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"GRANT: A BIOGRAPHY" (WILLIAM S. MCFEELY).   Term Paper ID:20162 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Career & personality of military leader & president.... More...

6 Pages / 1350 Words 1 sources, 10 Citations, MLA Format $24.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Career & personality of military leader & president. Paper Introduction: William S. McFeely in his book Grant: A Biography presents a picture of Ulysses S. Grant as both a military leader and a politician, showing his strengths and weaknesses in each area and relating Grant's performance to the forces of his time. Indeed, this book shows not only the dynamics of Grant's personality but also examines some of the myths of the age in which he lived and some of our present-day attitudes toward that age. He notes at the outset, for instance, that the Civil War was an occasion for Grant and his colleagues to expend their energies in a way otherwise not allowed. McFeely writes: "Grant's story yields a troubling picture of an America, often represented as in a period of boundless opportunity, that offered him and thousands of men like him no chance for fulfillment other than war" (xiii). McFeely says that Grant had come close to failure, and once he Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Indeed, this book shows not only the dynamics ofGrant's personality but also examines some of the myths of the age in whichhe lived and some of our present-day attitudes toward that age. Grant is seen by McFeely as a silent hero who loved the sound of thecrowd, and he portrays the hero as a man who basked in the glory he hadachieved and who became a politician largely in order to see that theapplause continued. McFeely finds that Grant was restless by nature (11), a trait thatwould energize him as both a military man and a political leader. However, success in war alsomeant that the war ended, and another arena had to be found in which Grantcould excel. He did not seem to understand the dynamics ofgovernment and had few advisers who were of any value. McFeely sees Grant as a man with great inner strength, aman who was able to draw on this inner strength in his dealings with othersoldiers and with political leaders alike: "It was logical that he shouldgain--and regain--command of the Army of the Tennessee, and then go on tocommand of the armies of the west and finally of all the Union armies. Indeed, McFeely finds this to be the case and says that a sense ofstatecraft was lacking in Grant: "He spent an inordinate amount of time onappointments to petty offices, in an endless attempt to balance staterepresentation and placate party factions. This made him a formidablecandidate, but it did not make him a formidable leader on the politicalsphere. The picture McFeely creates of Grant is of a man enjoying the sweepof history of which he was a part, becoming a figure of fame as a result ofwar experiences he himself saw as part of a grand joke because heunderstood the simple dynamics of wear while others did not. Except perhaps (rathersurprisingly) in international politics, there was no grand design" (385).Grant was the leader, but he did not coordinate the government in the wayhe would have the military. As part of the effort to honor this hero,the rank of lieutenant general was being revived and was to be conferred onGrant. He sees Grant as imperturbable. He was not a verygood judge of the people he appointed and this showed in the results.McFeely discusses this in terms of his appointments to the Supreme Court,of which there were four, one a chief justice: "Not all of the four heactually appointed were totally wanting in intellectual power, but in theend, he chose them with about the same discernment that went into hisselection of consuls and postmasters" (386). He saysthat Grant is usually not pictured as zestful or as temperamental, andinstead he is marked by Spartan stolidness. Whywas it not just as logical that he should move on to the one equallyimportant post the Republic had to offer--the presidency?" (161-162).Grant showed good political instincts in terms of what issues he supportedand what issues he avoided. At the time, suffrage was a controversialissue, and Grant avoided the heat it generated. He also had no greed for power for its own sake. Politics lacks the organization and discipline of the military.It has its own structure, to be sure, but it is very different, and Grantnever mastered it. There isno evidence but every probability that the boy Hiram Ulysses Grant indulgedthe dream" (16 ). He isportrayed at this juncture as "cool and calculating" and as "careful." Hemade this into a virtue: "When things were going poorly, he acted as ifthat was exactly how he expected them to go, and sent new men in to makethem better" (131). George Washington had held this title before, linking Grantdirectly with an earlier general who had become a political leader.McFeely finds that the way Grant arrived in Washington was perfect for hisfuture and created an image of him in the public mind that would serve himin his political life. Grant stopped by the White House, paid his call,and left, with everyone thinking it would be natural for him to move rightin: "He achieved his immediate goal of confirming his military authority,but as he did so he established a public personality that wasunforgettable" (152). Norton & Company, 1981.