he 00:02:17.430 --> 00:02:19.710 was Grant the General, when he was just Hiram 00:02:19.710 --> 00:02:23.069 Ulysses Grant, born in Ohio in 1822. And the 00:02:23.069 --> 00:02:26.310 first step in understanding Grant is really understanding 00:02:26.310 --> 00:02:29.030 his name. which is itself an accident of history. 00:02:29.129 --> 00:02:32.090 He was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. Hiram, yeah. 00:02:32.289 --> 00:02:35.629 But when he went to West Point in 1839, his nomination 00:02:35.629 --> 00:02:38.310 from Representative Thomas L. Hammer mistakenly 00:02:38.310 --> 00:02:41.610 listed him as U .S. Grant. And he kept it, which 00:02:41.610 --> 00:02:44.699 is the truly great historical twist. The sources 00:02:44.699 --> 00:02:46.699 suggest a couple of reasons for this. First, 00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:49.060 you know, correcting military records was a bureaucratic 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:51.000 nightmare he just didn't want to deal with. Sure. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.419 But the reason that makes him so relatable, he 00:02:53.419 --> 00:02:55.800 inverted his first and middle names to avoid 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:59.020 the initials HUG on his trunk. Oh, wow. Can you 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:02.199 imagine carrying a bag labeled HUG around a military 00:03:02.199 --> 00:03:06.180 academy in 1839? He chose U .S. to avoid ridicule, 00:03:06.199 --> 00:03:08.180 and that's what gave him the nickname Sam, Uncle 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:10.240 Sam, among his fellow cadets. That's a great 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:12.599 detail. And it speaks to a kind of deep personal 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:15.560 reserve, a desire. to avoid attention, which 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:18.500 really marked him his entire life. It did. And 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:21.800 despite this reserved nature and his initial 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:26.680 dislike for military life, he did have one undeniable, 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:29.500 almost living Darius skill. Horsemanship. Horsemanship. 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:32.150 Right. He wasn't top of his class. He graduated 00:03:32.150 --> 00:03:35.030 21st out of 39. But he was known as the most 00:03:35.030 --> 00:03:37.569 proficient horseman at West Point. He set a high 00:03:37.569 --> 00:03:40.430 jump record on his horse, York, that allegedly 00:03:40.430 --> 00:03:43.490 stood for 25 years, which is just deeply ironic 00:03:43.490 --> 00:03:46.330 because upon graduation, he was assigned to the 00:03:46.330 --> 00:03:49.229 4th Infantry Regiment. So he walked. He walked 00:03:49.229 --> 00:03:52.009 instead of riding in the cavalry. Exactly. We 00:03:52.009 --> 00:03:54.349 also see the roots of his sort of independent 00:03:54.349 --> 00:03:56.610 moral and spiritual character during this period. 00:03:56.830 --> 00:03:59.169 He was raised Methodist, but he wasn't outwardly 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:01.610 religious. He prayed privately, never formally 00:04:01.610 --> 00:04:04.430 joined any denomination. His son later noted 00:04:04.430 --> 00:04:06.930 that he appeared to be agnostic, suggesting he 00:04:06.930 --> 00:04:09.849 was a deeply private man who, you know, looked 00:04:09.849 --> 00:04:12.169 inward for moral direction rather than following 00:04:12.169 --> 00:04:14.629 some external dogma. And before the Civil War, 00:04:14.770 --> 00:04:17.230 the greatest professional influence on him was 00:04:17.230 --> 00:04:19.629 definitely the Mexican -American War. He served 00:04:19.629 --> 00:04:23.449 from 1846 to 1848. He saw significant combat, 00:04:23.629 --> 00:04:26.350 notably at the Battle of Palo Alto, and he earned 00:04:26.350 --> 00:04:28.649 two brevet promotions for bravery, including 00:04:28.649 --> 00:04:30.870 captain. There's one anecdote from the Battle 00:04:30.870 --> 00:04:33.009 of San Cosme that just perfectly illustrates 00:04:33.009 --> 00:04:36.069 his blend of resourcefulness and bravery. When 00:04:36.069 --> 00:04:38.589 Mexican troops pinned down his unit, he ordered 00:04:38.589 --> 00:04:41.389 his men to disassemble a mountain howitzer. A 00:04:41.389 --> 00:04:43.949 howitzer? Wow. Drag the pieces into a nearby 00:04:43.949 --> 00:04:46.810 church steeple, reassemble it under fire, and 00:04:46.810 --> 00:04:48.949 then bombard the Mexican positions from above. 00:04:49.110 --> 00:04:51.639 I mean, that kind of unorthodox problem. Solving 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:54.560 Initiative was a preview of his Civil War genius, 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:57.040 right? Totally. But the truly crucial insight 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:00.220 we draw from this time wasn't his combat prowess. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:02.839 It was his experience as assistant quartermaster. 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:04.899 Which was not a glamorous job. We're talking 00:05:04.899 --> 00:05:08.199 logistics, supply chains, provisioning, the deeply 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:11.500 unsexy work of moving an army. Exactly. And Grant 00:05:11.500 --> 00:05:13.759 initially disliked the role. But the sources 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:16.259 are unanimous. This was a transformative education 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:19.540 for him. He learned firsthand the critical infrastructure 00:05:19.540 --> 00:05:22.720 required to sustain a large mobile force operating 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:26.139 deep behind enemy lines. He realized a war could 00:05:26.139 --> 00:05:29.220 be won or lost not by the man firing the cannon. 00:05:29.339 --> 00:05:31.379 But by the man ensuring the cannonball got there. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:34.560 Along with the food. and the feed and the medical 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.079 supplies. That's the moment he becomes the systems 00:05:37.079 --> 00:05:40.000 thinker of the Civil War. But personally, that 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.639 war scarred him deeply. Yeah. He wrote later 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:45.500 that the Mexican War was morally unjust, designed 00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:48.399 solely to expand slavery, and that the Civil 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:51.600 War was, in his words, divine punishment visited 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:53.800 upon the U .S. for its aggression against Mexico. 00:05:53.860 --> 00:05:56.500 And that moral grounding would later define his 00:05:56.500 --> 00:05:58.240 presidency. It's a key part of his character. 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:00.860 Absolutely. And that moral compass was tested 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:03.709 almost immediately after the war. From 1854 to 00:06:03.709 --> 00:06:06.430 1861, we see this period that historians call 00:06:06.430 --> 00:06:09.449 his low point, seven years of absolute financial 00:06:09.449 --> 00:06:11.930 and professional failure. He resigned his commission 00:06:11.930 --> 00:06:16.209 in 1854, effective July 31st. The official record 00:06:16.209 --> 00:06:18.149 cited drinking, though historians still debate 00:06:18.149 --> 00:06:20.350 how frequent and severe the issue really was. 00:06:20.610 --> 00:06:23.829 Grant himself admitted that the vice of intemperance 00:06:23.829 --> 00:06:26.509 had not a little to do with my decision to resign. 00:06:27.149 --> 00:06:30.410 He was basically given a choice. resign or face 00:06:30.410 --> 00:06:32.269 a court -martial. And the years that followed 00:06:32.269 --> 00:06:35.370 were just brutal. He failed at farming on land 00:06:35.370 --> 00:06:37.569 he called hardscrabble, he tried real estate, 00:06:37.810 --> 00:06:41.209 the panic of 1857 hit, and he was so poor he 00:06:41.209 --> 00:06:43.149 had to sell his gold watch just to buy Christmas 00:06:43.149 --> 00:06:46.040 gifts for his kids. And famously, he was reduced 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:48.160 to selling firewood on St. Louis street corners. 