ulysses grant's deeds. great great grandson of ulysses s grant and julia grant. ial library at the mississippi state university and he is also a trustee of the society of presidential descendants. and so we will now have words from the family member of ulysses s grant. >> so, when i gave my speech at the rededication of this tomb 25 years ago, it was just this cold and windy. i'm really pleased, and i'm really honored to be here today and person to honor the bicentennial birthday of my great grandfather, ulysses s grant. and i'm really grateful to the national park service for inviting me back. i am even more honored to be up here with general williams and professor brooke simpson frank. i see frank all of the time. but professor simpson especially, who is writing on you s grant, i admire and i know. it's very good company to be among, even if i can claim that i went to high school with brooke simpson, but did not meet him until today. but the truth is, that the only reason i am privileged to be up here today, is because of my name. it is an accident of birth, and

ulysses grant dietz. great great grandson of ulysses s grant and julia grant he is a trustee of the ulysses s. grant presidential library. at the mississippi state university and he is also a trustee of the society of presidential descendants. so we will now have words from the family member of ulysses s grant. so when i gave my speech at the rededication of this tomb 25 years ago. it was just this cold and windy. i'm really pleased and i'm really honored to be here today in person. to honor the bicentennial birthday of my great-great-grandfather ulysses s grant and i'm really grateful to the national park service for inviting me back. i'm even more honored to be up here. with general williams and professor brooke simpson and frank i see frank all the time. but professor simpson, especially who's writing on us us grant. i know and admire. it's very august company for me to be among. even if i can claim that i went to high school with brooke simpson. but didn't meet him until today. but the truth is that the only reason i'm privileged to be up here today. is because of my name? it's an accident

and please stand to join us as we honor the late ulysses s grant with a formal wreath ceremony. from the grant monument association, presidents are today by frank scaturro. the second wreath is from the grant family, presented today by ulysses grant dietz. the third refix from the national park service presented today by ramon benoit. the fourth reef ulysses grant dietz. the third refix from the national park service presented today by ramon benoit. the fourth wreath is presented by our current president joseph r. biden and it will be presented by lieutenant general daryl eight williams from west point. please remain standing for the rightful salute and taps. [inaudible] [inaudible] [noise] [noise] [noise] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [inaudible] >> now the benediction by reverend grant. >> this is a american moment. if ever we needed leadership, we sure do need it now, and the example of ulysses s grant. and so we come together today andifc so we come together today and before we go up to the throne in prayer, we have to thank god that we are in person before we go up to

ulysses grant dietz. great great grandson of ulysses s grant and julia grant he is a trustee of the ulysses s. grant presidential library. at the mississippi state university and he is also a trustee of the society of presidential descendants. so we will now have words from the family member of ulysses s grant. so when i gave my speech at the rededication of this tomb 25 years ago. it was just this cold and windy. i'm really pleased and i'm really honored to be here today in person. to honor the bicentennial birthday of my great-great-grandfather ulysses s grant and i'm really grateful to the national park service for inviting me back. i'm even more honored to be up here. with general williams and professor brooke simpson and frank i see frank all the time. but professor simpson, especially who's writing on us us grant. i know and admire. it's very august company for me to be among. even if i can claim that i went to high school with brooke simpson. but didn't meet him until today. but the truth is that the only reason i'm privileged to be up here today. is because of my name? it's an accident

that's ulysses s grant. hat's the way you've presented ulysses s grant, there will be no turning back. [applause] out all summer on this line if that's what it takes and of course it took all summer all fall he then writes himself and says i intend to find out all summer on this line, if that's what it takes. and of course it takes all summer, all, follow winter, until 1865. i should note for the deaths, for what it's worth, when we were in some really tough greats, and the casualties were very difficult, we had a particularly horrific day. 150 innocent iraqi civilians killed in three separate market bombings. we had last soldiers, the iraqis headless soldiers. it was about as bad as it got. i remember the story, again, of shiloh, and that first night. just recounted that to those that were in the command post, except that i also added the cigar that he had in his mouth when truman came up and said, but we had the devils own day today, didn't we grant? grant said, yep, look like them tomorrow, though. that be

