While historians have tended to mock Grant’s cabinet as a bunch of mediocrities—and Borie certainly qualified as such—it was actually weighted with former congressmen, senators, governors, and judges. It had figures of real distinction (Fish), Radical Republicans (Boutwell, Creswell), men of exceptional intellect (Hoar), and advocates of civil service reform (Cox). Rutherford B. Hayes was enraptured by Grant’s freedom from party hacks: “His Cabinet looks like a revolution . . . It is an attempt to put fitness and qualification before what is called ‘claims’ and ‘political services.’ If anybody
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