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:51.480 This juxtaposition is just stunning. It is. The 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:53.439 man who would one day command a million -man 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:57.560 army was, just a few years earlier, failing spectacularly 00:06:57.560 --> 00:06:59.740 as a civilian, completely dependent on his wife's 00:06:59.740 --> 00:07:03.180 family to survive. This profound failure just 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:05.300 gives his later success an even sharper edge. 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:08.579 It does. And in the midst of this failure, we 00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:10.800 see another critical moral decision, this time 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:13.879 regarding slavery. Now, Grant disliked the institution. 00:07:13.930 --> 00:07:16.029 But he wasn't an abolitionist. Right. When he 00:07:16.029 --> 00:07:18.329 lived in St. Louis, his wife Julia's family, 00:07:18.470 --> 00:07:21.410 the Dent family, they owned slaves. And in 1858, 00:07:21.649 --> 00:07:24.589 Grant acquired a slave, a man named William Jones 00:07:24.589 --> 00:07:26.949 from his father -in -law, possibly to settle 00:07:26.949 --> 00:07:29.069 a debt. But here's the kicker. And this is a 00:07:29.069 --> 00:07:33.050 highly specific, deeply significant detail. In 00:07:33.050 --> 00:07:37.410 March 1859, Grant legally freed William Jones 00:07:37.410 --> 00:07:40.410 via a manumission deed. Think about the financial 00:07:40.410 --> 00:07:44.079 reality of that choice. Grant was selling firewood 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:46.879 to survive. William Jones was a man worth at 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:49.319 least $1 ,000 at the time. Which is comparable 00:07:49.319 --> 00:07:52.600 to, what, $35 ,000 in today's money? Something 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:54.620 like that. I mean, this was an enormous asset 00:07:54.620 --> 00:07:57.360 he desperately needed, yet he chose to free him, 00:07:57.459 --> 00:07:59.560 writing later that he simply couldn't bring himself 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:01.680 to hold an enslaved person against his will. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.319 It's a powerful testament to his personal moral 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:07.019 code that exists entirely outside of any political 00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:10.540 expediency. By 1860, he finally finds some stability. 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:13.120 He moves his family to Galena, Illinois, to work 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:15.220 in his father's leather goods business, Granite 00:08:15.220 --> 00:08:18.019 Perkins. He's paying off debts, stabilizing his 00:08:18.019 --> 00:08:20.680 family, finally establishing himself as a reputable 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:23.300 citizen, just as the Union begins to collapse. 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:26.100 So the war really saved him from civilian obscurity. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:27.939 You could say that, but in retrospect, maybe 00:08:27.939 --> 00:08:30.319 he also saved the war. So the Civil War starts, 00:08:30.500 --> 00:08:33.340 and Grant's commitment is immediate and absolute. 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:38.519 On April 21, 1861, he famously wrote, We have 00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:41.159 a government and laws and a flag, and they must 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:44.200 all be sustained. There are but two parties now. 00:08:44.570 --> 00:08:47.110 traitors and patriots. No hedging, no hesitation. 00:08:47.490 --> 00:08:50.970 And his rise was meteoric, fueled by that lack 00:08:50.970 --> 00:08:53.549 of hesitation and his willingness to take decisive 00:08:53.549 --> 00:08:56.490 action. After mustering troops in Illinois, he 00:08:56.490 --> 00:08:58.549 quickly moved from colonel to brigadier general, 00:08:58.730 --> 00:09:01.590 taking command in the Western theater. And this 00:09:01.590 --> 00:09:03.929 is where he earns his defining reputation. Our 00:09:03.929 --> 00:09:06.730 reputation forged in 1862 with the capture of 00:09:06.730 --> 00:09:09.190 Forts Henry and Donaldson, which were the strategically 00:09:09.190 --> 00:09:11.870 vital Confederate strongholds protecting the 00:09:11.870 --> 00:09:13.850 Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Right. They 00:09:13.850 --> 00:09:15.850 were the gateway deep into the South. Fort Henry 00:09:15.850 --> 00:09:18.830 fell pretty quickly to naval gunboats. Fort Donaldson, 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:21.210 though, that was a major confrontation. The Confederate 00:09:21.210 --> 00:09:23.750 forces tried to break out but were repulsed, 00:09:23.750 --> 00:09:26.029 leading their senior generals, John D. Floyd 00:09:26.029 --> 00:09:28.529 and Gideon Pillow, to literally flee the field. 00:09:28.570 --> 00:09:30.350 They just abandoned their men. And left command 00:09:30.350 --> 00:09:32.679 to General Simon Boulevard Buckner. Buckner, 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:35.799 facing a desperate situation, asked Grant for 00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:38.399 terms of surrender. And Grant's famous reply 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:41.899 was just so blunt and absolute. No terms except 00:09:41.899 --> 00:09:44.039 an unconditional and immediate surrender can 00:09:44.039 --> 00:09:46.679 be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:49.639 your works. Boom. That non -negotiable demand 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:52.139 secured the Union's first major overwhelming 00:09:52.139 --> 00:09:55.580 victory, capturing over 12 ,000 Confederate troops. 00:09:55.799 --> 00:09:58.500 And the Northern press immediately seized upon 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:01.200 his initials, dubbing him Unconditional Surrender 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.100 Grant. It gave the North a desperately needed 00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:06.480 hero. But immediately following this victory, 00:10:06.740 --> 00:10:08.879 Grant ran straight into the crucible that would 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:10.960 test his leadership and cement his strategy. 00:10:11.179 --> 00:10:15.000 The Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. His troops 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.500 were at Pittsburgh Landing preparing for a major 00:10:17.500 --> 00:10:20.129 offensive. when the Confederates, led by Albert 00:10:20.129 --> 00:10:22.669 Sidney Johnston, launched a massive surprise 00:10:22.669 --> 00:10:25.350 attack. It was chaos. The Union lines just broke 00:10:25.350 --> 00:10:27.210 under the weight of what Grant described as an 00:10:27.210 --> 00:10:29.889 alpine avalanche. The first day was a total disaster. 00:10:30.110 --> 00:10:32.830 Thousands of Union troops were fleeing. But Grant, 00:10:32.970 --> 00:10:35.110 despite being heavily criticized for not anticipating 00:10:35.110 --> 00:10:38.230 the attack, refused to retreat. He reorganized 00:10:38.230 --> 00:10:40.669 the lines overnight and, with reinforcements, 00:10:40.730 --> 00:10:43.169 launched a massive counterattack that won the 00:10:43.169 --> 00:10:45.470 second day. But the cost was just staggering. 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:50.570 23 ,746 casualties. It was the bloodiest battle 00:10:50.570 --> 00:10:52.850 in U .S. history up to that point. The victory 00:10:52.850 --> 00:10:55.789 was his, but the northern press turned on him 00:10:55.789 --> 00:10:58.690 ruthlessly. Yeah, they revived the old accusations 00:10:58.690 --> 00:11:01.389 of drinking, demanded his removal. And this is 00:11:01.389 --> 00:11:03.909 where we get Lincoln's legendary defense. When 00:11:03.909 --> 00:11:05.970 his cabinet members urged him to replace Grant, 00:11:06.190 --> 00:11:08.730 Lincoln replied, I can't spare this man. He fights. 00:11:08.990 --> 00:11:12.110 Exactly. It was a recognition that Grant, unlike 00:11:12.110 --> 00:11:14.690 McClellan, understood the true nature of this 00:11:14.690 --> 00:11:17.809 war. And Shiloh profoundly changed Grant's own 00:11:17.809 --> 00:11:20.179 thinking. He realized the South wasn't fighting 00:11:20.179 --> 00:11:22.620 a limited war for concessions. They were fighting 00:11:22.620 --> 00:11:24.820 for absolute independence. He wrote that the 00:11:24.820 --> 00:11:26.940 battle ended any illusions of a quick victory 00:11:26.940 --> 00:11:29.100 and convinced him that the war could only be 00:11:29.100 --> 00:11:31.899 won by complete conquest. The absolute destruction 00:11:31.899 --> 00:11:34.519 of the Confederacy's ability and will to fight. 