why the ulysses s. grant monument was the largest muslim in north america why it was actually the single greatest tourist attraction in new york city for a long time and why the people of that era of venerated grant regard it was born wonder he was considered to be part of this holy trinity of american greats that included george washington and abraham lincoln and i think that at this moment of racial reckoning that going through i think they were actually in a perfect position to appreciate grant anew everyone in this room knows that he was the victoria's general in the in the civil war, but i want to talk about what his role was with the african-american community because during the war grant became the chief figure in recruiting equipping and train african-americans, we had nearly 200,000 african-americans fought in this civil war many of them having been born into slavery and that really i think provided, you know, a decisive edge grant like all of the union generals was at first quite skeptical about the

the day, as we celebrate three significant events, all related, the 200th anniversary of ulysses s grant's birth, the 100th anniversary of this grant memorial, and the dedication of the incredible restoration of this monument that was finished in 2020. we have a distinguished group of speakers. senator roy blunt, our hero, who i am going to introduce first. architect of the capital, brett plantain, who oversaw the restoration and oversees the capital, and distinguished historian ron white. so, now you know what is going to happen. let me present see you our first speaker. senator roy blunt built on his background as a public service servants, a university presidents, and the history teacher. the people of missouri elected him to the united states senator in 2010. you shares the senate republican policy committee. he is the ranking member of the senate rules committee. he is on the senate appropriations committee. the ranking member of the appropriate -- and if that is not enough. he is also on the senate congress committee, the science and transportation, and the senate select committee on

all the living dead, the three greatest americans are george washington, abraham lincoln, and ulysses s grant. but he didn't stop there. he went on to say, a second rank are benjamin franklin, alexander hamilton, andrew jackson, of second rank. so this is the way theodore roosevelt understood ulysses s grant in 1900. i am so pleased that in 2022, we are restoring him to his rightful place. as my editor said, when we talked about doing a grand biography, don't you think grant is different upgrade? >> yes he is. thank you very much. >> doctor white, you are as good a storyteller in person as you are when you read the book. president grant comes alive, both in the challenges and in the opportunity. today we gather as part of our understanding of public memory, the capital historical society is dedicated to ensuring that our public memory is presented in a way to inspire informed patriotism. mr. plantain, thank you for your work. thank you for your creation, and dedication to recreate the statue to the gloria belongs. we think senator blunt for sponsoring us to be here, for sponsoring the legisla

washington abraham lincoln and ulysses s grant but he didn't stop there. he went on to say of second rank or benjamin franklin. alexander hamilton andrew jackson of second rank so this is the way theodore roosevelt understood ulysses s grant in 1900 i'm so pleased that in 2022. we are restoring him to his rightful place as my editor said when we talked about doing a grant biography don't you think grants do for an upgrade? yes, he is. thank you very much. dr. white you are as good a storyteller in person as you are when you read the book. president grant comes alive both in the challenges and in the opportunities today we gather as part of our understanding of public memory the capital historical society is dedicated. to ensuring that our public memory is presented in a way to inspire inform patriotism? mr. blanton, thank you for your work. thank you for your creation and dedication to recreate this statue to the glory it belongs. we thank senator blunt for sponsoring us to be here for sponsoring the legislation. we thank senator brown. congresswoman ann wa

screaming and when he went there he got the appointment and they said well you have the appointment ulysses s. grant and he said no my name is hiram ulysses grant and they said you can only get this appointment if you're name is ulysses s. grant so his name became ulysses s. grant and the s stands for nothing. his name was really hiram and then he changed his name. he kind of stunk in school. he was getting a lot of demerits but he was a really good horsemen and it turned out he was an excellent soldier and he showed that in the mexican-american war. he had some tough times. he went to the northwest territory and he was really lonely and started drinking as some lonely soldiers might do and he was like. he could not hold his liquor that well and he got busted by a commander, drunk and he said either you resign your post or we will court-martial you so he resigned. he went back to illinois and went into this spiral where he was bad at farming and bad in the leather building business and he's finally selling firewood out of the back of a cart to make money. three years after that he was the head of un

screaming and when he went there he got the appointment and they said well you have the appointment ulysses s. grant and he said no my name is hiram ulysses grant and they said you can only get this appointment if you're name is ulysses s. grant so his name became ulysses s. grant and the s stands for nothing. his name was really hiram and then he changed his name. he kind of stunk in school. he was getting a lot of demerits but he was a really good horsemen and it turned out he was an excellent soldier and he showed that in the mexican-american war. he had some tough times. he went to the northwest territory and he was really lonely and started drinking as some lonely soldiers might do and he was like. he could not hold his liquor that well and he got busted by a commander, drunk and he said either you resign your post or we will court-martial you so he resigned. he went back to illinois and went into this spiral where he was bad at farming in that it the leather building business and he's finally selling firewood out of the back of a cart to make money. three years after that he was the head of un

