Comments on: War and Peace of Mind for Ulysses S. Grant

By: Smith Zonian

Smith Zonian — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:00:48 +0000

Some tidbits of trivia:

During his military career, Grant had few equals when it came to “roughing it” — it was reported he could curl up on bare ground during a driving rainstorm and still get a good night’s sleep.

Julia Grant had an eye condition called strabismus which sometimes made her appear cross-eyed. But when, after moving into the White House, she considered having corrective surgery, her ever-gallant “Ulyss” responded:

“Did I not see you and fall in love with you with these same eyes? I like them just as they are, and now, remember, you are not to interfere with them. They are mine, and let me tell you, Mrs. Grant, you had better not make any experiments, as I might not like you half so well with any other eyes.”

By: Gilbert King

Gilbert King — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 01:55:43 +0000

Mr. Babba, I didn’t state that Twain had filed bankruptcy yet–only that he’d already made a string of bad investments by 1884. He began sinking money into the Paige Compositor as early as 1881, and constant delays and missed deadlines saw him sink more and more into the project until the machine was rendered obsolete more than a decade later. In 1882, he’d also invested in the Fredonia Watch Company, and was bilked out of his money by the two Howard brothers of Fredonia, New York. And while writing Huckleberry Finn, he invested in a “hand grenade” that was supposed to extinguish fires, but instead, only helped the author burn through his cash.

By: Abba D. Babba

Abba D. Babba — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:26:10 +0000

Your chronology is off. Twain didn’t file for bankruptcy (as a result of the failed Paige Compositor) until 1894–nine years after he assisted Grant.

By: Liz Anderson

Liz Anderson — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:36:35 +0000

Excellent article, Gilbert.

By: Perry Block

Perry Block — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:02:19 +0000

Sorry to call you Karen, Gilbert! I stand corrected.

By: Perry Block

Perry Block — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:49:10 +0000

Karen, very nice to see Grant’s star and reputation rising after years of being considered one of the worst presidents ever. He always seemed to me to be a simple but noble man forever trying to do his best. I’ve also read that he overcame early feelings of antisemitism by learning about and coming to appreciate Jewish Americans and their concerns. Your pieces are always uniformly interesting and thorough, without hype. Thank you!

By: Crusader70

Crusader70 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:57:31 +0000

Spare us the American political partisan nonsense, President Obama’s money comes mainly from his own fine autobiography, written while he was attending Harvard Law School.

By: BrokenSymmetry

BrokenSymmetry — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:57:13 +0000

sad story but thankfully with a happy ending of sorts for his daughter. Grant seems a model of probity, contrast this with todays politicians, e.g. Obama being able to afford a $40million Hawaiian mansion after just one term.

By: Undine

Undine — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:30:30 +0000

Grant is one of my very favorite people in history, and this whole sad story of his last years always gets to me.

A very good book about his illness and the writing of his memoirs is “The Captain Departs,” by Thomas M. Pitkin.