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:37.600 That aggressive total war mindset is what fueled 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:40.139 his next major objective, the Vicksburg Campaign 00:11:40.139 --> 00:11:44.179 in 1863. Vicksburg was the last Confederate stronghold 00:11:44.179 --> 00:11:46.840 on the Mississippi River. Capturing it would 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:49.340 split the Confederacy and secure the entire river 00:11:49.340 --> 00:11:51.990 for the Union. This campaign is often cited as 00:11:51.990 --> 00:11:54.450 the epitome of Grant's military genius because 00:11:54.450 --> 00:11:57.370 it just threw out the established playbook. To 00:11:57.370 --> 00:11:59.889 bypass the powerful Confederate guns at Vicksburg, 00:12:00.070 --> 00:12:02.730 he marched his army south on the Louisiana side 00:12:02.730 --> 00:12:05.590 of the river. While Admiral Porter ran his gunboats 00:12:05.590 --> 00:12:07.830 past the city. But once they were across the 00:12:07.830 --> 00:12:10.570 river to the east, Grant's army was cut off from 00:12:10.570 --> 00:12:13.009 its traditional supply lines. And this is where 00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:15.289 his education as a quartermaster during the Mexican 00:12:15.289 --> 00:12:18.470 War became invaluable. He made the radical decision 00:12:18.470 --> 00:12:21.220 to abandon his his supply lines entirely and 00:12:21.220 --> 00:12:24.620 just subsist off the land, foraging. This was 00:12:24.620 --> 00:12:27.200 nearly unheard of for a major army. It allowed 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:29.360 him unprecedented speed and maneuverability. 00:12:30.139 --> 00:12:32.000 Lee, for instance, could never achieve that level 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:33.659 of freedom in the East because he was always 00:12:33.659 --> 00:12:36.220 tied to his supply wagons. Grant's army was able 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:38.759 to defeat Confederate forces in a series of key 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:41.820 battles, including Champion Hill, and march straight 00:12:41.820 --> 00:12:44.000 into a siege of Vicksburg, which surrendered 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:48.799 on July 4th, 1863. A strategic masterpiece. It 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:51.379 was. However, during this campaign, we have to 00:12:51.379 --> 00:12:53.799 address the most profound dark spot on his military 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:57.019 record, the issuance of General Order No. 11 00:12:57.019 --> 00:13:00.639 on December 17, 1862. Right. Amidst complaints 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:03.139 about widespread speculation and illicit cotton 00:13:03.139 --> 00:13:05.639 trading, some of which did involve Jewish merchants, 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:09.019 Grant issued an order expelling Jews as a class 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:11.200 from his military district. It was a horrific 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:14.279 blanket order based on anti -Semitic scapegoating. 00:13:14.669 --> 00:13:17.570 When the issue reached Washington, Lincoln immediately 00:13:17.570 --> 00:13:20.990 rescinded the order on January 3, 1863. Grant 00:13:20.990 --> 00:13:23.110 later called it one of the most regrettable acts 00:13:23.110 --> 00:13:25.309 of his life. And it's crucial to note that he 00:13:25.309 --> 00:13:27.470 spent much of his later career trying to make 00:13:27.470 --> 00:13:30.950 amends. During his presidency, he actively appointed 00:13:30.950 --> 00:13:33.730 over 50 Jewish people to federal offices, including 00:13:33.730 --> 00:13:36.830 powerful posts demonstrating a profound commitment 00:13:36.830 --> 00:13:39.409 to reconciliation after that massive mistake. 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:42.080 While that controversy was raging, Grant also 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:44.899 demonstrated his pragmatic humanity toward freed 00:13:44.899 --> 00:13:48.179 slaves. As his army moved, thousands of fugitive 00:13:48.179 --> 00:13:51.120 African Americans poured into his camps. He established 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:53.759 these contraband camps and organized the former 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:56.379 slaves, incorporating them into the Union effort, 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.320 using their labor to pick cotton that was shipped 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:02.399 north. And he got Lincoln's enthusiastic approval 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:06.519 for it. By October 1863, After his victory at 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:08.779 Chattanooga opened the way to Georgia, Lincoln 00:14:08.779 --> 00:14:11.399 promoted Grant to major general in the regular 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:14.960 army. And the following year, on March 6, 1864, 00:14:15.259 --> 00:14:17.700 the final promotion came. Lieutenant General, 00:14:17.899 --> 00:14:20.980 a rank previously held only by George Washington. 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:23.519 Grant was now general -in -chief of all Union 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:25.659 armies. And his working relationship with Lincoln 00:14:25.659 --> 00:14:28.899 was immensely strong, mutually respectful. Lincoln 00:14:28.899 --> 00:14:31.299 finally had a general who not only fought, but 00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:34.039 understood the political necessity of coordinated 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:37.259 simultaneous action across all theaters. Grant's 00:14:37.259 --> 00:14:39.120 grand strategy was designed for that complete 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:42.320 conquest, coordinating five major offensives 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:44.539 across the map, making sure Confederate forces 00:14:44.539 --> 00:14:46.799 couldn't reinforce each other. He and Meade would 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:49.419 directly engage Lee in Virginia, while Sherman 00:14:49.419 --> 00:14:51.600 would destroy Johnston's army and seize Atlanta. 00:14:52.250 --> 00:14:54.549 The war became this massive coordinated machine. 00:14:54.889 --> 00:14:57.309 And this led to the brutal overland campaign 00:14:57.309 --> 00:15:01.549 of 1864. Grant's new philosophy was continuous, 00:15:01.929 --> 00:15:05.110 relentless pressure. He vowed to fight through 00:15:05.110 --> 00:15:08.240 to the end, even if it took all summer. His forces 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:11.220 suffered immense casualties, nearly 18 ,000 at 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:13.779 the wilderness. But unlike previous Union commanders, 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:16.820 Grant did not retreat. He just flanked Lee and 00:15:16.820 --> 00:15:19.379 moved south, always trying to wedge his forces 00:15:19.379 --> 00:15:22.500 between Lee and Richmond. The peak of this relentless, 00:15:22.659 --> 00:15:25.059 terrible strategy was the Battle of Cold Harbor 00:15:25.059 --> 00:15:28.960 in June 1864. Grant believed if he could break 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:32.059 Lee's lines at this vital road hub, the war might 00:15:32.059 --> 00:15:34.580 end quickly. But Lee's men had constructed these 00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:37.759 massive, reinforced entrenchments. Grant ordered 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:39.919 a frontal assault against a heavily fortified 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:42.419 position, leading to catastrophic losses. 12 00:15:42.419 --> 00:15:45.299 ,000 to 14 ,000 Union casualties in less than 00:15:45.299 --> 00:15:48.120 an hour tripled the Confederate losses. The horrific 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:50.759 scene led to a massive spike in anti -war sentiment 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:52.759 in the North. It's a key moment of reflection 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:55.059 for Grant. He later wrote in his memoirs with 00:15:55.059 --> 00:15:57.340 genuine sorrow that he regretted that the last 00:15:57.340 --> 00:15:59.549 assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. It shows 00:15:59.549 --> 00:16:01.750 that despite his unconditional surrender determination, 00:16:02.389 --> 00:16:05.330 he wasn't callous toward human life. He was just 00:16:05.330 --> 00:16:07.769 convinced of the strategic necessity of the move, 00:16:07.909 --> 00:16:10.789 even when it proved disastrous. The Overland 00:16:10.789 --> 00:16:13.090 Campaign then transitioned into the nine -month 00:16:13.090 --> 00:16:15.769 siege of Petersburg. Grant was determined to 00:16:15.769 --> 00:16:18.389 deny Lee supplies, eventually capturing the vital 00:16:18.389 --> 00:16:21.309 railroad links. And despite the stunning failure 00:16:21.309 --> 00:16:24.370 of the Battle of the Crater, a massive mine explosion 00:16:24.370 --> 00:16:26.730 that became a bloodbath due to poor leadership, 00:16:27.029 --> 00:16:31.230 the slow grinding siege worked. By March 1865, 00:16:31.490 --> 00:16:33.750 the Confederate logistical system had entirely 00:16:33.750 --> 00:16:36.870 collapsed. Lee was trapped, his army starving 00:16:36.870 --> 00:16:39.450 and deserting by the thousands. The end came 00:16:39.450 --> 00:16:41.970 swiftly. Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond 00:16:41.970 --> 00:16:45.200 on April 2nd. Grant pursued, and on April 9, 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:48.039 1865, they met at Appomattox Courthouse. And 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:50.159 Grant's behavior here defined the post -war terms. 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:52.639 He was compassionate and generous. He offered 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:54.299 terms that were essentially a national healing 00:16:54.299 --> 00:16:56.639 mechanism. Confederate soldiers and officers 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:59.000 were paroled immediately, allowed to return home, 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:02.159 not to be disturbed by U .S. authority. And they 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:03.860 were allowed to keep their personal property, 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:06.720 crucially their horses, because they will need 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:09.490 them for spring plowing. Grant ordered his victorious 00:17:09.490 --> 00:17:12.269 troops to stop all celebration, saying simply, 00:17:12.390 --> 00:17:15.329 the war is over, the rebels are our countrymen 00:17:15.329 --> 00:17:18.289 again. That generosity was critical. It set the 00:17:18.289 --> 00:17:20.589 precedent that Civil War leaders would not be 00:17:20.589 --> 00:17:23.769 prosecuted for treason, a precedent Grant insisted 00:17:23.769 --> 00:17:26.390 upon when Andrew Johnson later attempted to try 00:17:26.390 --> 00:17:29.509 Lee. And just five days later, the tragedy of 00:17:29.509 --> 00:17:32.430 Lincoln's assassination. Grant and Julia had 00:17:32.430 --> 00:17:35.069 declined the invitation to Ford's theater. which 00:17:35.069 --> 00:17:37.490 spared Grant, who's almost certainly a target 00:17:37.490 --> 00:17:39.930 in the conspiracy. Grant was genuinely grief 00:17:39.930 --> 00:17:42.690 -stricken, later describing Lincoln as the greatest 00:17:42.690 --> 00:17:45.190 man I have ever known. The transition to peace 00:17:45.190 --> 00:17:47.789 was instantly thrown into turmoil. The shift 00:17:47.789 --> 00:17:49.990 from general to president really began with his 00:17:49.990 --> 00:17:53.089 complicated break from Andrew Johnson. As commanding 00:17:53.089 --> 00:17:55.829 general, Grant adamantly upheld the Appomattox 00:17:55.829 --> 00:17:58.569 amnesty, opposing Johnson's immediate punitive 00:17:58.569 --> 00:18:01.190 demands to prosecute Lee. Initially, Grant tried 00:18:01.190 --> 00:18:03.410 to work with Johnson, but Johnson's extremely 00:18:03.410 --> 00:18:06.130 lenient reconstruction policies, which allowed 00:18:06.130 --> 00:18:08.069 former Confederates to quickly regain power, 00:18:08.329 --> 00:18:11.869 just appalled Grant. He privately called Johnson's 00:18:11.869 --> 00:18:14.869 public speeches a national disgrace. The relationship 00:18:14.869 --> 00:18:17.230 broke entirely over the dismissal of Secretary 00:18:17.230 --> 00:18:21.250 of War Edwin Stanton. Johnson tried to fire Stanton. 00:18:21.690 --> 00:18:23.829 violating the recently passed Tenure of Office 00:18:23.829 --> 00:18:25.829 Act. And for our listener, the Tenure of Office 00:18:25.829 --> 00:18:28.430 Act was a check on presidential power. It required 00:18:28.430 --> 00:18:30.390 the Senate's approval before the president could 00:18:30.390 --> 00:18:33.589 remove cabinet members. Johnson just defied it. 00:18:33.829 --> 00:18:36.069 Grant briefly served as interim secretary of 00:18:36.069 --> 00:18:39.289 war, but he resigned to avoid fines and a political 00:18:39.289 --> 00:18:42.329 clash with Congress. Johnson subsequently accused 00:18:42.329 --> 00:18:44.930 Grant of lying and duplicity about his intentions, 00:18:45.190 --> 00:18:48.049 which cemented a massive public break. And that 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:50.329 public feud made Grant a hero to the radical 00:18:50.329 --> 00:18:52.509 Republicans in Congress who were pushing for 00:18:52.509 --> 00:18:54.630 stronger protections for freedmen in the South. 00:18:54.829 --> 00:18:57.829 His nomination for president in 1868 was almost 00:18:57.829 --> 00:19:00.710 inevitable. He accepted the nomination, believing 00:19:00.710 --> 00:19:02.890 he was the only one who could unify the fractured 00:19:02.890 --> 00:19:05.960 nation. And he campaigned on that simple, powerful 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:09.559 slogan, let us have peace. He won the election, 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:11.859 but the analysis of the vote is fascinating. 00:19:12.180 --> 00:19:15.160 He actually received a minority of the white 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:18.339 vote. Right. His victory was entirely dependent 00:19:18.339 --> 00:19:21.920 on the nearly 500 ,000 votes cast by newly enfranchised 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:24.279 African -Americans in the South. And despite 00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:26.960 the success, he lost Louisiana and Georgia due 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:29.180 to widespread voter suppression and violence 00:19:29.180 --> 00:19:32.140 from groups like the Ku Klux Klan. which absolutely 00:19:32.140 --> 00:19:34.359 galvanized his commitment to enforcement. So 00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:37.160 Grant was sworn in in 1869, and we have to analyze 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:39.400 him first and foremost as a highly effective 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:42.180 civil rights executive whose actions were, I 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:44.410 mean... Nothing short of radical for the time. 00:19:44.549 --> 00:19:47.029 They truly were. He understood the debt owed 00:19:47.029 --> 00:19:49.490 to black voters. He strongly supported and signed 00:19:49.490 --> 00:19:52.069 the 15th Amendment, prohibiting states from denying 00:19:52.069 --> 00:19:54.529 the right to vote based on race. And under his 00:19:54.529 --> 00:19:57.170 watch, the last three Confederate states, Mississippi, 00:19:57.390 --> 00:20:00.250 Virginia and Texas, ratified it and were readmitted 00:20:00.250 --> 00:20:02.329 to Congress, completing the formal restoration 00:20:02.329 --> 00:20:04.920 of the union. But beyond the 15th Amendment, 00:20:05.180 --> 00:20:08.140 his most significant and often overlooked structural 00:20:08.140 --> 00:20:10.720 move was the creation of the Justice Department 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:14.359 in 1870. This was a revolutionary move. Until 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:16.920 then, federal law enforcement was just haphazard. 00:20:17.059 --> 00:20:19.839 Grant created a dedicated centralized department, 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:22.680 empowering the attorney general to prosecute 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:25.279 enemies of Reconstruction and enforce federal 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:28.359 laws robustly across the states. And he immediately 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:30.680 gave the Justice Department the tools they needed. 00:20:31.019 --> 00:20:33.839 Three enforcement acts passed between 1870 and 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:37.339 1871, often called the Ku Klux Klan acts. These 00:20:37.339 --> 00:20:39.700 acts targeted those who tried to deprive citizens 00:20:39.700 --> 00:20:41.880 of their rights or conspired to overthrow state 00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:45.039 governments. And Grant used these laws with unprecedented 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:48.890 force. By October 1871, he declared the situation 00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:51.410 in parts of South Carolina to be in a state of 00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:54.130 insurrection, suspended habeas corpus, and sent 00:20:54.130 --> 00:20:56.289 federal troops to aid U .S. marshals and prosecutors. 