Ulysses S. Grant Quotes
No personal consideration should stand in the way of performing a public duty.
The Treasury Secretary had discovered a massive fraud between some whiskey distillers and some government officials whereby the government was defrauded of millions of dollars of tax revenue. One of the Federal officials Bristow wanted to indict was O. E. Babcock, the President’s personal secretary and advisor. Bristow marshaled the facts and sent a report to Grant who wrote the quoted material in the margin of the report and sent it back to Bristow. Despite Grant’s lack of personal involvement and his immediate willingness to prosecute his close friend and colleague, the stain of scandal spread to Grant and to this day is a part of any discussion of his presidency.
Ulysses S. Grant, 1822-1885, 18th President of the United States (Republican, OH), Handwritten instruction to Treasury Secretary Benjamin H. Bristow, July 29, 1875
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Society of Cincinnati was formed just after the Revolutionary War by officers of the army, to perpetuate friendships, to aid each other and the widows and orphans of members, and to honor their French allies and comrades:
Shortly before his inauguration, Grant was arrested for driving his horses on Pennsylvania Avenue in excess of the speed limit. The presiding judge, Charles Walter, fined the President-elect ten dollars. Later, when Walter's commission came up for renewal, Grant was reminded that Walter had fined him; others, more respectful to the President, waited anxiously to be appointed Justice of the Police Court of the District of Columbia. Grant said:
Ulysses S. Grant was an American military leader who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As president, Grant was an effective civil rights executive who created the Justice Department and worked with the Radical Republicans during Reconstruction to protect African Americans. As Commanding General, he led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War in 1865 and thereafter briefly served as Secretary of War.
