Ulysses S. Grant - Post presidency

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• Ulysses S. Grant - Reconstruction
• Ulysses S. Grant - Presidency 1869–1877
• Ulysses S. Grant - Post presidency

Post presidency

World Tour 1877-1879

After the end of his second term in the White House, Grant spent over two years traveling the world with his wife. He travelled first to Liverpool, England on board the Pennsylvania class steamship SS Indiana, subsequently visiting Scotland and Ireland; the crowds were huge. The Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and with Prince Bismarck in Germany. They also visited Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam (Thailand), and Burma. In Japan, they were cordially received by Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken at the Imperial Palace. Today in the Shibakoen section of Tokyo, a tree still stands that Grant planted during his stay.

In 1879, the Meiji government of Japan announced the annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. China objected, and Grant was asked to arbitrate the matter. He decided that Japan's claim to the islands was stronger and ruled in Japan's favor.

Grant returned to the United States from Japan on board the Pacific Mail steamship City of Tokio. That same year, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

Third Term attempt in 1880

In 1879, the "Stalwart" faction of the Republican Party led by Senator Roscoe Conkling sought to nominate Grant for a third term as president. He counted on strong support from the business men, the old soldiers, and the Methodist church. Publicly Grant said nothing, but privately he wanted the job and encouraged his men. His popularity was fading however, and while he received more than 300 votes in each of the 36 ballots of the 1880 convention, the nomination went to James A. Garfield. Grant campaigned for Garfield, who won by a very narrow margin. Grant supported his Stalwart ally Conkling against Garfield in the terrific battle over patronage in spring 1881 that culminated in Garfield's assassination.

Bankruptcy

In 1881, Grant purchased a house in New York City and placed almost all of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership with Ferdinand Ward, as suggested by Grant's son Buck (Ulysses, Jr.), who was having success on Wall Street. In 1884 Ward swindled Grant (and other investors who had been encouraged by Grant), bankrupted the company, Grant & Ward, and fled.

Last days

Grant learned at the same time that he was suffering from throat cancer. From the description given by doctors treating him, today it is believed that Grant suffered from a T₁N₁ carcinoma of the tonsillar fossa. Grant and his family were left destitute; at the time retired U.S. Presidents were not given pensions, and Grant had forfeited his military pension when he assumed the office of President. It was not until 1958 that Congress, feeling it inappropriate that a former president or his wife might be poverty-stricken, passed a bill granting a pension to such individuals, a practice that continues to this day. Grant first wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine, which were warmly received. Mark Twain offered Grant a generous contract for the publication of his memoirs, including 75% of the book's sales as royalties.

Terminally ill, Grant finished the book just a few days before his death. The Memoirs sold over 300,000 copies, earning the Grant family over $450,000. Twain promoted the book as "the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar," and Grant's memoirs are also regarded by such writers as Matthew Arnold and Gertrude Stein as among the finest ever written.

Ulysses S. Grant died at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, 1885, at the age of 63 in Mount McGregor, Saratoga County, New York. His last word was a request, "Water." His body lies in New York City's Riverside Park, beside that of his wife, in Grant's Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America.

In memoriam

• In World War II, the United States produced a tank known as the Grant tank (an upgrade of the American M3 "Lee").

• Grant's portrait appears on the U.S. fifty-dollar bill.

• The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., honors Grant.

• Grant Park in Chicago honors Grant.

• Grant Avenue, a nine block long, north-south street in the Bronx, New York, is named after Grant. It is parallel and adjacent to Sherman Avenue.

• Dupont Street, the main thoroughfare in San Francisco's Chinatown, was renamed Grant Avenue in his honor. The famous dragon gate at the entrance to the district is at the corner of Grant and Bush Street.

• Grant, depicted riding a horse, is honored by a statue at the intersection of Bedford Avenue, Rogers Avenue and Dean Street in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y.

• There is a U.S. Grant Bridge over the Ohio River at Portsmouth, Ohio.

• There is a U.S. Grant Memorial Highway (US 52) in Cincinnati, Ohio.

• Counties in twelve U.S. states are named after Grant: Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Grant Parish, Louisiana. Note: Grant Counties in Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin were named after other Grants, not Ulysses Grant.

• Fort Grant in Panama, and Fort Grant, Arizona were named for Ulysses S. Grant.

References

Portions of this document are extracted from Wikipedia:Ulysses S. Grant and as such all text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Some content, where noted, may be copyright protected.