00:20:56.670 --> 00:20:59.630 His Attorney General Amos T. Ackerman and Solicitor 00:20:59.630 --> 00:21:02.789 General Benjamin Bristow arrested and prosecuted 00:21:02.789 --> 00:21:05.329 thousands of Klansmen. The federal court system 00:21:05.329 --> 00:21:07.950 convicted hundreds, forcing many Klansmen to 00:21:07.950 --> 00:21:10.670 flee the state entirely. This aggressive, muscular 00:21:10.670 --> 00:21:13.710 use of federal power effectively crushed the 00:21:13.710 --> 00:21:17.220 Klan. by 1872. It's a monumental achievement 00:21:17.220 --> 00:21:21.339 that has been just sidelined by history. Grant 00:21:21.339 --> 00:21:23.539 used the power of the federal government to suppress 00:21:23.539 --> 00:21:25.900 domestic terrorism and secure the rights of his 00:21:25.900 --> 00:21:28.680 citizens, allowing African Americans to vote 00:21:28.680 --> 00:21:32.259 in record numbers in 1872. It was a victory for 00:21:32.259 --> 00:21:34.160 civil rights that the nation would not see again 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:36.809 for nearly a century. And this political courage 00:21:36.809 --> 00:21:39.410 was immediately contrasted by major financial 00:21:39.410 --> 00:21:42.089 challenges, starting just six months into his 00:21:42.089 --> 00:21:44.430 presidency with the Gold Corner Conspiracy of 00:21:44.430 --> 00:21:47.869 1869. This was a sophisticated manipulation of 00:21:47.869 --> 00:21:50.230 the gold market orchestrated by the infamous 00:21:50.230 --> 00:21:53.509 railroad tycoons Jay Gold and Jim Fisk. They 00:21:53.509 --> 00:21:55.490 wanted to drive up the price of gold dramatically, 00:21:55.769 --> 00:21:57.789 which would in turn drive up the price of agricultural 00:21:57.789 --> 00:22:00.690 exports, benefiting their Erie Railroad. And 00:22:00.690 --> 00:22:03.029 to make the scheme work. They needed Grant to 00:22:03.029 --> 00:22:05.029 promise that the Treasury Department would not 00:22:05.029 --> 00:22:07.690 sell off its massive gold reserves, thereby limiting 00:22:07.690 --> 00:22:10.470 the supply. They exploited Grant's lack of financial 00:22:10.470 --> 00:22:13.069 understanding and his trusting nation, building 00:22:13.069 --> 00:22:15.089 a close relationship with his wife's brother 00:22:15.089 --> 00:22:17.589 -in -law, Abel Corbin, who acted as a direct 00:22:17.589 --> 00:22:20.269 insider. And they succeeded in driving the price 00:22:20.269 --> 00:22:23.910 of gold to astronomical levels. On Friday, September 00:22:23.910 --> 00:22:27.200 24. known as Black Friday, the market was in 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:30.180 a total panic. When the price hit 143 and 18, 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:33.400 Treasury Secretary George Boutwell, acting on 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:36.319 Grant's direct order. Grant finally realized 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:38.720 the full threat flooded the market by selling 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:41.259 four million dollars of government gold. And 00:22:41.259 --> 00:22:43.579 the bull market instantly collapsed. The price 00:22:43.579 --> 00:22:47.119 plummeted from 160 to 133 in 13 minutes, wiping 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:49.460 out countless small investors and triggering 00:22:49.460 --> 00:22:52.079 a bear market panic that caused economic damage 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:54.019 for months. Grant stopped the scheme and later 00:22:54.019 --> 00:22:56.420 survived a congressional investigation that cleared 00:22:56.420 --> 00:22:59.220 him of any wrongdoing, confirming he was a target 00:22:59.220 --> 00:23:01.180 of exploitation. But the scandal established 00:23:01.180 --> 00:23:03.240 this narrative that he was easily influenced 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:10.230 and surrounded by. And the economic turmoil didn't 00:23:10.230 --> 00:23:13.460 end there. In his second term, the Panic of 1873 00:23:13.460 --> 00:23:15.799 was triggered by the collapse of the major investment 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:18.619 bank J. Cook & Company, ushering in the Long 00:23:18.619 --> 00:23:21.420 Depression. This forced Grant to make a defining, 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:24.480 yet politically risky decision regarding currency. 00:23:24.700 --> 00:23:27.200 To understand this, we need to clarify a fundamental 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:30.400 economic concept for our listener. The gold standard 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:33.660 versus greenbacks. Right. The country had two 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:36.480 types of money. The gold standard meant currency 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:39.440 was backed by physical gold. providing stability 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:42.460 and national credit. Greenbacks were paper currency 00:23:42.460 --> 00:23:45.640 issued during the Civil War, not backed by gold, 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:48.559 and thus inherently inflationary. So when the 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:50.740 Depression hit, many Western and Southern farmers, 00:23:50.920 --> 00:23:53.039 debtors, and Republicans who wanted to stimulate 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.279 the economy favored inflation, meaning they wanted 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:57.940 more greenbacks printed. This led Congress to 00:23:57.940 --> 00:24:00.839 pass the Inflationary Ferry Bill in 1874, which 00:24:00.839 --> 00:24:03.240 would have added $64 million in greenbacks to 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:06.430 circulation. Grant, advised by conservative bankers 00:24:06.430 --> 00:24:08.829 and reformers, believed this inflationary policy 00:24:08.829 --> 00:24:11.170 would destroy the financial credit of the nation. 00:24:11.529 --> 00:24:14.349 Despite immense political pressure from his own 00:24:14.349 --> 00:24:17.549 party and the risk of losing the 1874 midterm 00:24:17.549 --> 00:24:20.569 elections, he vetoed the bill. It was a massive 00:24:20.569 --> 00:24:23.819 statement of fiscal responsibility. It solidified 00:24:23.819 --> 00:24:25.480 the Republican Party's commitment to the gold 00:24:25.480 --> 00:24:28.200 standard, ensuring long -term national credit 00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:30.740 stability at the cost of immediate economic stimulus. 00:24:31.099 --> 00:24:33.740 And it showed Grant acting decisively against 00:24:33.740 --> 00:24:36.559 his own political self -interest. He later followed 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:38.900 this up by signing the Specie Payment Resumption 00:24:38.900 --> 00:24:42.460 Act in 1875, ensuring the eventual return to 00:24:42.460 --> 00:24:45.039 full gold -backed currency. So now we have to 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.920 confront the duality of his presidency. The towering 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:49.940 success in civil rights and financial stability 00:24:49.940 --> 00:24:52.390 is constantly overshadowed by the administrative 00:24:52.390 --> 00:24:54.890 turmoil and corruption that plagued his administration. 00:24:55.230 --> 00:24:57.509 We have to start by acknowledging Grant's fundamental 00:24:57.509 --> 00:25:00.670 personal integrity. Everyone, even his critics, 00:25:00.829 --> 00:25:03.230 described him as personally honest. But he was 00:25:03.230 --> 00:25:07.029 also deeply trusting, maybe naive, and often 00:25:07.029 --> 00:25:10.650 displayed a crippling, excessive loyalty to old 00:25:10.650 --> 00:25:13.309 friends and military subordinates who proved 00:25:13.309 --> 00:25:16.700 to be deeply corrupt. Post -Civil War, America 00:25:16.700 --> 00:25:19.079 was an age of massive speculation and corruption, 00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:22.039 and nearly all of Grant's departments faced congressional 00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:24.920 investigation. Yet, alongside the corruption, 00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:27.740 we see Grant implementing structural reforms 00:25:27.740 --> 00:25:30.380 that were decades ahead of their time. Exactly. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:32.619 He created the first civil service commission 00:25:32.619 --> 00:25:36.099 in 1871, establishing competitive exams and merit 00:25:36.099 --> 00:25:38.640 based classification for positions. He advanced 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:41.240 civil service reform more than any prior president. 