Category
Textual or Investigative
Description
In 1881, former United States President and General Ulysses S. Grant had become involved in a profitable business venture until 1884 when the business went under. To Grant’s absolute horror, he learned that his business was nothing more than an intricate financial scam orchestrated by his partner Ferdinand Ward. After being further blind sighted by a throat cancer diagnosis, Grant was now destitute, dying, and desperately looking for a way to repay debts and save his family from poverty. Salvation would come for Grant in the form of famous American novelist Mark Twain, who was looking for a book to save his own newly founded company from bankruptcy. Grant attacked the project vigorously, working days on end to finish the book before his time ran out. By July 1885, Grant had finished his final objective and completed his memoir shortly before his death. Julia Dent Grant would receive $450,000 dollars in royalties from her husband’s memoir and was immensely thankful for Twain and her husband. The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant would be remembered as one of the finest memoirs in American history, and the final lasting testimony to Grant’s legacy and dedication to his family.
Ulysses S. Grant: How an Author and a Memoir Saved a President
Textual or Investigative
In 1881, former United States President and General Ulysses S. Grant had become involved in a profitable business venture until 1884 when the business went under. To Grant’s absolute horror, he learned that his business was nothing more than an intricate financial scam orchestrated by his partner Ferdinand Ward. After being further blind sighted by a throat cancer diagnosis, Grant was now destitute, dying, and desperately looking for a way to repay debts and save his family from poverty. Salvation would come for Grant in the form of famous American novelist Mark Twain, who was looking for a book to save his own newly founded company from bankruptcy. Grant attacked the project vigorously, working days on end to finish the book before his time ran out. By July 1885, Grant had finished his final objective and completed his memoir shortly before his death. Julia Dent Grant would receive $450,000 dollars in royalties from her husband’s memoir and was immensely thankful for Twain and her husband. The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant would be remembered as one of the finest memoirs in American history, and the final lasting testimony to Grant’s legacy and dedication to his family.
