General Grant Promoted

Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople

Sweet Jane
On Dec 28, 2022 General Ulysses S. Grant, in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of his birth, was posthumously promoted, retroactively to the 6 Star rank of General of the Armies.

This makes U.S. Grant the second highest ranking General in U.S. history and subordinate in rank only to General Washington.

Considering that Grant is widely considered by historians as Americas greatest military commander and one of the greatest military commanders in world history this promotion was long overdue.
 
Cypress said:
Probably historically underrated as a president too
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A mixed bag there. I consider him an average U.S. President and considering how well most U.S. Presidents have served our nation that’s hardly an insult. His guidance of the 15th amendment to ratification, creation of the DOJ to destroy the KKK and his sponsorship and signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 were visionary and his determination to protect the Freedmen in the South during reconstruction and his appointment of a Native American as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs were visionary and ahead of his time. It would be hard to argue that an U.S. President did more to secure the rights of African Americans than Grant did.

Grant was also a key figure in ending the corrupt practices of the Spoils System and creating a civil service based on merit and not patronage.

However Grant had some serious flaws to his Presidency because as a political leader he proved a poor judge of character and though Grant himself was not corrupt many of his appointees were crooked as a dogs leg.

Having said that history seems to have forgotten how popular Grant was as President.

Grant certainly wasn’t the horrible President that Neo-Confederate Lost Cause mythologies painted him out to be.

Which is an important aspect of Grants promotion as this drives a stake through the heart of the Neo-Confederate revisionist history that has been taught to far to many citizens which largely denigrated Grant as a drunk and a butcher.

BTW, if you haven’t already read Ron Chernow’s “Grant” it is a must read.
 
Cypress said:
Probably historically underrated as a president too
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Grant was a good man but his administration was one of the most corrupt in history.

https://mostcorrupt.com/Most-Corrupt-Administrations.html
Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) was elected as a war hero—the Northern General who’d defeated the South in the Civil War. After the shooting stopped, the United States were anything but united. The Southern states were crippled as the Northern ones prospered…and corruption ruled the land.
Grant’s popularity declined as evidence of serious political chicanery came to light. As money and land grants were given to railroad companies in the West, it was discovered that members of Congress were bribed to vote in the interests of the Union Pacific Railroad. In the Whiskey Ring Scandal, a group of distillers and tax officers defrauded the U.S. Treasury out of revenue tax on whiskey. Grant was not found personally responsible in either scandal, but lost support by appointing people who turned out to be dishonest, and continuing to back them after their dishonesty was revealed.¹

The visionary leadership that America needed after the Civil War, assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and divisive Presidency of Andrew Johnson, was not to be. In a time of money-grubbing self-interest, no constituency went less served than the former slaves over whom the Civil War had been fought. It is ironic that Grant’s narrow election victory was decided by African Americans in Southern states…considering that African Americans would have to wait another hundred years before their civil rights were finally legislated.
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Mott the Hoople said:
A mixed bag there. I consider him an average U.S. President and considering how well most U.S. Presidents have served our nation that’s hardly an insult. His guidance of the 15th amendment to ratification, creation of the DOJ to destroy the KKK and his sponsorship and signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 were visionary and his determination to protect the Freedmen in the South during reconstruction and his appointment of a Native American as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs were visionary and ahead of his time. It would be hard to argue that an U.S. President did more to secure the rights of African Americans than Grant did.

Grant was also a key figure in ending the corrupt practices of the Spoils System and creating a civil service based on merit and not patronage.

However Grant had some serious flaws to his Presidency because as a political leader he proved a poor judge of character and though Grant himself was not corrupt many of his appointees were crooked as a dogs leg.

Having said that history seems to have forgotten how popular Grant was as President.

Grant certainly wasn’t the horrible President that Neo-Confederate Lost Cause mythologies painted him out to be.

Which is an important aspect of Grants promotion as this drives a stake through the heart of the Neo-Confederate revisionist history that has been taught to far to many citizens which largely denigrated Grant as a drunk and a butcher.

BTW, if you haven’t already read Ron Chernow’s “Grant” it is a must read.
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I thought liberals hated Grant because he once own a slave. Even though he eventually freed him.
 