on march 1st, 1871, the bill landed on president ulysses s grant's desk. he signed it without any fanfare. most newspapers reported on, it reported on his passage, were pretty much added and positive about it as we see from this from the new york herald. it was often reprinted across the nation. they saw it as something that was good for the country good for summer travelers that it was a wonderful place that the united states needed to keep and to protect they saw the national park movement as something that could only happen in america. some of them expressed directly. the passage of the bill it was great news for jake cook, who have course had lobbied for it. cook, along with hate in, is one of the major protagonist of my book. he grew up in ohio. he started working as a clerk in a bank while still in his teens. he was quick with numbers, he really grasp the complexities of business and banking. and by the civil war he opened up his own investment bank called jay cook and company. he made his reputation and his fortune during the civil war selling more

they talked about you know nominating ulysses s grant.t was lincoln himself, in fact, in august of 1864, he wrote a letter. he put it in an envelope and sealed it and signed it. he said, we are going to open this after the election. in the letter, he said that after i lose, that george mcclelland, the democratic candidate, i am going to cooperate with him between the election and the inauguration to try to save the union during those few months. he assumed he was going to lose the election. and it wasn't until the fall, when sherman captured atlanta and grant started pinning the confederate army down in virginia, the radical republicans that nominated their own candidate, because they thought lincoln wasn't liberal enough, john fremont had been a candidate in 1856. and later governor of the arizona territory. he withdrew from the recent september because he thought the union army is in victory. he thought if he stayed in the race it would split the republican party and elected democrat is going to preserve slavery. so it really wasn't unt

in may of 1864 after years of war and a string of reluctant union generals, ulysses s grant met general lee's forces at the battle of the wilderness. in two days of heavy fighting, the union suffered over 17,000 casualties. at the end of that battle, general grant faced a choice . most assumed the previous union -- most assumed he would do what previous union generals had done and retreat. grant road to the head of the column, he wrote to the intersection and there as the man of his army watched and waited, instead of turning north back towards washington and safety, grant turned his horse south toward richmond and the heart of lee's army refusing to retreat, he pressed on to victory. lincoln and grant and all who fought in our nation's tragic civil war, including my own great great grandfathers saved our union. their courage saved freedom and if we listen closely, they are speaking to us down the generations, we must not idly squander what so many have fought and died for. america has meant so much to so many because we are the best hope of freedom on earth. last week, a gentleman came

so things began to change a little bit when ulysses s grant was elected in 1868. grant had been a career military man who quit the army in the years before the civil war floundered around a bit trying to find his way before rejoining the military during the civil war and here he found his real talent, which was planning military campaigns and leading men into battle after the war. he served as the general of the armies for johnson profoundly disagreed with johnson on most matters involving reconstruction and really wanted to honor abraham lincoln who is a friend of his and whose vision for the future of the south for black equality and black voting. he did support. he also wanted to honor the sacrifice of so many of the us soldiers who had fought for the union, you know, who he had led into battle and who had died under his watch. he was having none of it from the white southerners. he was had very little tolerance for them. very little sympathy for them. he saw their resistance to federal measures and to the 14th and 15th amendments as a renewed rebellion against

and the famous duel between ulysses s grant and robert e lee. the big showdown between in each case the best general that each side had i think this campaign has been more misunderstood and misinterpreted than maybe any other campaign in the civil war. i think the reason reason is because of expectations. you know today in politics you would see say there's a presidential campaign. the primary campaign is going on and several candidates are seeking the nomination of one of the parties and they're coming up on one of the nominating the primers the state primary and you'll typically you'll hear some politicians say oh if i finish in the top three, that will be a win that if i to finish in the top three, i'll be very happy or something like that. and of course, he's trying to manage expectations. because if he does that successfully and if people and the press and so forth buy it, yeah top three finishes a win for him and he finishes number two, you know. oh wow, that's great. you know he exceeded expectations. but on the other hand if he doesn't b

