Lost in the Translation
By Paul Bacon

A scrawny, sensitive boy, young Ulysses Grant bristled at his father's insistence that he attend West Point. He grew an astounding six inches at the academy and emerged a confident leader of men. Employing brilliant tactics as head of the Union forces in the Civil War, he defeated the Confederate Army with such skill that his nemesis Robert E. Lee proclaimed him the greatest general in history.

His war hero status practically drafted Grant into the nation's highest office, but in his political naivete, he epitomized the vulnerability of the beleaguered nation. While rigidly incorruptible himself, his administration was plagued by a greedy and opportunistic cabinet. Like the Northern "carpet-baggers" who preyed upon Southern desperation to turn a quick profit, so did Grant's executive officers exploit his loyalty and woeful lack of governmental acumen for personal gain. By the end of his second term, every one of his executive offices had been placed under Congressional investigation for a variety of scandals.

"I did not want the presidency," Grant once wrote. "I have never forgiven myself for resigning the command of the army to accept it . . . War and politics are so different."