00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:44.079 He also appointed proven reformers, notably Jacob 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:46.839 D. Cox and later Zachariah Chandler in the Interior 00:25:46.839 --> 00:25:49.839 Department, who ruthlessly fired corrupt agents. 00:25:50.059 --> 00:25:52.480 But his biggest anti -corruption success came 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.539 through his appointment of Benjamin Bristow as 00:25:54.539 --> 00:25:57.539 Treasury Secretary. Bristow immediately launched 00:25:57.539 --> 00:25:59.980 an intense investigation that uncovered the notorious 00:25:59.980 --> 00:26:02.400 whiskey ring, which was a massive collusion scheme 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:04.779 between distillers and Treasury officials. And 00:26:04.779 --> 00:26:06.619 to explain this clearly for the listener, this 00:26:06.619 --> 00:26:09.640 wasn't simple graft. The Whiskey Ring was a complex 00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:12.099 network operating mainly in St. Louis, Milwaukee 00:26:12.099 --> 00:26:15.720 and Chicago, where distillers intentionally evaded 00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:18.799 the federal excise tax on liquor. They paid kickbacks 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:21.480 to the Treasury officials who were supposed to 00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:24.359 be monitoring their output, allowing them to 00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:26.779 pocket millions of dollars that should have gone 00:26:26.779 --> 00:26:29.650 to the federal government. Bristow struck hard 00:26:29.650 --> 00:26:32.509 and broke the ring, leading to 110 convictions 00:26:32.509 --> 00:26:35.490 and the recovery of millions in unpaid taxes, 00:26:35.730 --> 00:26:39.390 a massive win for integrity. But it led directly 00:26:39.390 --> 00:26:42.529 to the worst scandal for Grant personally. Because 00:26:42.529 --> 00:26:44.950 Bristow's investigation discovered that Grant's 00:26:44.950 --> 00:26:48.049 private secretary, Orville Babcock, a man Grant 00:26:48.049 --> 00:26:50.509 deeply trusted and who had served him faithfully 00:26:50.509 --> 00:26:52.890 during the war, had received kickback payments. 00:26:53.150 --> 00:26:55.069 He even tipped off the ringleaders about the 00:26:55.069 --> 00:26:57.269 investigation. This created an extraordinary 00:26:57.269 --> 00:27:00.029 loyalty dilemma. Grant famously wrote to his 00:27:00.029 --> 00:27:01.730 attorney general regarding the investigation, 00:27:02.190 --> 00:27:05.410 let no guilty man escape. However, when Babcock 00:27:05.410 --> 00:27:07.750 was indicted, Grant's loyalty proved stronger 00:27:07.750 --> 00:27:10.670 than his judgment. He gave a deposition in defense 00:27:10.670 --> 00:27:13.430 of Babcock's character, declaring his confidence 00:27:13.430 --> 00:27:16.390 in his secretary was unshaken. Babcock was ultimately 00:27:16.390 --> 00:27:18.569 acquitted by the St. Louis jury, but Grant's 00:27:18.569 --> 00:27:20.829 public defense severely eroded his credibility 00:27:20.829 --> 00:27:23.049 on the corruption issue, allowing his critics 00:27:23.049 --> 00:27:25.509 to claim he was protecting guilty men. And though 00:27:25.509 --> 00:27:28.390 Grant eventually dismissed Babcock after he was 00:27:28.390 --> 00:27:31.049 implicated in a separate conspiracy, the damage 00:27:31.049 --> 00:27:33.130 was done. And the list of scandals just continued. 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:36.680 Secretary of War William W. Belknap was impeached 00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:40.140 in 1876 for taking quarterly kickbacks from traderships 00:27:40.140 --> 00:27:43.339 at Indian posts. Even Grant's own brother, Orville, 00:27:43.460 --> 00:27:45.740 was involved in trading post corruption. The 00:27:45.740 --> 00:27:48.380 cumulative effect just defined his image. In 00:27:48.380 --> 00:27:51.700 his 1876 annual message to Congress, Grant offered 00:27:51.700 --> 00:27:54.099 this heartfelt apology to the nation, recognizing 00:27:54.099 --> 00:27:57.019 his failures of trust, stating, Failures have 00:27:57.019 --> 00:27:59.859 been errors of judgment, not of intent. Shifting 00:27:59.859 --> 00:28:02.220 focus, we have to examine foreign policy, where 00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:05.099 Grant, despite his limited experience, managed 00:28:05.099 --> 00:28:07.440 one of the most significant diplomatic successes 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:10.220 of the 19th century under the guidance of his 00:28:10.220 --> 00:28:12.799 extremely capable secretary of state, Hamilton 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:15.309 Fish. That success was the Treaty of Washington 00:28:15.309 --> 00:28:18.829 in 1871, which settled the Alabama claims against 00:28:18.829 --> 00:28:21.490 Great Britain. To put this into context, during 00:28:21.490 --> 00:28:24.549 the Civil War, Britain, despite official neutrality, 00:28:24.730 --> 00:28:27.529 allowed Confederate warships like the CSS Alabama 00:28:27.529 --> 00:28:30.890 to be built in their shipyards. These ships severely 00:28:30.890 --> 00:28:33.910 damaged the Union merchant fleet. After the war, 00:28:34.089 --> 00:28:36.569 the U .S. sought reparations for this clear failure 00:28:36.569 --> 00:28:38.990 of British neutrality. The diplomatic tension 00:28:38.990 --> 00:28:42.250 was extremely high. Grant and Fish agreed to 00:28:42.250 --> 00:28:45.369 an unprecedented move, arbitration by an international 00:28:45.369 --> 00:28:48.349 tribunal in Geneva. This decision secured peace 00:28:48.349 --> 00:28:50.670 with Great Britain, avoided potential warfare, 00:28:50.910 --> 00:28:54.289 and resulted in a successful $15 .5 million settlement 00:28:54.289 --> 00:28:56.750 for the U .S. It established a mechanism for 00:28:56.750 --> 00:28:59.269 peaceful international dispute resolution and 00:28:59.269 --> 00:29:01.490 turned Britain into America's closest international 00:29:01.490 --> 00:29:05.190 ally for the next century. A huge win. A huge 00:29:05.190 --> 00:29:08.329 win. Yet this triumph was balanced by a major 00:29:08.329 --> 00:29:11.599 diplomatic failure. The proposed annexation of 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:14.200 Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. Grant, 00:29:14.299 --> 00:29:16.700 driven by this expansionist impulse and a desire 00:29:16.700 --> 00:29:19.140 to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, saw the annexation 00:29:19.140 --> 00:29:22.079 as a strategic necessity. He also framed it as 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:24.579 a humanitarian effort, arguing that acquiring 00:29:24.579 --> 00:29:26.859 the island would provide a safe haven for black 00:29:26.859 --> 00:29:29.180 people fleeing the terror of the Klan and white 00:29:29.180 --> 00:29:31.799 supremacist groups in the South. He called it 00:29:31.799 --> 00:29:35.640 an answer to the crime of Ku Kluxism. But he 00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:38.059 was so zealous that he circumvented standard 00:29:38.059 --> 00:29:40.980 diplomatic channels and sent his military aide, 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:44.259 Orville Babcock, to secure unauthorized annexation 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:47.339 treaties. He then used intense pressure to force 00:29:47.339 --> 00:29:49.920 his cabinet to accept them. However, the plan 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:52.079 was fiercely opposed by the powerful chairman 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:54.480 of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Charles 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:57.279 Sumner. A renowned abolitionist and radical Republican, 00:29:57.720 --> 00:30:00.200 Sumner opposed it on anti -imperialist grounds, 00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:02.640 fearing the U .S. was imposing its will on a 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:04.740 weak nation. The Senate defeated the treaties. 