ExpressLane said:
I thought liberals hated Grant because he once own a slave. Even though he eventually freed him.
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He voluntarily freed his one slave before the Civil War, something white plantation owners were unwilling to do.

Lincoln may have signed the emancipation proclamation, but it was Grant who was in the field actually freeing slaves with his aggressive advances deep into confederate territory.

Grant is probably the most important president of the 19th century in creating civil rights laws protecting the rights of black citizens
 
Cypress said:
He voluntarily freed his one slave before the Civil War, something white plantation owners were unwilling to do.

Lincoln may have signed the emancipation proclamation, but it was Grant who was in the field actually freeing slaves with his aggressive advances deep into confederate territory.

Grant is probably the most important president of the 19th century in creating civil rights laws protecting the rights of black citizens
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Personally I like Grant but that does not forgive the fact that he was a slave owner for more than two years.. And remember those plantation slave owners were Democrats.

In San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park along the Pacific Ocean, protesters sprayed red paint and wrote “slave owner” on pedestals before using ropes to bring down the statues and drag them down grassy slopes amid cheers and applause.

The statues targeted included a bust of Ulysses Grant, who was the U.S. president after he was the general who finally beat the Confederates and ended the Civil War.
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https://apnews.com/article/violence...olina-police-9a01ee49102df70f10ce54ae04a46fa6
 
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Mott the Hoople said:
On Dec 28, 2022 General Ulysses S. Grant, in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of his birth, was posthumously promoted, retroactively to the 6 Star rank of General of the Armies.

This makes U.S. Grant the second highest ranking General in U.S. history and subordinate in rank only to General Washington.

Considering that Grant is widely considered by historians as Americas greatest military commander and one of the greatest military commanders in world history this promotion was long overdue.
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Welcome back, stranger.

Who did this promotion?
 
Doc Dutch said:
Grant was a good man but his administration was one of the most corrupt in history.

https://mostcorrupt.com/Most-Corrupt-Administrations.html
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I can’t agree to that when it comes to Civil Rights for the Freedman. Grant created the DOJ and went after and destroyed the first iteration of the KKK. He heralded the 15th amendment through ratification. He also sent troops into the South not only to protect Black folk from domestic terrorist but also to enforce their rights.

If Grants popularity declined during his last term it was largely in the South. If anyone should be blamed for the decline of civil rights for the freed slaves and the beginning of the Jim Crow era that falls squarely on the lap of Rutherford B.Hayes (ironically I used to live in Hayes hometown for a couple of years).

Also on the corruption front Grant though guilty of placing trust in persons unworthy of such trust was at the forefront of the movement to eliminate The Spoils system and implement a professional Civil Service in which he ran into serious opposition in Congress but his efforts were substantial and subsequently lead to the Pendleton Act of 1883 that ended the Spoils System and created the modern Civil Service based on competitive examinations. It wasn’t like Grants Presidency was the only Presidency prior to 1883 that suffered deeply from systemic corruption but it was exasperated during Grants term in office by the explosive growth, post Civil War, of the U.S. population and economy.

The movie Lincoln provides a good example of this where Lincoln uses the Spoils System to gain the last few votes needed for passage of the 13th amendment. Still and all Grant certainly doesn’t deserve high grades for his management of corruption during his terms.

We are though getting away from the point of my post as Grant was promoted to the rank of General of the Armies due to his Presidency.

He was rightfully promoted because he was the best damned general officer this nation has produced. I mean saving our nation was no small matter.
 
Other fun facts about Grant,

It's said that nobody knows for sure whether or not he was wearing trousers when he posed for the fifty dollar bill portrait.

Also, to this very day, people ask who is buried in his tomb.
 
ExpressLane said:
Personally I like Grant but that does not forgive the fact that he was a slave owner for more than two years.. And remember those plantation slave owners were Democrats.

https://apnews.com/article/violence...olina-police-9a01ee49102df70f10ce54ae04a46fa6
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Oh for Pete’s sake. First the slave was a gift to Grants wife by her slave owning father, Grant treated the man well, worked side by side with him in trying to build Hard Scrabble for which the locals were appalled that he did manual labor side by side with the man and then less than two years he freed the man when he could of sold him for $1500 which at that time was worth more than twice the annual median household income and Grant was dead broke at the time.

