Very underrated president and a true American hero.
The post reconstruction southern apologists intentionally tarnished his name because they hated him so much, and those embellishments made their way into just about every American textbooks. Only now is Grant getting proper credit as the having a successful competent presidency on top of his stellar military career.
His memoirs, while always held in high esteem are also now getting more attention as his reputation has been rehabilitated. I should read them as well. Grant one of the better presidents, and a lot of what he did could be seen as an extension of what Lincoln(the greatest US president) would have done, although likely with less conviction than Lincoln.
All because people in the post reconstruction South had grievances against Grant for defeating them and then having a successful presidency, they tarnished his name.
Was there corruption in the Grant administration? Yes. It was also likely less corrupt than just about any politician from his opposition. There was no way around corruption because of the political spoils system that existed during that time.
The Democrats wanted to paint the Republicans as hopelessly corrupt and the Republican Party found itself at a crossroads, with two factions. One side wanted to focus on civil rights and the other faction wanted to respond to the corruption allegations by campaigning and focusing on ending the spoils system.
They could have done both. Yet because of the way reconstruction was framed by Democrats at the time there was no way to continue reconstruction while also tackling corruption.
This was pushed by Democrats because Southern White Democrats didn't want reconstruction.
It remains sad to me that the country abandoned Lincoln/Grants vision so quickly instead of sticking to their guns morally. One of the many ways the US government has betrayed black Americans.
Since reading Ron Chernow's seminal work on him, I've been trying to find time to read Grant's memoirs. They were the top selling presidential memoir until late in the 20th century, and absolutely brilliantly written.
Grant was long one of my favorites, but after that book, he is first and foremost the greatest president we've ever had, and one of the top five Americans our country has ever known.
Very underrated president and a true American hero.
The post reconstruction southern apologists intentionally tarnished his name because they hated him so much, and those embellishments made their way into just about every American textbooks. Only now is Grant getting proper credit as the having a successful competent presidency on top of his stellar military career.
His memoirs, while always held in high esteem are also now getting more attention as his reputation has been rehabilitated. I should read them as well. Grant one of the better presidents, and a lot of what he did could be seen as an extension of what Lincoln(the greatest US president) would have done, although likely with less conviction than Lincoln.
Agreed. Johnson was the anti-Lincoln, but Grant more or less picked up where Lincoln left off.
All because people in the post reconstruction South had grievances against Grant for defeating them and then having a successful presidency, they tarnished his name.
Was there corruption in the Grant administration? Yes. It was also likely less corrupt than just about any politician from his opposition. There was no way around corruption because of the political spoils system that existed during that time.
The Democrats wanted to paint the Republicans as hopelessly corrupt and the Republican Party found itself at a crossroads, with two factions. One side wanted to focus on civil rights and the other faction wanted to respond to the corruption allegations by campaigning and focusing on ending the spoils system.
They could have done both. Yet because of the way reconstruction was framed by Democrats at the time there was no way to continue reconstruction while also tackling corruption.
This was pushed by Democrats because Southern White Democrats didn't want reconstruction.
It remains sad to me that the country abandoned Lincoln/Grants vision so quickly instead of sticking to their guns morally. One of the many ways the US government has betrayed black Americans.
Grant was thoroughly uncorruptible, but he was naive, and saw the best in everyone, which made him blind to the corruption amongst his friends.
Yeah and very loyal a quality that wasn't returned to him.
Yes, which is heartbreaking.
Actually, with far, far more convinction than Lincoln.
Since reading Ron Chernow's seminal work on him, I've been trying to find time to read Grant's memoirs. They were the top selling presidential memoir until late in the 20th century, and absolutely brilliantly written.
Grant was long one of my favorites, but after that book, he is first and foremost the greatest president we've ever had, and one of the top five Americans our country has ever known.