July 2, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Louis Picone tells the story of how Grant's Memoirs came to be.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. And up next
a story about Ulysses S. Grant by Lewis Pecone, author
of Grant's Tomb, The Epic Death of Ulysses S. Grant,
and the Making of an American Pantheon. Today, Lewis shares
with us the story of how Grant's memoirs, considered the
best presidential memoirs ever written, came to be Take it away, Lewis.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
After his presidency, Grant almost immediately departed on a tour
that was supposed to be just for Europe. He was
going to travel all around Europe basically as long as
his interest and money held out, he ended up extending
that trip all through Europe, into Africa, all through Asia,
and for two and a half years he had traveled
(00:57):
the world, never came back to America. From May eighteen
seventy seven until September of eighteen seventy nine is when
he landed back in America, and everywhere he went Grant
was treated like a global celebrity, like royalty. There was parades,
there was military honors given to him. He met with kings,
(01:19):
he met with royalty, so he was really given a
hero's welcome. Wherever he went, and when he came back
to America, his popularity was as high as it's ever been.
And this was a time when America was still greatly
divided after the Civil War. This was only fifteen eighteen
(01:40):
years after the Civil War. Reconstruction had ended when Rutherford B.
Hayes had taken office, but the North and South were
still greatly divided. But Grant was the most popular man
in America and really perhaps the world due to this tour.
But he was also perhaps the one figure that was
admired by all sections and was really a unifier. He
(02:04):
was beloved by Democrats and Republicans, by Northerners and Southerners,
by whites.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And African Americans, by men and women. In the North.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
He was a savior of the Union. He was a
liberator of four million enslaved.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
But even in the South he was beloved. And it's
just it's.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Fascinating to think about that, because he was the victorious
general that defeated the South in the Civil War. But
he was beloved because he was magnanimous. He had given
generous terms to Roberty Lee at Appomattox, but also all
throughout the war he was known for treating Southerners with compassion,
whether they were captured soldiers or whether they were Southern citizens.
(02:43):
But presidents didn't have pensions until Truman, and Grant had
spent most of his money that he earned as presidency
in entertaining at the White House. Presidents usually used to
pick up most of the tab for entertaining at the
White House. When he left office at he took his
worldwide tour. Most of that was paid for by investments
with a Virginia mining company that he had done very
(03:06):
well with after the comstock loads.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
But he was by no means wealthy.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
He had wealthy patrons that had been very generous with him.
They had given him a home in Long Branch as
well as given him a home in New York City,
which in the Gilded Age that didn't really raise any
eyebrows as it would nowadays. But in eighteen eighty four
Grant had suffered two traumatic setbacks.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
In the spring, he was healthy and wealthy.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Besides his generous manufactors, he had received enormous guilded age
profits from his investments with a firm Grant and Ward.
So one of the partners was his son and the
other one was a man named Ferdinand Ward, and the
profits they had achieved were really astronomical. So Grant was
the wealthiest that he ever was in his life at
the beginning of eighteen eighty four, but by the fall
(03:58):
he was not only bankrupt, but he was mortally ill.
He had found out that the investments were part of
a Ponzi scheme, and Grant had gone almost instantaneously from
being wealthy and having no concerns about money to now
he was bankrupt. And not only bankrupt, he was deeply
in debt. And then in October, just a couple months later,
(04:18):
he was diagnosed with inoperable throat and tongue cancer, which
at the time, a diagnosis of cancer was pretty much
a death sentence. So Grant's number one concern at this
point became to make sure that he didn't die, leaving
his family financially destituted. So Grant decided to publish his memoirs,
(04:42):
with a number one goal to raise that money for
his beloved wife, Julia and his children. By this point,
Civil War memoirs had become somewhat of a cottage industry.
They were very popular, and privates all the way up
to generals were writing their memoirs and making profits.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
But Grant Grant was like the white whale.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
He was the victorious general that people most wanted to
hear from, and publishing companies were after him to write
his memoirs. He had always declined it didnt consider himself
to be a very good writer, and he didn't need
the money before. But now his situation had totally changed.