Nor does it take into account that, with time and experience, a person can change and grow as Grant did on the issue of slavery and Civil Rights. Grant was deeply moved by the dedication, loyalty, courage and fighting skills of the Black Soldiers he enlisted. Let’s not forget Grant was the first major Union Officer to utilize freed slaves and created the Freedman’s Bureau during the war. He also fought for and succeeded getting Black soldiers equal pay. Not to mention Grant de facto permanently won Black folks freedom by defeating the Confederacy on the Battlefield.

I would also suggest that you read what the Contemporary Black Intellectuals of that time, such as, Frederick Douglass, felt about Grants service and commitment to Freed Black Folk.

I mean if all you have is he inherited a slave from his wife that he shortly there after freed when he was dead broke all I can say is “Ward, don’t you think you’re being a little hard on the Beaver?”.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Welcome back, stranger.

Who did this promotion?
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Congress did. It was recommended by a bipartisan panel in the House of Representatives which included, a bit to my surprise, Elise Stefanik. It was ushered through the Senate by Roy Blunt of, MO, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and the Junior Senator from MO (I can’t remember her name).

One of the things I liked about the promotion is that it was made retroactive.

There are currently only Three Generals of the Armies. Black Jack Pershing was the first and only one to be promoted to that rank while still alive. Washington was promoted posthumously in 1975 retroactively so that no General Officer could ever outrank him. Similar was done for Grant so that the only U.S. General who outranks him is Washington. Which is fitting. Washington founded a nation and Grant saved that nation.
 
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Mott the Hoople said:
Congress did. It was recommended by a bipartisan panel in the House of Representatives which included, a bit to my surprise, Elise Stefanik. It was ushered through the Senate by Roy Blunt of, MO, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and the Junior Senator from MO (I can’t remember her name).
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Ah yes, Josh "Heehaw! Haulin' ass!" Hawley. You'll remember him as the one who gave the gathering rioters a fist bump on his way to Congress. Later he was filmed running for his life from the mob. :laugh:

WNo457I.jpg
 
Mott the Hoople said:
A mixed bag there. I consider him an average U.S. President and considering how well most U.S. Presidents have served our nation that’s hardly an insult. His guidance of the 15th amendment to ratification, creation of the DOJ to destroy the KKK and his sponsorship and signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 were visionary and his determination to protect the Freedmen in the South during reconstruction and his appointment of a Native American as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs were visionary and ahead of his time. It would be hard to argue that an U.S. President did more to secure the rights of African Americans than Grant did.

Grant was also a key figure in ending the corrupt practices of the Spoils System and creating a civil service based on merit and not patronage.

However Grant had some serious flaws to his Presidency because as a political leader he proved a poor judge of character and though Grant himself was not corrupt many of his appointees were crooked as a dogs leg.

Having said that history seems to have forgotten how popular Grant was as President.

Grant certainly wasn’t the horrible President that Neo-Confederate Lost Cause mythologies painted him out to be.

Which is an important aspect of Grants promotion as this drives a stake through the heart of the Neo-Confederate revisionist history that has been taught to far to many citizens which largely denigrated Grant as a drunk and a butcher.

BTW, if you haven’t already read Ron Chernow’s “Grant” it is a must read.
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That's reasonable. As a general, Grant wasn't truly outstanding, and neither was Lee. Grant's success came from a combination of having what amounted to near overwhelming forces at his disposal, combined with tenacity and willingness to fight.
Grant as a President also succeeded insofar as dealing with the South and issues far better than Andrew Johnson did.
 
Clair McCaskill used to goad me into a near rage when she did her "moderate democrat" schtick.

She's the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary


compared to that worm-infested turd, Hawley.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
On Dec 28, 2022 General Ulysses S. Grant, in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of his birth, was posthumously promoted, retroactively to the 6 Star rank of General of the Armies.

This makes U.S. Grant the second highest ranking General in U.S. history and subordinate in rank only to General Washington.

Considering that Grant is widely considered by historians as Americas greatest military commander and one of the greatest military commanders in world history this promotion was long overdue.
Click to expand...

Idiotic.
 
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