“The most underrated president in American history,” Ulysses S Grant* had multiple scandals and investigations into aspects of his administration during his 8 years (1869-1877) in office. The thing is, he let them be. Without benefit of any legal guidance, special prosecutor statutes or really precedence, Grant insisted that respected, independent judges and legal teams root out corruption in several huge scandals involving the oversight of Indian trading posts, the postmasters’ offices around the country EVEN when the investigations began to close in on his closest aids, his brother and his own son. Private correspondence shows that he was emotionally devastated by the charges and the possibility of having been betrayed by the people closest to him. He was fiercely loyal and clung to the possibility that all the charges were wrong but because he believed so fiercely in their innocence (and because he was not complicit–made abundant clear in his and his closest aids’ private correspondence), he believed no harm could come of an investigation. He had nothing to hide, so believed that an investigation could only bring truth and that truth was what was needed. Unfortunately for Grant and his legacy, the truth was that his brother, his son and some of his closest aids betrayed him and were running a huge pay to play corruption scheme out of the White House and THEY sought to undermine the investigation by leaking to targets when federal inspectors were coming so that they could destroy evidence.
Yet Grant’s administration presided over the only period in American history prior to the 1970s when black men in the south were allowed to vote, win elected office as Governors, state legislators and congressmen, live how they pleased, and be federal judges. He eradicated the first generation of the KKK for years. He kept peace, no wars, for all eight years of his presidency.
*If there were more than six readers of my blog, certainly someone would be complaining right now about the multiplicity of posts about Ulysses S Grant (shout out to my man Mark in San Diego who is the only person on earth that I’m certain reads every post–watch him miss this one). But hey, I’m mining this bio for all its worth. (For more on my inadvertent series based on Ron Chernow’s Grant see: We’ve never been more divided, really? part 3, We’ve Never Been More Divided, really? Part 2, We’ve never been more divided, really? Part 1)
Mark is not the only person who reads every post, but I'm waiting for the Millard Fillmore book.
Mark is in the house! And I do believe there are a lot more Harrys out there then you give yourself credit for, Sara! Thank you for continued inspiration via this blog. You challenge my intellect and make me think outside my routine. You have a gift, my dear friend.