So immediately after getting that diagnosis, he went straight to
(05:26):
the Century Publishing. Now, for years, Century Publishing had been
after Grant to write his memoirs. Now he had a
relationship with Century Publishing over the years. He had written
some small articles about individual battles. So he went to them.
He didn't tell him why, but he said, I'm ready
to write my memoirs and they were thrilled. But they
presented Grant with a publishing contract that was pretty much
(05:50):
a standard contract at the time. It was the same
contract they probably would have given any author that they'd
work with at the time. So Grant luckily didn't sign
the contract. What he did is that he took the
contract home. Now, by this point, Grant had developed a
friendship with Mark Twain, who was probably perhaps the second most.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Popular man in America at this time.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It's kind of like an interesting friendship because Twain had
actually briefly served in the Confederate Army. So Twain came
to visit Grant at his New York City brownstone and
Grant showed him the contract. Now, Twain had recently started
his own publishing company, which was Charles L. Webster and Company.
(06:37):
Twain looked at the contract and was astonished that Century
would have offered such a meager contract, such a standard
meager contract, to someone like Grant.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
So Twain had told him, why don't you publish your
book with my publishing company.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I will give you a much better contract and really
do as much as possible to guarantee that Julia was
well taken care of after you died. So it turns
out the first book that Twain's publishing company ever published
was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and the second book
(07:14):
that he published.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Was Grant's Memoirs.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right away, Grant started to write, and as he was writing,
his health began to deteriorate. Over the next eight months,
he continued to write as he was in great physical pain.
Soon he was struggling to swallow and his weight plummeted.
He was struggling to speak. He got to the point
that he could no longer dictate his memoirs, so he
had to write his thoughts and his memoirs by hand.
(07:40):
After a while, his doctors started to grow concerned that
writing the memoirs were the only thing that we're keeping
Grant alive.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
They became his will.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
To live and this was really the final and perhaps
the greatest battle of Grant's life to finish these memoirs
with an impending death. So after eight months of write
he finally put his finishing touches on his memoirs on
July nineteenth, and just four days later, Grant died. The
(08:12):
entire country was basically on death watch with Grant. Once
the press found out about Grant about the fact that
he was sick, which a family tried to keep it secret,
the press had had some clues and they started to
gather outside of his home. This became national front page
news almost every day, where the public was kept deprized
(08:33):
of Grant's health, and they knew he was writing his
memoirs to gain this financial security. But the fact is
if the book wasn't good, it wouldn't have sold there
was no great revelations in the book. It's not like
Grant had told anything that the public really wasn't aware of.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
But it was Grant's voice.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
It was his authentic, plain speaking voice, his humility, his
humor that was in there that had never been conveyed
by a president before, and was just so much better
than the other Civil War memoirs due.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
To his perspective as the victorious general.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I mean, it wasn't only considered a great Civil War memoir,
it is widely considered the greatest presidential memoir or memoir
by a president that's ever been written in history. And
it's just fascinating because he'd never written before, he never
wrote a book before. Well, it was the largest amount
(09:30):
that had ever been earned by an author up until
that time. No other author in history had ever earned
what Julia had earned on behalf of Grant. The royalties
ended up being between about four hundred and twenty to
four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Now in today's money,
that's about twelve to thirteen million dollars. What this meant
(09:50):
was that Julia, who lived another seventeen years after Grant,
never had to worry about money for the rest of
her life, all because of Grant's final battle in his memoirs.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
And a great job on the production by Monte Montgomery,
and a special thanks to Lewis Picone his book Grant's Tomb.
Go to Amazon or the usual suspects and pick it up.
What a life and what a way to end life?
My goodness, looking at an impending death, pushing out a
book that Mark Twain publishes, and my goodness, not a
(10:26):
bad track record from Mark Twain. His first two Huck
Finn and then Grant's memoirs. And by the way, pick
up Grant's memoirs. You can't stop reading them. It's not
like reading presidential memoirs today with five ghostwriters. Grant's memoirs
Here on our American Stories.