but abraham lincoln and ulysses s grant don't fit into a neat category. there was an essay in the national review about how rant was the forgotten president and a civil rights president. grant's reputation has been rehabbed for the last generation after a century where he was denigrated by professional historians. i think he got a raw deal. host: you get an idea of what we will you talking about with martin di caro and his "history as it happens" podcast. we will be taking your phone calls in a minute. (202) 748-8001 four republicans, (202) 748-8000 four democrats and (202) 748-8002 four independents. you can send a text message into (202) 748-8003. that is for text messages only. why a podcast? why not a live radio show, why a podcast? host: i think you can do more with the podcast. you have more time to prepare it. if you are doing a weekly radio show that is different. if you do a daily call in show it is a different dynamic. this way, i can think about a subject, find the right guess, listen back to the interview. i can edit, i can do postproduction wh

ulysses s. grantfor the time being had seen enough killing although estimates vary provide best guess is 13,000 federal soldiers became casualties between june 15 and 18th. confederate casualty figures are even more murky but my guess is about 2500 to 3000 became casualties as well. about 10:00 that evening george meade sent a summary of today's actions to grant including expressing great or get i'm not able to report adding i believe every effort in my command has been made. grant immediately replied with condemnation i'm perfectly satisfied he wrote that all that has been done could be done. of course that was far from the truth. until the rival the first troops from lee's army in the morning of june 18 grants army grew as much as 5-1 despite confederate earthworks. a few weeks later so they confessed to his trusted staff officer that i should have taken petersburg that had reason to calculate the success but he didn't, but he didn't. why? i think the primary cause was a federal failure and the cond

grover cleveland birthplace memorial association and author of grant's tomb, the epic death of ulysses s grant and the making of an american pantheon, and nicola longford, executive director of the sixth floor museum at dealey plaza. and nicola, thank you so much for welcoming so many of our guests the other day to your wonderful museum. please welcome us and our panel as we continue the morning's program. [applause] >> well, yeah, thank you so much, stewart. as stewart mentioned, he and i have had the chance to work [noise] in the past, both at the red cross. stuart was just an absolutely remarkable head of the reagan centennial in 2011. he has saved me from one disaster after another, whether at the red cross or at the reagan library. wonderful to be with you all this morning. you know, i had a little trepidation when stewart told me that what he wanted me to discuss at his panel is death, destruction, tragedy, i thought, okay, this will be quite a challenge. but when i saw who our panelists were that you will be hearing from this morning, it's really -- i think you are going to learn a lot.

groveland cleveland birthplace memorial association and author of grant's tomb the epic death of ulysses s grant and the making of an american pantheon. and nicola longford executive director of the sixth floor museum at dealey plaza, nicola. thank you for welcoming. so many of our guests the other day to your wonderful museum, please welcome us. and our panel as we continue the mornings program. thank you so much stewart as stuart mentioned he and i've had the chance to work. in the past both at the red cross and stuart was just an absolutely remarkable head of the reagan centennial in 2011. he has saved me from one disaster another weather at the right. for at the reagan library wonderful to be with you all this morning. i you know, i had a little trepidation when stuart told me that what he wanted me to discuss with our panels is death and destruction and tragedy and and i thought okay this this will be quite a challenge but when i saw who are pan were that shall be hearing from this morning? it's it's really this is i think you're going to learn a lot and this you'll find this to be a real p

up next on american history tv, a look at the 18th president of the united states, ulysses s grant, whosident grant at his new york burial place. in 1959 the management of the national park service. >> good morning, thank you for joining us and general grant national memorial for a celebration of ulysses s grant's bicentennial birthday. in 1959, the management of the national park service was transferred to the national park service and renamed it general grant national memorial. since then, we dedicated and preserving the

on the federal side this vote was carried and uncaring $2.6 million and is supposed to go to ulysses s grant army, these boxes are where they are supposed to be but they won't be there for long. within minutes the whole canon is engulfed in flames in the passengers went to the front of the ship and they were very precious commodities. within 20 minutes the other portions of this has fallen into the hall. and crashing and was all of the money meanwhile, the wake shifted off course and they threatened the lives of everybody aboard ship rated so the passengers in and felt like it was safer to be in the water than that safer. but is that there long enough for him to do so. and they want to stop the ship from burning and stop the money from literally going up in smoke. in encircling the steamer in the darkness turn the bright and the spokes hickory cinched and sweat melded together as fear became possible braided the passengers continue and they were crashing into it and others testify against the ship again and he thought this was the safer option the combination of coal and wood was so intense

