Grant

by Ron Chernow

October, becoming the first president to do so and praising efforts by four tribes to cultivate ranching and lead a more settled life.

on June 9 Grant had made amends to another oppressed group, attending the dedication of Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, home

It was the first time an American president ever attended a synagogue consecration

He stayed at the residence of George Childs, where Republican bigwigs pored over returns that documented the most closely contested presidential race in American history.

Momentarily overcome, the president-elect stood there speechless. “Governor Hayes,” Grant said, “I am glad to welcome you.”

the inauguration was supposed to take place on March 4, but that fell on a Sunday and Grant and Hayes balked at a Sabbath ceremony. Hence, on Saturday evening March 3, Hayes was privately sworn in by Chief Justice Morrison Waite before dinner in the Red Room of the White House, an action re-created for show on Monday

Reconstruction was now officially dead and the Democratic Party in charge across the South.

After all, he was the only President between Abraham Lincoln and

Woodrow Wilson [besides McKinley] to be elected to two consecutive terms of office.”

During his presidency, there was no war, no military swagger, no saber rattling, and he stayed true to his motto: Let us have peace.

Grant took office when much of the South still lay under military rule; by the time he left, every southern state had been absorbed back into the Union.

Despite Grant’s best efforts at Appomattox, the breach of the Civil War never healed but became deeply embedded in American political culture.

an incredulous James Longstreet once replied, “I never heard of any other cause of the quarrel than slavery.”

As he wrote after leaving office: “If a negro insurrection should arise in South Carolina, Mississippi, or Louisiana, or if the negroes in either of these States . . . should intimidate the whites from going to the polls . . . there would

be no division of sentiment as to the duty of the President. It does seem the rule should work both ways.”

Grant deserves an honored place in American history, second only to Lincoln, for what he did for the freed slaves. He got the big issues right during his presidency, even if he bungled many of the small ones.

A newcomer to Europe and the Grand Tour, he overlooked the small matter of securing a passport and, at the last minute, Hamilton Fish had to appeal to Secretary of State Evarts to rush passports to J.

S. Morgan & Co. in London.

He stopped by the studio of Frédéric Bartholdi and watched him sculpt the Statue of Liberty.

In February 1878, Grant braved rain, wind, and snow to become the first American president to visit Jerusalem.

He asked Fred to compose a letter requesting a future president of the United States to appoint his grandson Ulysses (Fred’s son) as a West Point cadet. Grant summoned family members and doctors as witnesses before he affixed his signature to the document. It was such a solemn gesture for him that as he folded the paper, a hush gripped the room. In 1898 President William McKinley would honor the request by appointing Ulysses S. Grant III, later a major general, to the academy.