Ulysses S. Grant

It is at this point that I have decided to modify my project. I originally intended to spotlight the 5 best presidents and the 5 worst Ohio presidents. I have decided since the class is Ohio History I should highlight all 8 of Ohio's presidents. So instead of comparing the way I had planned to I have laid groundwork for 3 of the top 5 and will use that as my comparison route. This way all of Ohio's president's get recognition and can be compared side by side as well as by some of the best for a different perspective.
Ulysses S. Grant was one of the best war generals this country has ever seen. Grant was best known for his control on horseback and as early as age nine people asked him for help training their animals. Grant also had a superstition that he needed to retrace his steps which proved pivotal in the Civil War. Grant was also one of the most composed men on the battlefield. Shells would explode all around him and he would not bat an eyelash(Diane Meives).
During the war, Grant's bold nature led to some unrest with his troops, but also led him to many key wins throughout the course of the war. Grant came known to accept nothing from his opponents but "an unconditional and immediate surrender. Grant won a key battle in Vicksburg and divided the confederate army into two. After many key wins, Grant became the number one general and maneuvered the generals so brilliantly that the end of the war seemed near at hand. The war concluded when Grant beat Lee at Petersburg.(Ulysses S. Grant The Hero of the Civil War).
While Grant enjoyed great military success, his presidential success was near nonexistent. Many major events took place while he was in office, but many of them were controversial or wrapped in scandal. One such scandal was the Black Friday Scandal. Grant was a big supporter of gold backed money. What took place was Jay Gould and Jim Fisk were lookign to make a large profit off of gold by aquiring large amounts and then selling it when it was most profitable for them. They talked Grant's brother-in-law to help them and they convinced Grant to name Gneral Butterfield as treasurer. Butterfield kept track of gold and told them when to buy or sell. When the price of gold then fell, panic insued, prices destabilized, and foreign markets almost halted, while the stock market almost crashed(Black Friday).
Grant's presidency also faced the vredit mobilier scandal in which Oakes Ames, who had bought inti the credit mobilier to make the Union Pacific Railroad, took advantage of the construction. The credit mobilier created the railroad at a highly inflated rate and even at times "built" a section of the railroad twice, and ended up making $23 million for a crummy railroad(This Week in Legal History). Another scandal that Grant's presidency faced was the whiskey ring scandal in which liquor sellers taxed as high as eight times the value of the liquor, and was maintained through the bribing of government officials. When Grant's secretary, Orville Babcock, was accused of being a part of it many people saw this as an attempt to fraudulently fund the Republican party(Whiskey Ring Scandal). Grant's presidency also faced the Belknap scandal and the panic of 1873. With the fall of Jay Cooke and his work on the Northern Pacific Railroad a series of events soon encompassed the nation. Banks failed, factories closed, credits dried, and the stock exchange closed. With these events Grant's presidency took a hit as the government faced unregulated growth and a lack of stopping company abuses(Panic of 1873).

Ulysses S. Grant Memorial
Honoring the man as the great war general he was, but not as the failure president.