00:30:05.230 --> 00:30:08.369 Grant, outraged by Sumner's opposition, retaliated 00:30:08.369 --> 00:30:10.730 by maneuvering to strip Sumner of his powerful 00:30:10.730 --> 00:30:13.349 Senate chairmanship. This became a major political 00:30:13.349 --> 00:30:16.329 feud that destabilized Grant's relationship with 00:30:16.329 --> 00:30:18.950 the radical Republicans in Congress who had been 00:30:18.950 --> 00:30:21.730 his strongest allies on Reconstruction. We should 00:30:21.730 --> 00:30:24.529 also briefly mention the 1871 Korean Expedition, 00:30:24.589 --> 00:30:27.349 which was sent to open trade and resulted in 00:30:27.349 --> 00:30:29.680 the Battle of Ganghwa. militarily successful, 00:30:30.019 --> 00:30:32.440 but it ultimately failed to achieve its diplomatic 00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:34.859 goal of opening trade, adding a little footnote 00:30:34.859 --> 00:30:37.319 to his expansionist foreign policy. And finally, 00:30:37.380 --> 00:30:39.940 let's look at his federal Indian policy, often 00:30:39.940 --> 00:30:42.539 known as the peace policy. Grant's stated goal 00:30:42.539 --> 00:30:45.339 was fundamentally assimilationist. He sought 00:30:45.339 --> 00:30:47.779 to move Native Americans from tribal sovereignty 00:30:47.779 --> 00:30:50.480 to becoming individual citizens, encouraging 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:52.960 them to adopt European customs and language. 00:30:53.180 --> 00:30:55.880 He demonstrated good faith by appointing Elias 00:30:55.880 --> 00:30:58.539 Parker. and assimilated Seneca, who had served 00:30:58.539 --> 00:31:01.579 on his wartime staff, as the first Native American 00:31:01.579 --> 00:31:04.339 commissioner of Indian affairs. To tackle the 00:31:04.339 --> 00:31:06.839 rampant corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 00:31:07.160 --> 00:31:09.720 the very corruption that entangled Belknap and 00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:12.119 his own brother Grant established the Unpaid 00:31:12.119 --> 00:31:15.319 Board of Indian Commissioners. This board aimed 00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:17.980 to replace profit -driven entrepreneurs with 00:31:17.980 --> 00:31:20.539 missionaries from various religious denominations. 00:31:20.740 --> 00:31:23.420 But the policy was just riddled with contradictions 00:31:23.420 --> 00:31:26.930 that doomed it. The 1871 Indian Appropriations 00:31:26.930 --> 00:31:29.529 Act ended the sovereign tribal treaty system, 00:31:29.690 --> 00:31:32.509 effectively making Native Americans wards of 00:31:32.509 --> 00:31:34.869 the federal government, not nations. And the 00:31:34.869 --> 00:31:37.690 contradiction became violently clear when gold 00:31:37.690 --> 00:31:40.369 was discovered in the Black Hills, sacred territory 00:31:40.369 --> 00:31:43.309 protected by treaty for the Sioux. White settlers 00:31:43.309 --> 00:31:46.630 trespassed immediately. Grant, bowing to political 00:31:46.630 --> 00:31:48.670 pressure and the demands of the economic depression, 00:31:48.950 --> 00:31:51.750 decided not to enforce the exclusion of minors, 00:31:51.829 --> 00:31:54.049 essentially forcing Native Americans onto smaller 00:31:54.049 --> 00:31:56.809 reservations. This betrayal directly contributed 00:31:56.809 --> 00:31:59.269 to the Great Sioux War, culminating tragically 00:31:59.269 --> 00:32:02.009 in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. 00:32:02.470 --> 00:32:04.930 Grant openly castigated Custer in the press, 00:32:05.130 --> 00:32:07.630 blaming the massacre on Custer's recklessness. 00:32:07.990 --> 00:32:11.230 But despite over 200 battles fought during his 00:32:11.230 --> 00:32:14.509 presidency, the policy survived, ensuring Indian 00:32:14.509 --> 00:32:16.450 policy remained under the Interior Department 00:32:16.450 --> 00:32:19.009 rather than the War Department after he left 00:32:19.009 --> 00:32:22.059 office. The accumulated effect of the scandals, 00:32:22.059 --> 00:32:25.319 the depression, and just the exhaustion of Northern 00:32:25.319 --> 00:32:28.259 political will led to a massive shift. The Democrats 00:32:28.259 --> 00:32:31.180 took control of the House in 1874, stripping 00:32:31.180 --> 00:32:33.920 Grant of his ability to fund and support Reconstruction 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:36.640 efforts. This is where we see the final tragic 00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:40.160 failure of Reconstruction. In the South, Redeemer 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:43.079 Democrats. These white supremacist groups formed 00:32:43.079 --> 00:32:45.539 armed organizations like the Red Shirts and the 00:32:45.539 --> 00:32:48.039 White League, using open violence and voter fraud 00:32:48.039 --> 00:32:50.759 to reclaim power. Grant later regretted not issuing 00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:52.920 a proclamation to help Republican governors maintain 00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:55.259 order in states like Mississippi when the violence 00:32:55.259 --> 00:32:57.519 escalated, admitting the political support in 00:32:57.519 --> 00:32:59.460 the North had just evaporated. He had crushed 00:32:59.460 --> 00:33:02.200 the Klan once, but the political will to sustain 00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:04.740 that enforcement was gone. And when Grant left 00:33:04.740 --> 00:33:08.019 office in 1877, his final act concerning the 00:33:08.019 --> 00:33:10.960 South was heartbreaking. To resolve the disputed 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:14.180 1876 presidential election between Republican 00:33:14.180 --> 00:33:16.880 Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden, 00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:19.539 Grant facilitated the peaceful compromise of 00:33:19.539 --> 00:33:22.500 1877. In short, the Republicans got the White 00:33:22.500 --> 00:33:24.740 House, but in exchange, the federal government 00:33:24.740 --> 00:33:26.980 agreed to immediately end the enforcement of 00:33:26.980 --> 00:33:29.579 racial equality and remove the last federal troops 00:33:29.579 --> 00:33:32.799 from the South. It was the final nail in Reconstruction's 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:35.880 coffin. ushering in 80 years of institutionalized 00:33:35.880 --> 00:33:39.039 Jim Crow segregation, completely reversing Grant's 00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:41.000 greatest achievement. So Grant leaves office 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:44.359 in 1877, famously proclaiming he was never so 00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:46.380 happy in my life. Despite having no permanent 00:33:46.380 --> 00:33:49.279 home, he was not idle. He immediately embarked 00:33:49.279 --> 00:33:51.240 on this unprecedented two and a half year global 00:33:51.240 --> 00:33:54.559 tour. This journey, initially funded by liquidating 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:57.099 a mining investment, made him the first president 00:33:57.099 --> 00:33:59.740 to circumnavigate the world. It was a massive, 00:33:59.799 --> 00:34:01.779 unofficial diplomatic mission. It was basically 00:34:01.779 --> 00:34:03.779 an attempt to introduce the United States as 00:34:03.779 --> 00:34:07.000 a major global power. Absolutely. He met with 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:11.519 Queen Victoria, Tsar Alexander II, Otto von Bismarck, 00:34:11.539 --> 00:34:14.780 Emperor Meiji. His reception was generally overwhelming, 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:17.659 demonstrating a global respect for the man who 00:34:17.659 --> 00:34:19.900 won the Civil War. When he finally returned to 00:34:19.900 --> 00:34:22.619 San Francisco, he was greeted by ecstatic, cheering 00:34:22.619 --> 00:34:25.429 crowds. And his popularity spurred the third 00:34:25.429 --> 00:34:28.510 term attempt in 1880 as the stalwart faction 00:34:28.510 --> 00:34:31.269 of the Republican Party rallied around him, arguing 00:34:31.269 --> 00:34:33.750 for a non -consecutive return to the White House. 00:34:33.929 --> 00:34:36.590 At the convention, he had more delegates pledged 00:34:36.590 --> 00:34:39.309 to him than any other candidate. His old ally, 00:34:39.530 --> 00:34:41.849 Roscoe Conkling, delivered this electrifying 00:34:41.849 --> 00:34:43.949 nomination speech, declaring that when asked 00:34:43.949 --> 00:34:46.570 which state Grant hails from, our sole reply 00:34:46.570 --> 00:34:49.349 shall be, he hails from Appomattox and its famous 00:34:49.349 --> 00:34:53.000 apple tree. But the party was fractured. After 00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:55.579 36 ballots, Grant remained short of a majority, 00:34:55.699 --> 00:34:57.920 and the nomination eventually went to the compromise 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:00.539 candidate, James A. Garfield. And that ended 00:35:00.539 --> 00:35:03.360 Grant's political life for good. After his political 00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:06.179 ambitions ended, he faced utter financial ruin, 00:35:06.340 --> 00:35:08.760 demonstrating yet again the stunning complexity 00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:11.119 of his life. Yeah, it's important context that 00:35:11.119 --> 00:35:13.360 in the 19th century, there were no federal presidential 00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:16.889 pensions. Grant's income was limited. So he invested 00:35:16.889 --> 00:35:19.349 heavily in a Wall Street brokerage house, Grant 00:35:19.349 --> 00:35:22.789 and Ward, run by his son Buck, and a brilliant 00:35:22.789 --> 00:35:25.610 but utterly conniving man named Ferdinand Ward. 00:35:25.869 --> 00:35:28.349 Ward was a financial criminal running a sophisticated 00:35:28.349 --> 00:35:31.769 Ponzi scheme. He was rehypothecating the company's 00:35:31.769 --> 00:35:34.010 securities, essentially using the same assets 00:35:34.010 --> 00:35:36.469 as collateral for multiple fraudulent loans. 