Ulysses S. Grant - Presidency 1869–1877

Presidency 1869–1877

The second president from Ohio, Grant was elected the 18th President of the United States in 1868, and was re-elected to the office in 1872; he served as President from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. Biographer H.W. Brands described Grant as the greatest of war hero Presidents and that by the end of his second term the nation was secure from succession.

The commencement of the Grant administration was somewhat unorthodox. First, Grant's relationship with his predecessor Johnson had deteriorated badly, culminating with Johnson's appointment of Grant antagonist William Rosecrans as minister to Mexico. Breaking a long held tradition, President Johnson declined to ride with Grant's carriage or attend Grant's Inauguration at the Capitol, having chosen to remain at the White House signing last minute bills into law. Grant took a unique and overly self-confident approach to his cabinet choices. In keeping with his style of acting unilaterally as a military commander, his nominations were made with minimal Congressional consultation, and were even kept secret until submission to the Senate for confirmation. Finally, Grant's primary appointment, the Secretary of State, which went to Hamilton Fish, a New York conservative statesman, actually grew out of a strong relationship initially forged between the two men's wives. Grant's first choice, Elihu B. Washburne, given the State Department only as personal favor, served 12 days in office, resigned due to "sickness", and then was appointed Minister to France. Grant's other Cabinet appointments, Jacob D. Cox (Interior), John A.J. Creswell (Postmaster General), and Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (Attorney General), were popularly received by the nation.

Booming post-war industrial markets and the expansion of the American West fueled wild speculation and corruption throughout the United States, only to come to an abrupt crash with the Panic of 1873. National wounds brought on by the massive socio-economic upheaval of the Civil War continued to mend. Although there were initial scandals in his first term, Grant remained popular in the country and was re-elected a second term in 1872. Notable accomplishments as President include policies for the protection of African Americans in the Reconstruction states as well as Native Americans in the West, the Treaty of Washington in 1871, and the Specie Payment Resumption Act in 1875. The Department of Justice was created during the Grant administration in an effort to centralize under the Attorney General the hiring of lawyers to represent federal agencies. President Grant sponsored two federally funded scientific discovery projects; the Polaris Expedition, America's first large scale attempt to reach the North Pole, and the Hayden Geological Survey into the Yellowstone, that led to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park.

Grant's personal reputation as President suffered from the continued scandals caused by many corrupt appointees and personal associates and for the ruined economy caused by the Panic of 1873. A faction of the Republican party, the Liberal Republicans, bolted in 1872, publicly denounced the political patronage system known as Grantism and demanded amnesty for Confederate soldiers. In his re-election campaign, Grant benefited from the loyal support of Harper's Weekly political cartoonist Thomas Nast. Grant had multiple opportunities to strengthen the Supreme Court with nominations; biographer, William S. McFeely, considered his appointments not to have benefitted the Court. When Chief Justice Chase died, Grant initially delayed in making the replacement, and after muddling through two failed nominations, the ultimate choice, Morrison Remick Waite was finally confirmed by the Senate. By 1876, during Grant's second term in office, as more scandals were exposed by Congress, his personal reputation was damaged, and Republicans decided not to renominate Grant for a consecutive third term.

Grant was the first president to have both parents living at the time of his election. His father Jesse Root Grant died on June 29, 1873 whereas his mother Hannah Simpson Grant died on May 11, 1883. To date, the only other presidents to enter office with both of his parents alive are John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush.