The Man Who Would Be Great

Part 18 of My Presidential Review Series

Moving on, Ulysses S. Grant is reached. Grant was the first Civil War veteran to become president. Oddly enough, he had led troops through all areas of battle, even adopting a policy of killing as many Confederates as possible no matter the cost, yet was extremely squeamish. He was the first president hand-picked by the Radical Republicans. His administration was also the first one with major scandals. Every 50 years since Grant, the administration elected at that time has been rocked by scandals. He was the first and only president elected without a majority of the white vote. Grant served March 4, 1869 to March 3, 1877.

The U.S. and Great Britain agreed to arbitration of the U.S. suit against Britain for damages inflicted by Confederate warships constructed in British ports. Meeting in Geneva in 1871, the arbitration panel, composed of Charles Francis Adams for the U.S. and one person from Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil, awarded America $15.5 million.

Grant continued Radical Reconstruction, which included federal occupation of the South. In 1872 he signed legislation dismantling the Freedmen's Bureau. Empowered by bills referred to as force bills, the Grant administration threatened force against states who denied blacks the vote and against terrorist organizations, notably the Ku Klux Klan. In South Carolina, Grant suspended habeas corpus and authorized mass arrests. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 assured blacks "full and equal enjoyment of the accomodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement." It was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883.

The failure of Jay Cooke and Company in September 1873 led to a financial panic that caused a 5-year depression, the worst up to that time. Other causes included a European depression touched off by the crash of the Vienna stock market, overextension of the railroads, and the slump in the insurance industry in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire and other smaller blazes. About 3 million peole were unemployed and business failures totaled $500 million.

A supporter of hard money, Grant signed into law the Resumption of Specie Act, which directed the Secretary of the Treasury to accumulate gold reserves sufficient to redeem in gold all greenbacks tendered after January 1, 1879. Denounced by soft-money advocates in the West, it nonetheless strenghtened public confidence in U.S. currency.

Grant himself was rigidly incorruptible, but his administration was rocked with major scandals. One of them was Black Friday. Speculators James Fisk and Jay Gould set out to corner the gold market. To ensure that the administration would not interfere, Fisk and Gould employed Abel R. Corbin, the president's brother-in-law, to exercise his influence in the White House. They also arranged to be seen entertaining the president on Fisk's yacht, encouraging rumors that Grant was in their corner. The two then began to buy gold aggressively, driving up the price from $140 to $163 1/2 in four days. Finally realizing he had been tricked, Grant ordered Treasury Secretary Boutwell to immediately sell off $4 million in federal gold. Its price nosedived, ending the crisis, but not before many investors and a few businesses were ruined-on Black Friday, September 24, 1869.

Another major scandal was the Credit Mobilier scandal. News of this scandal broke out during the election in 1872. Ofiicers of the Credit Mobilier holding company had skimmed off huge profits in the federally subsidized Union Pacific Railroad. They sought to head off a Congressional investigation of their practices by selling shares of stock at a deep discount from market value to selected members of Congress. Republican Representative Oakes Ames of Massachusetts served as the company's agent in the scheme. Among those accused of accepting these bribes were House Speaker (later Vice President) Schuyler Colfax of Indiana and Representative (later President) James A. Garfield of Ohio.

Still other scandals included delinquent tax corruption. Treasury Secretary William A. Richardson appointed John D. Sandborn as a special agent in charge of collecting delinquent taxes under an arrangement that allowed Sanborn to retain 50 percent of all revenue collected. A House investigation in 1874 revealed he had collected more than $400,000 in back taxes, half of which he kept. Exposure of this scandal led to the resignation of Secretary Richardson. The Whiskey Ring also occured during Grant's presidency. Hundreds of distillers and federal officials were suspected of diverting millions of dollars in liquor taxes into their own pockets in a conspiracy revealed by Treasury Secretary Benjamin H. Bristow in 1875. Grant at first called for quick action, saying "Let no guilty man escape." But when the scandal reached his own personal secretary, Orville E. Babcock, he interceded on Babcock's behalf. 110 conspirators were convicted. The final major scandal in the Grant administration was the Belknap bribery. In 1876 it was discovered that War Secretary W. W. Belknap had been taking annual kickbacks from traders at Indian posts. Such payments originally went to his wife, but he took them directly after her death. He was acquitted of the impeachment charges only because of his resignation before the Senate trial started.

Grant died on July 23, 1885.

Grant's was one of only three administrations rocked by major scandals, and one of only two whose scandals truly harmed the American people. It is ironic that the great military general, who was the only man who could lead us to victory against Lee, was such an incompetent president. None of the scandals directly involved him, but they happened because of his inability to realize he was being betrayed. Unfortunately, Grant did nothing spectacular to redeem his presidency in any way, so it may be appropriately branded a failure.

Overall Ranking: 39

"The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity. "

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