by Kenneth T. Walsh

Youth has always been a double-edged sword for America'spresidents. It tends to inject the White House with freshideas and energy, but it can also lead to impetuousness and a disregardfor the tried and true.

Born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, in 1822, Ulysses S. Grant graduated from West Pointin 1843 and served in the Army from 1843 to 1854, rising tothe rank of captain. He became a heavy drinker and felt that hismilitary career was going nowhere, so he left the service. He triedfarming in Missouri and clerking at a store in Illinois and didn't do well in either job. When theCivil War began, Grant returned to military service, and that's where hemade a historic mark. He rose to command all the Northern armies andbecame a celebrity as the greatest Union general.

Grant, age 46 when he took office on March 4, 1869,was the youngest man to hold the office up to that time. He served twoterms. "But his military background was not enough to equip him for thecomplexities of governing a huge and swiftly growing nation, andhistorians have judged him a failure as a president," historianDavid C. Whitney writes in The American Presidents.

Adds Stefan Lorant in TheGlorious Burden: "A general commands by giving orders, thepresident functions by tact, diplomacy, and persuasion. Orders have tobe obeyed, good soldiers can easily be spotted. But politicians cannotbe ordered around, and it is not so easy to find out which one istrustworthy, which one is reliable; thus Grant had a hard time in thepresidency. He had no critical judgment. He was attracted by the suave,the polished, the rich, and the well-mannered; if they were also crooks,he did not notice it. He was a naive soul."

Grant named incompetent or corrupt friends and associates to keyjobs. His lax policies allowed businessmen to make millions. Forexample, investor Jay Gould was able to corner the goldmarket and amass a fortune under Grant's lax administration. Grant wasunable to tame a resurgent Congress. His administration wasplagued by embarrassing scandals, including allegations of bribery,fraud, and cronyism. Several cabinet members got into trouble forineptitude or corruption, and Grant's personal assistant,Orville Babcock, was accused of being a member of theWhiskey Ring, which defrauded the government of millions of dollars inexcise taxes. The economy deteriorated after a financial panic in 1873,souring much of the nation on the former hero of the Civil War.

Grant was vilified in the South, not only because he had waged totalwar against the Confederacy as the top Union general but because aspresident he tried to protect the rights of former slaves, including theright to vote. Responding to requests from various governors, he sentfederal forces to support state militias in supervising elections. Hetook aim at the Ku Klux Klan, formed in 1866, when it waged a campaign of terror to suppress black votes and insure black subservience. Hisadministration "brought the worst offenders to trial, often beforeall-black juries," political scientist Alvin Felzenbergwrites in The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn't). "Inthe face of often brutal intimidation of witnesses and jurors, federalofficials won six hundred convictions." Adds Felzenberg: "Most accountsconclude that Grant had, through these actions, effectively broken theKlan's back," at least for the time being. This won him everlastingenmity from the conservative white leaders of the South.

Grant had a simple explanation for his problems. "It was my fortune,or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without anyprevious political training," he wrote apologetically in his last annualmessage to Congress. ". . . Under such circumstances, it isbut reasonable to suppose that errors of judgment must have occurred."

 

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