Saving Ulysses Grant

[pscot]

Ulysses Grant was the indispensable Union general, and a much better president than he's given credit for. Blacks and Native Americans would have fared a lot better if Grant's reforms hadn't been overturned by the Supreme Court (them again). Respected historian Sean Wilentz think Grant should stay right where he is.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/opinion/14wilentz.html

...the proposal to substitute his (Reagan's) image for that of Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill is a travesty that would dishonor the nation’s bedrock principles of union, freedom and equality — and damage its historical identity. Although slandered since his death, Grant, as general and as president, stood second only to Abraham Lincoln as the vindicator of those principles in the Civil War era.

...the indispensable general of the Union Army...Grant’s administration was tainted by oft-remembered corruption scandals. But Grant was never seriously implicated in any of them, although emboldened Democrats and disloyal Republicans, with the help of a sensationalist press, did their best to make the president appear the villain. (Grant ill-advisedly decided to present a stoic public face instead of fighting back.)

In reality, what fueled the personal defamation of Grant was contempt for his Reconstruction policies, which supposedly sacrificed a prostrate South, as one critic put it, “on the altar of Radicalism.” That he accomplished as much for freed slaves as he did within the constitutional limits of the presidency was remarkable. Without question, his was the most impressive record on civil rights and equality of any president from Lincoln to Lyndon B. Johnson.

But Grant came in for decades of disgraceful posthumous attacks that tore his reputation into tatters. Around 1900, pro-Confederate Southern historians began rewriting the history of the Civil War and cast Grant as a “butcher” during the conflict and a corrupt and vindictive tyrant during his presidency....

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[tabasco]

1. I'm a fan.

US Grant was a decent person and re-elected in a landslide.

Corrupt advisors (businessmen) ruined his second term.

Grant was not a greedy man and was not a cheat. It was hard for him to understand how utterly corrupt rich businessmen could be.

[mrcheerful]

2. While on the other hand raygun was a corrupt biggoted poser who single

handed brought down labor unions. He avoided scandals like Iran contra by pretending that he knew nothing. The gall the raygun worshippers have for this waste of human skin is unbelievable.

[bluestateguy]

3. I would have voted for him

Although I would have become disillusioned by the 2nd term.

[Mendocino]

4. Grant was a hero and an honest man.

Reagan was neither, but a better "politician" for what that is worth.

[rpannier]

5. Amazing how little has changed in the past 150 years

although emboldened Democrats (Republicans) and disloyal Republicans (Democrats), with the help of a sensationalist press (no change), did their best to make the president appear the villain.

Around 1900 (1990), pro-Confederate Southern historians (Fundie Lunatic Preachers, Textbook choosers and neo-fascists) began rewriting the history of the Civil War (United States)

[Betty Karlson]

6. Grant allowed capitalism to get out of hand

His presidency defined how carpetbagging, exploiting businessmen from the North could keep the south down in spite of their rejoining the union. America's "free enterprise" took its form in and under his administration. Those interest hikes you hear so much about? Guess why they are legal in the first place, guess why it is "wrong" (not according to me) to try to cap them?

He did not cause the problem, but Hilgemann cum suis had every reason to call his two terms "the dark age of corruption". Keeping him on the 50 Dollar bill is better than putting Reagan there. But the reason is: at least Grant defined and expanded the American economy. Reagan just let it "trickle down", or dry up, or whatever it is that caused these massive budget deficits.

[Zoeisright]

7. If they put that asshole on ANY bill, he's getting a Hitler mustache

every time I see one.

[bemildred]

8. Raygun is not fit to kiss grant's butt. nt

[MadMaddie]

9. I don't understand the love affair with Reagan

I think they loved the fact he was an actor and never got over it.

He was worthless....

[tabasco]

10. Reagan stayed home and banged actresses during WWII

Big fucking hero for the coward chickenhawks.

[damyank913]

11. Grant was a West Point graduate, a veteran of the Mexican War,

as well as the famous Civil War general that everybody knows about. Grant was a patriot. Raygun only played one on TV.

[winston61]

12. Hey ,we have a record of putting

miserable sons of bitches on our paper currency. Go to your American history and you can't find a much more miserable, murdering, thieving, son of a bitch than Andrew Jackson. Compared to Old Hickory, Ronnie seems pretty tame. They were both cut from the same cloth, no doubt. Destroy air controllers lives, murder a few thousand Indians, what's the beef?

[era veteran]

13. The ignorant Republican should at least champion D.D. Eisenhower

At least he did some great things. Reagan did not end the cold war, 40 plus years of real cold war warriors did.

[winston61]

14. Ike did not shut down McCarthy, did not restrain the military

industrial complex and did nothing to slow down the cold war. But the interstate highways and all the vaccines are nice.

[era veteran]

15. He did identify the specter of the military industrial complex

But the cold war!! He was dealing with the two biggest genocidal mass murdering thugs in the history of our planet, Stalin & Mao. We, Ike, made lots of mistakes in dealing with them and the rest of the world but there was NO template of defense from these real threats. I remember before the interstates and they were really more than nice, they were sublime. My wife and I were talking about the vaccines recently and remembered how the whole community lined up at the schools. There was a sense of community that we recognized as gone. Oh and that Abilene boy did beat the Nazis.

[rasputin1952]

16. Grant is an interesting character...

Not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but not the dimmest either. He graduated from West Point, no easy task, he worked hard, failed in business, usually because he trusted others with the financial details, (did the same thing as president). He was honest to a fault, his Civil War legacy is that he knew the South could not possibly win a war of attrition, so he threw what he had at the Confederacy and literally used up the South to the point where they were incapable of fighting.

At the end of the CW, he was a gracious victor. He had many problems with a Radical Republican Congress that became emboldened after Andrew Johnson, he wanted a smooth transition for the South, but was thwarted by Radicals who were out for vengeance, (and profit).

Reagan on the other hand was a complete fraud. Where Grant was blindsided by unscrupulous people, Reagan invited them in, then gave them the keys to the Treasury. Reagan did follow Grant in one aspect, although not in the fighting spirit. It had long been known the USSR could not win a battle of attrition in the arms race; Reagan's answer...outspend them, (and creating a huge deficit for the nation by doing it). The only "coin" Reagan should go on would be a token for a pay toilet...or a wooden nickel. Reagan was possibly the second worst president this nation ever had...no one beats bush II for the worst.

[Recursion]

17. People underestimate Grant's ability as a general

Lee certainly did. It's not the case that anybody could have taken the Army of the Potomac and beaten Lee: McClelland and Meade both tried that and got their asses handed to them. Grant made the fundamental judgment that Napoleon's rules were over and the target of his army needed to be the opposing army, not cities and forts.