----------------------- 3 McFeely says that Grant had come close to failure, and once he hadsucceeded he was completely unable ever to go back: "Once he had becomegeneral, he had to go on to be president, and once his time as presidentwas up, he had, again, no idea what to do with himself" (xiii). Grant as both a military leader and a politician, showing hisstrengths and weaknesses in each area and relating Grant's performance tothe forces of his time. That arena was politics. As a military leader, the immediate campaignis the goal, and keeping this in mind can be a virtue. In terms of hispoor advisers, Grant himself thought that the problem was that he did nothave close people to appoint, people he could trust. As a campaigner, he was a war hero and represented muchto the people in terms of values and verities. McFeely creates an interesting portrait of Grant, showing thatcertain aspects of his personality were well-suited to his role in both themilitary and political spheres. William S. War was the initial opportunity Grant had to shine,and he succeeded admirably in that effort. He was theembodiment of the difference between getting elected and governing, twovery different processes that Americans confuse as being the same. He also was conservativein his approach to monetary policy, another controversial issue. In a politician, italso serves the politician's interests to be so focused, but it may notmake him a good leader once office is achieved. McFeely notes that during this trip to Washington, Grant would assumea role as a hero on display, a role he would continue for the rest of hislife. For McFeely, Grantsimply was continuing his role in the limelight and sought the presidencyas a continuation of the public career he enjoyed more than because therewas anything he wanted to do. McFeely writes: "Grant's story yields a troubling picture of an America,often represented as in a period of boundless opportunity, that offered himand thousands of men like him no chance for fulfillment other than war"(xiii). His renown was considerable after this trip to Washington, and it isnot clear from McFeely's account whether Grant at this time was making useof his fame and was preparing himself for political office through carefuland intelligent action or whether this was essentially accidental, a resultof events rather than calculation. McFeely speculates that Grant dreamed of being president long beforethe possibility of achieving this presented itself, but he has no evidencethat this is so. In this case, the joke was more on him. He notes that "every boy has a chance to be president[and that this] is the official fantasy of the American republic. The errors that occurred in hisadministration derived from these factors, and Grant took responsibilityfor many of these errors while also noting how many of his advisers werealso responsible and how in effect he could not get better help under thecircumstances. He saw war as an act, and to makewar was to kill: "All you do is take the nicest guy on the block--the onewho will not be diverted by dreams of vainglory or revenge or by thenonsense of masochism--and knowing that he is not good for much else, lethim act on the bald fact that war means killing the guy on the other side,or at least scaring him badly enough so that he will quit fighting" (78). The problem for Grant was that there was nothing he really wanted to getdone. New York: W.W. Grant thenentered politics, but here he did not have the same inside knowledge of howpolitics worked. In addition, he did not really know how to make things work in thepolitical arena. As a military leader, Grantoperated on the basis of an understanding he had achieved about war and itsnature. He saw this problemas the opposite of cronyism. He notesat the outset, for instance, that the Civil War was an occasion for Grantand his colleagues to expend their energies in a way otherwise not allowed. McFeely in his book Grant: A Biography presents a pictureof Ulysses S. We tendto think that the man who can survive in the political arena and win is theone who knows how to govern and how to get others to do what he wants done. McFeely finds at certain points thathad Grant been calculating in his modesty and other behavior, he might havegone further and done more to consolidate his position with differentpeople and groups. He saw war in simple terms, and he considered his knowledge a jokethat seemed to have eluded most people. As amilitary man, Grant understood the politics of the service and also knewhow to project the image of command that was necessary to have command.McFeely notes that when Grant assumed command at Vicksburg, he was quicklyin total control because he performed the tasks necessary to assume commandfully, including being insubordinate as a sign of his control. McFeely, William S., Grant: A Biography. McFeelyfinds in fact that Grant had no cause in which he believed deeply and thathe introduced no issues into the campaign that were of personal concern tohim. Again and again, McFeely describes Grant as a political innocent, aman who did not have close ties to other politicians and who did not havethe background to understand the nature of political life. Indeed, McFeely finds that Grant showed remarkable politicalinstincts as a military man who had to deal with politicians and who alsohad a strong public persona as a hero which would serve him in hispolitical life after the war. Here again is a trait and a manner of operation thatshould fit well in the political realm as well. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.