And we continue with our American stories. And up next
a story about Ulysses S. Grant by Lewis Pecone, author
of Grant's Tomb, The Epic Death of Ulysses S. Grant,
and the Making of an American Pantheon. Today, Lewis shares
with us the story of how Grant's memoirs, considered the
best presidential memoirs ever written, came to be Take it away, Lewis.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
After his presidency, Grant almost immediately departed on a tour
that was supposed to be just for Europe. He was
going to travel all around Europe basically as long as
his interest and money held out, he ended up extending
that trip all through Europe, into Africa, all through Asia,
and for two and a half years he had traveled
(00:57):
the world, never came back to America. From May eighteen
seventy seven until September of eighteen seventy nine is when
he landed back in America, and everywhere he went Grant
was treated like a global celebrity, like royalty. There was parades,
there was military honors given to him. He met with kings,
(01:19):
he met with royalty, so he was really given a
hero's welcome. Wherever he went, and when he came back
to America, his popularity was as high as it's ever been.
And this was a time when America was still greatly
divided after the Civil War. This was only fifteen eighteen
(01:40):
years after the Civil War. Reconstruction had ended when Rutherford B.
Hayes had taken office, but the North and South were
still greatly divided. But Grant was the most popular man
in America and really perhaps the world due to this tour.
But he was also perhaps the one figure that was
admired by all sections and was really a unifier. He
(02:04):
was beloved by Democrats and Republicans, by Northerners and Southerners,
by whites.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And African Americans, by men and women. In the North.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
He was a savior of the Union. He was a
liberator of four million enslaved.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
But even in the South he was beloved. And it's
just it's.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Fascinating to think about that, because he was the victorious
general that defeated the South in the Civil War. But
he was beloved because he was magnanimous. He had given
generous terms to Roberty Lee at Appomattox, but also all
throughout the war he was known for treating Southerners with compassion,
whether they were captured soldiers or whether they were Southern citizens.
(02:43):
But presidents didn't have pensions until Truman, and Grant had
spent most of his money that he earned as presidency
in entertaining at the White House. Presidents usually used to
pick up most of the tab for entertaining at the
White House. When he left office at he took his
worldwide tour. Most of that was paid for by investments
with a Virginia mining company that he had done very
(03:06):
well with after the comstock loads.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
But he was by no means wealthy.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
He had wealthy patrons that had been very generous with him.
They had given him a home in Long Branch as
well as given him a home in New York City,
which in the Gilded Age that didn't really raise any
eyebrows as it would nowadays. But in eighteen eighty four
Grant had suffered two traumatic setbacks.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
In the spring, he was healthy and wealthy.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Besides his generous manufactors, he had received enormous guilded age
profits from his investments with a firm Grant and Ward.
So one of the partners was his son and the
other one was a man named Ferdinand Ward, and the
profits they had achieved were really astronomical. So Grant was
the wealthiest that he ever was in his life at
the beginning of eighteen eighty four, but by the fall
(03:58):
he was not only bankrupt, but he was mortally ill.
He had found out that the investments were part of
a Ponzi scheme, and Grant had gone almost instantaneously from
being wealthy and having no concerns about money to now
he was bankrupt. And not only bankrupt, he was deeply
in debt. And then in October, just a couple months later,
(04:18):
he was diagnosed with inoperable throat and tongue cancer, which
at the time, a diagnosis of cancer was pretty much
a death sentence. So Grant's number one concern at this
point became to make sure that he didn't die, leaving
his family financially destituted. So Grant decided to publish his memoirs,
(04:42):
with a number one goal to raise that money for
his beloved wife, Julia and his children. By this point,
Civil War memoirs had become somewhat of a cottage industry.
They were very popular, and privates all the way up
to generals were writing their memoirs and making profits.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
But Grant Grant was like the white whale.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
He was the victorious general that people most wanted to
hear from, and publishing companies were after him to write
his memoirs. He had always declined it didnt consider himself
to be a very good writer, and he didn't need
the money before. But now his situation had totally changed.
