![[Abridged] Presidential Histories - 18.A.) The moments that shaped Ulysses S. Grant, an interview with Nick Sacco](https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/episode_images/6525cc0e1e417ed39f762f8124d08715bf80d60045828e7dbdde538ee5b7f9b9.avif)
18.A.) The moments that shaped Ulysses S. Grant, an interview with Nick Sacco
[Abridged] Presidential Histories
07/04/21
•49m
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Ulysses S. Grant led an Odyssey of a life. From the battlefields of the Mexican-American War, to the get-rich-quick frontier of the California Gold Rush, to years of poverty in St. Louis, Grant was shaped by a dizzying array of diverse experiences. Join me as I interview Nick Sacco, a park ranger at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis and an author for The Journal of the Civil War Era, on the experiences that prepared Grant to win the Civil War and lead the nation through Reconstruction as our 18th President.
Previous Episode
18.) Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877
July 1, 2021
•56m
They say history is written by the victor. Ulysses S Grant may beg to differ. For nearly 100 years, Grant was derided as an inept and corrupt drunk who won the Civil War by recklessly sacrificing the lives of his men and who floundered in a presidency rife with corruption.
In the past 30 years, that verdict has changed.
Follow along as Grant goes from Mexican-American war veteran to failed businessman, victorious union general, and eventually president of the United States. Along the way, he'll go nearly undefeated as a general, lead the fight against the Ku Klux Klan during reconstruction, revamp the country's native American policy, bring permanent amity to its relations with Great Britain, and, yes, oversee an administration rife with corruption. But as I think we'll see, the corruption is more of a footnote than a full-length feature.
Bibliography:
1. Grant – Jean Edward Smith
2. Andrew Johnson – Annette Gordon-Reed
3. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald
4. The Complete Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant – Ulysses S. Grant
5. Embattled Rebel – James M. McPherson
6. Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. Trefousse
7. Destiny of the Republic – Candice Miller
8. The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur – Scott S. Greenberger
Next Episode
Ulysses S. Grant's reputation has been through a lot. While he was still alive, he was very nearly our first three-term president; after he died, the Myth of the Lost Cause repainted him as a drunk and corrupt butcher; in the past 30 years, he's started to become a Civil Rights Icon as historians gave him a long overdue second look. Join me as I interview to Joan Waugh, UCLA professor of 19th-century America who specializes in the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age, and the author of U.S. Grant, American Hero, American Myth on why Grant's reputation has changed so much, and what's still misunderstood about our 18th president.
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