The Patriot Post® · Rotten Apples in the Barrel

Economic policy is always important to both the administration and citizens since voting is an expression of approval or disapproval and voters often vote their wallets. In 1869, New York financial speculators Gould and Fisk attempted to manipulate the gold market by convincing the government to withhold its gold from circulation, thereby increasing the value of their personal holdings. President Ulysses S. Grant and his treasury secretary realized their duplicity and instead ordered a sale of government gold — but that decision resulted in a “Black Friday” crash, bankrupting many investors.

Only four years later, an economic downturn, triggered by a European depression, led to a panic on Wall Street, bank failures, personal bankruptcies, unemployment, farm losses, and a general sense of malaise. President Grant refused to authorize an increase in the “release” of greenbacks and, shortly afterwards, returned the United States to the gold standard. While public opinion was against his actions, historians agree that his actions stabilized the economy and strengthened the Republican Party’s popularity. For the next century, the Republican Party would be identified as the fiscally conservative party. Grant’s actions would influence William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and others.

So, what would be Grant’s legacy? Keeping the U.S. out of a war with Spain over Cuba; acquiring new naval bases in the Caribbean; those blasted scandals — the Credit Mobilier, the Whiskey Ring conspiracy, and continued abuses of patronage, none of which involved Grant; and the creation of a Civil Service Commission in an attempt to end political patronage.

Amidst the negative publicity regarding his administration, Grant seemed most troubled by his failure to improve the lives of indigenous peoples (Indians). His strong desire to address policy problems related to the “original occupants of this land” always creates an internal dialogue for this historian. Grant, who truly desired to end the corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs by appointing the first Native person as commissioner — Brigadier General Ely S. Parker, one of his former military aides and a member of the Seneca Nation — and by promoting policies to establish reservations not as holding sites but as locations with economically successful farming and educational programs, was the same military leader who had promoted General Phil Sheridan, whose comments regarding indigenous peoples are still startling.

When he left office in 1877, Grant understood that his ideas had little chance of success, as white settlers continued to push Native peoples off good lands and onto barren wastelands. He mourned that lack of success until his death.

As the election of 1876 approached, Grant made clear his intent to step aside. Like previous two-term presidents, he believed that the republic needed frequent leadership changes, based on the votes of the people, to discourage too much power in the hands of the executive. He did not campaign for his party’s candidate, instead leaving the choice to the people lest his voice be too strong. And the election of 1876 was controversial — harkening back to the 1824 Adams vs. Jackson campaign. (Egads!) We’ll talk about that interesting series of events next week.

Grant left the White House on March 4, 1877, and returned to a civilian life that was decades in his past. With reemerging support, he considered entering the 1880 campaign, but his popularity had waned and James Garfield captured the Republican nomination and was elected. (Garfield had been a Union officer during the Civil War.)

Not only was the former president’s star sinking, but his personal finances collapsed in an investment scheme partially managed by his son. Suddenly, the former president was bankrupt and almost totally destitute, depending on assistance from friends. Floundering and considering ways to regain financial stability, Grant finally decided that he should write his memoirs when offers seemed less than ideal. Mark Twain stepped in and agreed to finance the printing through his own company along with advancing the capital needed.

If his financial woes were not enough, Grant was diagnosed with throat cancer and realized that his window for completing the book was shrinking. While dealing with excoriating pain, Grant, the warrior, worked long hours, concerned that his beloved Julia not suffer because of his own inadequacies. Finished just days before his death, his memoirs assured Julia’s future and established Grant as a skilled chronicler of one of the nation’s most troubled times.

Grant remains an interesting study in presidential leadership style and his autobiography is worth a read.

Next week: Samuel Tildent and Benjamin Harrison take center stage.