Ulysses S. Grant

Eighteenth president, 1869–1877

Ulysses S. Grant was a West Point graduate who had no real ambition to be in the military: he wanted to be a teacher. Nonetheless, he served with distinction in the Mexican-American War. He resigned from the Army during peacetime but reenlisted during the Civil War. Following a series of victories, Grant was brought east by Lincoln to command the Union armies. His unrelenting campaign against Robert E. Lee, in 1864–65, finally won the war for the North.

Grant was ultimately elected president, but the powers of command he displayed in the army seemed to abandon him when he reached the White House. He was unable to manage the politics of Reconstruction, and his hands-off attitude spawned an outbreak of federal corruption.

Shortly after his presidency Grant posed for the artist Thomas Le Clear. Grant owned this version of the portrait, while a second, larger version entered the White House collection.