When General Grant Expelled the Jews
Just finished reading "When General Grant Expelled the Jews" by Jonathan D. Sarna, published by Schocken Books back in 2012.
Yes, "When General Grant Expelled the Jews" is another book that was in my antilibrary, my tsundoku, of unread books - this time only 11 years from when I bought it to when I finally got around to reading it.
The Civil War did not begin well for the Union; the Confederacy had planned their opening strikes well, gathering ordnance for months before the assault on Fort Sumter, while the Northern states didn't grasp the reality of the threat of secession and were caught somewhat on their hells. However, by late 1862, the Union Army had finally made inroads into Confederate territory, and were about to flip the tide of the war. Then-General Grant, deep into Southern territory, was disturbed by reports of a wave of smuggling that flowed from the South into the North; conflating events with ancient stereotypes, he issued an order expelling all Jews from the area. A backlash to this order immediately occurred; a consortium of Jewish leaders made their way to Washington D.C., where Grant's order was rescinded by President Lincoln. Sarna, interestingly, chooses to open the book with the Order having already been issued. This is a deliberate choice; instead of slowly building up to the events that caused the ill-considered order to be issued, and thus making the order the centerpiece to the book, he instead puts it out there on page 1, and then spends the rest of the book explaining how Grant was able to overcome its dubious legacy. In fact, Grant become the first President to ultimately embrace the Jewish community, and appoint Jewish citizens to highly desirable government appointments.
Grant was the first U.S. President to attend a synagogue dedication, to travel to the Holy Land, and to have a Jewish pallbearer at his funeral. Regardless of the dubious order that he issued in 1862, Grant had become a much more wise and welcoming man later in his life who ushered in a short-lived period of main-stream acceptable of Judaism by American society before anti-Semitism once again after Grant's death.
Did Grant really redeem himself after issuing his ill-fated order? He is considered to be one of the worst Presidents in American history despite winning and serving two terms of office.
I do wish Sarna provided more detail about Grant's order, but an interesting examination of when American Jews finally stood up for themselves and realized that they had political power.
Strongly Recommended!
Four Stars!
https://www.amazon.com/General-Grant-...
Yes, "When General Grant Expelled the Jews" is another book that was in my antilibrary, my tsundoku, of unread books - this time only 11 years from when I bought it to when I finally got around to reading it.
The Civil War did not begin well for the Union; the Confederacy had planned their opening strikes well, gathering ordnance for months before the assault on Fort Sumter, while the Northern states didn't grasp the reality of the threat of secession and were caught somewhat on their hells. However, by late 1862, the Union Army had finally made inroads into Confederate territory, and were about to flip the tide of the war. Then-General Grant, deep into Southern territory, was disturbed by reports of a wave of smuggling that flowed from the South into the North; conflating events with ancient stereotypes, he issued an order expelling all Jews from the area. A backlash to this order immediately occurred; a consortium of Jewish leaders made their way to Washington D.C., where Grant's order was rescinded by President Lincoln. Sarna, interestingly, chooses to open the book with the Order having already been issued. This is a deliberate choice; instead of slowly building up to the events that caused the ill-considered order to be issued, and thus making the order the centerpiece to the book, he instead puts it out there on page 1, and then spends the rest of the book explaining how Grant was able to overcome its dubious legacy. In fact, Grant become the first President to ultimately embrace the Jewish community, and appoint Jewish citizens to highly desirable government appointments.
Grant was the first U.S. President to attend a synagogue dedication, to travel to the Holy Land, and to have a Jewish pallbearer at his funeral. Regardless of the dubious order that he issued in 1862, Grant had become a much more wise and welcoming man later in his life who ushered in a short-lived period of main-stream acceptable of Judaism by American society before anti-Semitism once again after Grant's death.
Did Grant really redeem himself after issuing his ill-fated order? He is considered to be one of the worst Presidents in American history despite winning and serving two terms of office.
I do wish Sarna provided more detail about Grant's order, but an interesting examination of when American Jews finally stood up for themselves and realized that they had political power.
Strongly Recommended!
Four Stars!
https://www.amazon.com/General-Grant-...
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