they might go back to ulysses s grant. they don't stay on topic. they don't watch the news.hey must not watch the news. some of the stuff they are talking about has already been in the news. it's already been proven to be wrong and they are still saying it. then they talk too long. bye-bye. host: next up is rad in kentucky on the independent line. -- brad in kentucky. caller: i wish i could be confident in the news. what biden has done here, i don't know if he comprehends what he has done. he has set us down at half it could spin out of control very quickly. using federal troops on a former president. it's a pretty bad move. this is something that his gone -- it's an attack on the peaceful transfer of power. it's the insurrection that people find january 6 was. it's an attack on the peaceful transfer of power. if one administration cannot transfer power to the next without fear that federal agents will be rifling through their clothes, there is no peaceful transfer of power. lincoln did not send federal troops to chase the confederates down. johnson and grant did not do so.

she sees herself as ulysses s. grant but she never will be, her mustache just isn't thick enough.sn't! i said it isn't! but let's just hope if she is ever a wartime president her troops have better aim than her father. be 20 [scattered applause]he shot somf you don't know. but man, even her metaphors -- her metaphors are linked to war. she sure seems obsessed with it. did someone sink a battleship when she was a kid? you know, there's nothing stopping you from moving to ukraine, liz. but will she run for president? i bet that the decision she's going to make in the coming months. >> that's a decision i'm going to make in the coming months and i'm not going to make any announcements or this morning but it is something that i'm thinking about. if >> greg: if she wins it will be the first time in u.s. history that a father and daughter both held office as president. how delusional is she? she is a republican and republicans hate her more than they hate children. [scattered laughter] i guess losing an election in a state that has 82 people in it and 79 of them are republicans would be

summit and in 1868 they voted 500,000 black men cast their ballots for the republican party we say ulysses s grantpopular bow by just over 300,000 votes so black people said they elected a president of the united states through the popular vote but the most important point in reconstruction was the manifestation of power through the ballot was south carolina with the construction election the house of representatives secretary of state was black, secretary of treasury was black. and in the racist film the most ever made, we tend to think it was about slavery. but it wasn't. it was reconstruction it was the people of reconstruction and the evil to give black men the right to vote remember that famous scene they were in the legislature? with their feet up? eating chicken bones and then they all stand up and cheer and they said made legal. [laughter] it was terrible. >> it was horrible. >> so thank you friends - - asking the question and you can see the power of the church in politics. and often in christianity accuses religion to be the opiate of the people and as i write in the book there is more t

and ulysses s. grant, another american president. ay of 1864, after years of war and a string of reluctant union general, ulysses s. grant met general lee's forces at the elths of battle of wilderness. most assumed he would do what previous union general his done and retreat. on the evening of may 7th grant began to move as the battle still smolderred and grant rode it to the end of the column and on the intersection of black road, and there as the men watched and waited, instead of, and grant turn his horse south and the heart of the army. she said lincoln and grant in our own great-great grandfather saved our union. their courage saved. >> i quoted a leg,y chairman of mensa and you'd have to be a moron which to say i'm running for president. maybe not in 2024, but at some point that's the prize that her eyes are on. i wonder a, do you agree, what are the things that has to happen for liz cheney to be applausible candidate, i should say? >> well, i'm a huge fan. i admire her courage this which is tremendous and there's a difference b

focusing especially, now today, on the action in may, june and the famous duel between ulysses s grant and robert e. lee. the big showdown between the best generals that each side had. i think this campaign has been more misunderstood, more misinterpreted than maybe any other campaign in the civil war. i think the reason is because of expectations. today in politics you would see, a presidential campaign or primary campaign going on. several candidates are seeking the nomination of one of the parties, and they're coming up on one of the nominating primaries the state primaries -- typically you'll hear some politicians say, if i finish in the top three, that will be a win. if i could finish in the top three than i would be happy, or something like that. of, course trying to manage expectations. if he does that successfully, and if people and the press so forth by it, yeah, top three finishes a win for him. if you finishes number two, and that's great! he exceeded expectations. but, on the other hand, if he doesn't bother to manage expectations or if he is not successful at it, people do