So immediately after getting that diagnosis, he went straight to
(05:26):
the Century Publishing. Now, for years, Century Publishing had been
after Grant to write his memoirs. Now he had a
relationship with Century Publishing over the years. He had written
some small articles about individual battles. So he went to them.
He didn't tell him why, but he said, I'm ready
to write my memoirs and they were thrilled. But they
presented Grant with a publishing contract that was pretty much
(05:50):
a standard contract at the time. It was the same
contract they probably would have given any author that they'd
work with at the time. So Grant luckily didn't sign
the contract. What he did is that he took the
contract home. Now, by this point, Grant had developed a
friendship with Mark Twain, who was probably perhaps the second most.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Popular man in America at this time.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It's kind of like an interesting friendship because Twain had
actually briefly served in the Confederate Army. So Twain came
to visit Grant at his New York City brownstone and
Grant showed him the contract. Now, Twain had recently started
his own publishing company, which was Charles L. Webster and Company.
(06:37):
Twain looked at the contract and was astonished that Century
would have offered such a meager contract, such a standard
meager contract, to someone like Grant.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
So Twain had told him, why don't you publish your
book with my publishing company.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I will give you a much better contract and really
do as much as possible to guarantee that Julia was
well taken care of after you died. So it turns
out the first book that Twain's publishing company ever published
was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and the second book
(07:14):
that he published.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Was Grant's Memoirs.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right away, Grant started to write, and as he was writing,
his health began to deteriorate. Over the next eight months,
he continued to write as he was in great physical pain.
Soon he was struggling to swallow and his weight plummeted.
He was struggling to speak. He got to the point
that he could no longer dictate his memoirs, so he
had to write his thoughts and his memoirs by hand.
(07:40):
After a while, his doctors started to grow concerned that
writing the memoirs were the only thing that we're keeping
Grant alive.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
They became his will.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
To live and this was really the final and perhaps
the greatest battle of Grant's life to finish these memoirs
with an impending death. So after eight months of write
he finally put his finishing touches on his memoirs on
July nineteenth, and just four days later, Grant died. The
(08:12):
entire country was basically on death watch with Grant. Once
the press found out about Grant about the fact that
he was sick, which a family tried to keep it secret,
the press had had some clues and they started to
gather outside of his home. This became national front page
news almost every day, where the public was kept deprized
(08:33):
of Grant's health, and they knew he was writing his
memoirs to gain this financial security. But the fact is
if the book wasn't good, it wouldn't have sold there
was no great revelations in the book. It's not like
Grant had told anything that the public really wasn't aware of.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
But it was Grant's voice.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
It was his authentic, plain speaking voice, his humility, his
humor that was in there that had never been conveyed
by a president before, and was just so much better
than the other Civil War memoirs due.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
To his perspective as the victorious general.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I mean, it wasn't only considered a great Civil War memoir,
it is widely considered the greatest presidential memoir or memoir
by a president that's ever been written in history. And
it's just fascinating because he'd never written before, he never
wrote a book before. Well, it was the largest amount
(09:30):
that had ever been earned by an author up until
that time. No other author in history had ever earned
what Julia had earned on behalf of Grant. The royalties
ended up being between about four hundred and twenty to
four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Now in today's money,
that's about twelve to thirteen million dollars. What this meant
(09:50):
was that Julia, who lived another seventeen years after Grant,
never had to worry about money for the rest of
her life, all because of Grant's final battle in his memoirs.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
And a great job on the production by Monte Montgomery,
and a special thanks to Lewis Picone his book Grant's Tomb.
Go to Amazon or the usual suspects and pick it up.
What a life and what a way to end life?
My goodness, looking at an impending death, pushing out a
book that Mark Twain publishes, and my goodness, not a
(10:26):
bad track record from Mark Twain. His first two Huck
Finn and then Grant's memoirs. And by the way, pick
up Grant's memoirs. You can't stop reading them. It's not
like reading presidential memoirs today with five ghostwriters. Grant's memoirs
Here on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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