Posted in U.S. Grant

Grant Creates Modern Staff System for the White House March-April 1869

Grant was sworn in as president on March 4, 1869. His cabinet was nominated and confirmed in his first week in office. One innovation of…

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Posted in Memory of Reconstruction U.S. Grant Videos

Early Reviews Praise New “Grant” Series

The reviews are beginning to come in on the new bio-docudrama “Grant” on the History Channel. The Wall Street Journal gave the miniseries a favorable…

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Posted in Memory of Reconstruction Monuments Places to Visit U.S. Grant

General Grant in Manhattan: Photo Tour of Grant’s Tomb

Grant’s Tomb July 15, 2018 ​ Michele and I headed to Manhattan a while ago to visit the General Grant National Memorial, better known as…

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Posted in U.S. Grant

In May 1869 Robert E. Lee Called on President Grant at the White House

On May 1, 1869 Robert E. Lee visited U.S. Grant at the White House. This meeting would be variously interpreted over the years. The two…

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Posted in Civil War Memory of Reconstruction Places to Visit U.S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant in Brooklyn: The Great Statue No One Knows About

Major General Ulysses S. Grant is remembered at several locations in New York City. Grant’s Tomb is the most famous memorial, but the often ignored…

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Posted in Book Reviews

The New “Grant” Miniseries Is Based on a Bio by Ron Chernow. How Good Was the Book?

Yale historian David Blight wrote a mixed review of Ron Chernow’s “Grant” in the New York Review of Books when the biography appeared in 2018….

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Posted in Andrew Johnson Impeachment U.S. Grant

January 13 1868 The Senate Refuses Consent to Johnson’s Removal of War Sec. Stanton

In 1867 Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act which required the president to seek the consent of the Senate prior to dismissing any government…

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Posted in Andrew Johnson Civil War Impeachment U.S. Grant

Andrew Johnson Breaks With His Generals: Grant and Sherman on Guard January 1868

In December 1867, President Andrew Johnson sent a message to Congress explaining his reasons for suspending Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in apparent defiance of…

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Posted in 13th Amendment 14th Amendment 15th Amendment African Americans Emancipation & Reconstruction Memory of Reconstruction U.S. Grant

NY Times: Thoughts on the 150th Anniversary of the Start of U.S. Grant’s Presidency

This is the Sesquicentennial of the Grant Presidency. Jamelle Bouie, New York Times Opinion columnist, has a thoughtful article on the hopes engendered 150 years…

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Posted in Foreign Policy U.S. Grant

Did Grant’s World Tour Boost the U.S. in East Asia?

Robert Farley, a senior lecturer at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce of the University of Kentucky and a visiting professor at the…

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