Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
A controversial general becomes a bad president!
November 3rd is traditionally the day in the USA when the citizens elect their new President!
And so, on November 3, 1869, the former Civil War General Ulysses Simpson Grant (actually: Hiram Ulysses Grant) is elected 18th President of the (just re-)United States of America...:
The next picture shows his inauguration on the Capitol in front of the Congress building in January 1870...:
As a young captain, Grant had fought in the US-Mexican War...
...but had to leave the army in 1854 because of his severe alcoholism - otherwise he would have been court-martialled!
During the Civil War, when experienced officers were urgently needed, Grant was recalled and quickly rose to the rank of general.
The capture of Fortress Vicksburg by his troops on July 4, 1863 (the national holiday!), which split Confederate territory in two (because the Union Army now ruled the Mississippi!) earned him the nymbus of the victorious type and the stubborn fighter!
So he finally became supreme commander of all Union troops...:
However, his officers and soldiers had a completely different name for him: they only called him "the butcher" because all his military actions were characterized by one thing above all: horrendous losses!
During the Battle of Cold Harbor, Grant ordered a frontal attack against the Confederate Army defending from trench systems...:
This completely hopeless attack, which both own and enemy soldiers described as "blatant murder", was the first "modern battle" and provided a foretaste of the warfare of the First World War.
Grant only broke off the battle after his commanding generals had mutinied and refused to launch renewed waves of attacks.
40,000 Union soldiers paid for Grant's "tenacity" with their lives in a single day!
Generals and politicians had repeatedly urged Union President Lincoln to replace Grant - although his alcoholism was repeatedly discussed.
But Lincoln always had Grant's back: "I can't do without this general. He fights.”
So now Grant is President himself (the next picture shows him in the "White House")...
...and his tenure will go down as the most scandalous in US history (perhaps only surpassed by that of President Donald Trump).
In Grant's administration one corruption scandal followed the next - and even if there was nothing to prove himself, the corruption reached into his closest surroundings!
His vice president, the interior minister, the war minister, the navy minister, the finance minister and the justice minister had to resign because of proven bribery and other crooked deals (illegal stock and gold speculation).
At the same time, President Grant did nothing to prevent the formation of the notorious and overpowering "trusts", huge corporate complexes that dominated far more than just one industry (and politics) and were ruled like kingdoms by powerful tycoons like John Pierrepont Morgan or Nelson D. Rockefeller - and whose financial strength and power far exceeded that of some European countries.
By the end of his first term, Grant had lost all credit in his own party, the Republicans. In order to at least remain active and to avoid the public humiliation of not being nominated for a second term of office, he voluntarily decided not to run again and withdrew into private life.
Grant, who smoked at least 20 large cigars a day, died of throat cancer on July 23, 1885 in Wilton, New York.
He and his wife Julia...
...are buried in the "Grant's Tomb" in New York City, the largest mausoleum in North America...:
November 3rd is traditionally the day in the USA when the citizens elect their new President!
And so, on November 3, 1869, the former Civil War General Ulysses Simpson Grant (actually: Hiram Ulysses Grant) is elected 18th President of the (just re-)United States of America...:

The next picture shows his inauguration on the Capitol in front of the Congress building in January 1870...:

As a young captain, Grant had fought in the US-Mexican War...

...but had to leave the army in 1854 because of his severe alcoholism - otherwise he would have been court-martialled!
During the Civil War, when experienced officers were urgently needed, Grant was recalled and quickly rose to the rank of general.
The capture of Fortress Vicksburg by his troops on July 4, 1863 (the national holiday!), which split Confederate territory in two (because the Union Army now ruled the Mississippi!) earned him the nymbus of the victorious type and the stubborn fighter!

So he finally became supreme commander of all Union troops...:

However, his officers and soldiers had a completely different name for him: they only called him "the butcher" because all his military actions were characterized by one thing above all: horrendous losses!
During the Battle of Cold Harbor, Grant ordered a frontal attack against the Confederate Army defending from trench systems...:

This completely hopeless attack, which both own and enemy soldiers described as "blatant murder", was the first "modern battle" and provided a foretaste of the warfare of the First World War.
Grant only broke off the battle after his commanding generals had mutinied and refused to launch renewed waves of attacks.
40,000 Union soldiers paid for Grant's "tenacity" with their lives in a single day!



Generals and politicians had repeatedly urged Union President Lincoln to replace Grant - although his alcoholism was repeatedly discussed.
But Lincoln always had Grant's back: "I can't do without this general. He fights.”
So now Grant is President himself (the next picture shows him in the "White House")...

...and his tenure will go down as the most scandalous in US history (perhaps only surpassed by that of President Donald Trump).
In Grant's administration one corruption scandal followed the next - and even if there was nothing to prove himself, the corruption reached into his closest surroundings!
His vice president, the interior minister, the war minister, the navy minister, the finance minister and the justice minister had to resign because of proven bribery and other crooked deals (illegal stock and gold speculation).
At the same time, President Grant did nothing to prevent the formation of the notorious and overpowering "trusts", huge corporate complexes that dominated far more than just one industry (and politics) and were ruled like kingdoms by powerful tycoons like John Pierrepont Morgan or Nelson D. Rockefeller - and whose financial strength and power far exceeded that of some European countries.
By the end of his first term, Grant had lost all credit in his own party, the Republicans. In order to at least remain active and to avoid the public humiliation of not being nominated for a second term of office, he voluntarily decided not to run again and withdrew into private life.
Grant, who smoked at least 20 large cigars a day, died of throat cancer on July 23, 1885 in Wilton, New York.
He and his wife Julia...

...are buried in the "Grant's Tomb" in New York City, the largest mausoleum in North America...:
