A Great Civil War Hero and a Great Military Commander Whose Name is Case Study - 1

A Great Civil War Hero and a Great Military Commander Whose Name is Hiram Ulysses Simpson Grant - Case Study Example Grant is a complex man (Bartholomees, 2002, p. 133) filled with great contradictions. Drain, the executive producer of American Experience describes him as a man hailed from an educated family, yet a school bus; a man who hates violence and the sight of blood, yet had been a brutal commander (cited in Lasner, 2002, p. 20). A man devoid of any qualities of greatness yet had saved and united this nation. A man of constant failure yet in his not so distinct previous military career had earned President Lincoln’s trust and confidence against the opposition of many, had been able to tame and discipline the seemingly hopeless rowdy Illinois regimen, and had defeated Robert E. Lee’s forces, victoriously ending the bloody Southern rebellion (Goode, 1999, p. 330; Lasner, 2002, p. 20). An honest man yet his administration were best known for many scandals involving his own people – his secretary of war (William Belknap) and private secretary (Gen. Orville Babcock). Among t he major scandals that smeared his term were the Black Friday (September 24, 1869), Whiskey Ring (1875), and Belknap Bribery (1876). (Toppin, 2002, pp. 244-246) Also, a child of the frontier, a drunkard and a stern military commander, yet rarely swears using only the oath ‘doggone it’ and acts with ‘girlish modesty’. According to him, â€Å"no one had seen him naked since he was a boy.† (Goode, 1999, p.330) Civil War brought success to Grant from being a war hero to the White House, becoming the 18th and youngest US President serving two terms (1869-1877).