00:35:36.730 --> 00:35:39.170 And Grant, who Ferdinand Ward himself later called 00:35:39.170 --> 00:35:42.329 a child in business matters, invested $100 ,000 00:35:42.329 --> 00:35:44.659 of his own money. When the firm collapsed in 00:35:44.659 --> 00:35:48.059 May 1884, it triggered a market crash, the Panic 00:35:48.059 --> 00:35:50.679 of 1884. Grant was left completely destitute. 00:35:51.139 --> 00:35:53.380 Wealthy businessman William Henry Vanderbilt, 00:35:53.460 --> 00:35:55.579 recognizing Grant's service, offered to forgive 00:35:55.579 --> 00:35:58.960 his $150 ,000 personal loan. But Grant, driven 00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:01.179 by that profound personal honor that defined 00:36:01.179 --> 00:36:04.760 him, refused. He insisted on honoring his debts. 00:36:05.179 --> 00:36:07.820 To try and repay what he could, he sold off everything 00:36:07.820 --> 00:36:10.800 he owned, including his cherished Civil War mementos. 00:36:10.900 --> 00:36:13.920 The national sympathy was overwhelming. Here's 00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:15.860 the man who saved the union, brought down by 00:36:15.860 --> 00:36:18.739 a croak he foolishly trusted, refusing charity 00:36:18.739 --> 00:36:21.780 out of sheer principle. Facing destitution and 00:36:21.780 --> 00:36:24.119 then diagnosed with throat cancer likely caused 00:36:24.119 --> 00:36:27.699 by his relentless cigar smoking, Grant began 00:36:27.699 --> 00:36:30.619 a frantic race against time, writing his personal 00:36:30.619 --> 00:36:32.840 memoirs to secure his wife Julia's financial 00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:35.500 future. Congress, in a rare show of bipartisan 00:36:35.500 --> 00:36:37.860 support, restored him to the rank of general 00:36:37.860 --> 00:36:40.019 of the army with full retirement pay. But the 00:36:40.019 --> 00:36:42.139 crucial intervention came from his friend, the 00:36:42.139 --> 00:36:45.199 author Mark Twain. Twain recognized the unfairness 00:36:45.199 --> 00:36:47.519 of Grant's previous publishing offers and offered 00:36:47.519 --> 00:36:50.599 him an unprecedented contract, a staggering 70 00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:53.139 percent royalty. far superior to the industry 00:36:53.139 --> 00:36:56.079 standard 10%. So Grant wrote intensely, often 00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:58.300 in terrible pain, completing the memoir just 00:36:58.300 --> 00:37:01.239 four days before his death on July 23, 1885. 00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:03.340 The book was a phenomenal commercial and critical 00:37:03.340 --> 00:37:06.840 success, earning Julia about $450 ,000 in royalties, 00:37:06.920 --> 00:37:08.639 which is the equivalent of approximately $15 00:37:08.639 --> 00:37:12.059 .7 million today, securing her future just as 00:37:12.059 --> 00:37:14.170 he intended. And the memoirs are regarded as 00:37:14.170 --> 00:37:16.849 a literary masterpiece, not just for their military 00:37:16.849 --> 00:37:19.190 insights, but for their honest, concise, and 00:37:19.190 --> 00:37:21.969 compelling prose, cementing his image as this 00:37:21.969 --> 00:37:25.369 honorable, reserved Western hero. At his death, 00:37:25.389 --> 00:37:27.989 the national outpouring was tremendous. He was 00:37:27.989 --> 00:37:31.750 memorialized as a powerful symbol of unity. Tens 00:37:31.750 --> 00:37:34.190 of thousands marched in his funeral procession, 00:37:34.190 --> 00:37:36.590 and his pallbearers included both Union commanders 00:37:36.590 --> 00:37:39.030 like Sherman and Sheridan and former Confederate 00:37:39.030 --> 00:37:41.690 leaders like Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph 00:37:41.690 --> 00:37:44.639 E. Johnston. But that unity did not last. His 00:37:44.639 --> 00:37:46.980 reputation began to decline rapidly after his 00:37:46.980 --> 00:37:49.800 death, damaged heavily by the pervasive Lost 00:37:49.800 --> 00:37:52.960 Cause movement, which sought to mythologize Lee 00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:55.579 and the Confederacy. Crucially, his historical 00:37:55.579 --> 00:37:58.500 standing was decimated by the early 20th century 00:37:58.500 --> 00:38:01.329 historians known as the Dunning School. And for 00:38:01.329 --> 00:38:03.269 our listener, the Dunning School were academics 00:38:03.269 --> 00:38:06.030 who largely believed that Reconstruction was 00:38:06.030 --> 00:38:08.429 a failure precisely because it empowered African 00:38:08.429 --> 00:38:10.869 -Americans. And they exaggerated the scandals 00:38:10.869 --> 00:38:12.730 of Grant's administration to condemn him for 00:38:12.730 --> 00:38:15.230 his robust enforcement of civil rights. So Grant 00:38:15.230 --> 00:38:17.769 was marginalized for a century, viewed as an 00:38:17.769 --> 00:38:20.150 unsuccessful president and an unskilled general 00:38:20.150 --> 00:38:23.289 who simply relied on overwhelming force. The 00:38:23.289 --> 00:38:25.730 scandals completely overshadowed the radical 00:38:25.730 --> 00:38:27.769 political courage he showed against the Klan. 00:38:28.110 --> 00:38:31.070 But the 21st century has brought a dramatic necessary 00:38:31.070 --> 00:38:35.090 recovery. Modern scholarship has forcefully rehabilitated 00:38:35.090 --> 00:38:37.570 his image, emphasizing his personal integrity, 00:38:37.869 --> 00:38:40.309 his skill as a modern strategist who pioneered 00:38:40.309 --> 00:38:43.070 total warfare, and above all, his principled, 00:38:43.070 --> 00:38:45.590 forceful defense of African -American civil rights 00:38:45.590 --> 00:38:48.050 during Reconstruction. And the concrete proof 00:38:48.050 --> 00:38:50.690 is in the rankings. The C -SPAN survey ranking 00:38:50.690 --> 00:38:53.090 president saw Grant jump from 33rd all the way 00:38:53.090 --> 00:38:56.050 to 20th, indicating his recovered status as an 00:38:56.050 --> 00:38:58.230 effective, morally driven... leader who is now 00:38:58.230 --> 00:39:00.309 finally receiving credit for his use of federal 00:39:00.309 --> 00:39:02.610 power to fight voter suppression and for his 00:39:02.610 --> 00:39:05.170 diplomatic successes. So there you have it, Ulysses 00:39:05.170 --> 00:39:08.050 S. Grant, the quiet, sometimes failed civilian 00:39:08.050 --> 00:39:10.610 who became the Union's decisive commander and 00:39:10.610 --> 00:39:12.809 whose greatest victory, one that we are only 00:39:12.809 --> 00:39:15.590 now truly acknowledging, was securing basic rights 00:39:15.590 --> 00:39:17.530 for newly freed Americans against overwhelming 00:39:17.530 --> 00:39:19.869 political and domestic terrorist opposition. 00:39:20.309 --> 00:39:22.630 Which brings us to a final provocative thought 00:39:22.630 --> 00:39:25.239 for you to mull over. Grant led the Union to 00:39:25.239 --> 00:39:27.880 victory by pursuing complete conquest over the 00:39:27.880 --> 00:39:30.880 Confederate armies, demanding unconditional surrender. 00:39:31.559 --> 00:39:33.840 We know that when faced with the political and 00:39:33.840 --> 00:39:36.099 social warfare of Reconstruction, he eventually 00:39:36.099 --> 00:39:38.400 deferred to the loss of Northern political will 00:39:38.400 --> 00:39:42.360 in 1877. So consider this. Had Grant been able 00:39:42.360 --> 00:39:45.019 to apply that same uncompromising, unconditional 00:39:45.019 --> 00:39:47.659 surrender resolved to the political enemies of 00:39:47.659 --> 00:39:50.500 Reconstruction, those who sought to dismantle 00:39:50.500 --> 00:39:53.480 the 15th Amendment and Institute Jim Crow, by 00:39:53.480 --> 00:39:56.059 maintaining a forceful federal presence indefinitely, 00:39:56.599 --> 00:39:59.199 even at the cost of national harmony, would the 00:39:59.199 --> 00:40:01.260 subsequent century of codified racial injustice 00:40:01.260 --> 00:40:04.199 in America have been avoided? It forces us to 00:40:04.199 --> 00:40:06.500 ask whether moral victories sometimes require 00:40:06.500 --> 00:40:09.199 political costs no democracy is willing to pay.