President Ulysses S Grant
In Our Time
BBC
4.6 • 9.9K Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2019
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of Grant's presidency on Americans in the years after the Civil War in which he, with Lincoln, had led the Union Army to victory. His predecessor, Andrew Johnson, was prepared to let the Southern States decide for themselves which rights to allow freed slaves; Grant supported equal rights, and he used troops and Enforcement Acts to defeat the Ku klux Klan which was violently suppressing African Americans. In later years Grant was remembered mainly for the corruption scandals under his terms of office, and for his failure to support or protect Native Americans, but in more recent decades his support for reconstruction has prompted a reassessement.
With
Erik Mathisen Lecturer in US History at the University of Kent
Susan-Mary Grant Professor of American History at Newcastle University
and
Robert Cook Professor of American History at the University of Sussex
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.8 | Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time. |
| 0:07.3 | There's a reading list to go with it on our website, |
| 0:09.4 | and you can get news about our programs |
| 0:11.4 | if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time. |
| 0:14.7 | I hope you enjoyed the programs. |
| 0:17.1 | Hello, when Ulysses S. Grant became the Republican U.S. President |
| 0:20.5 | in 1869, he'd already won the American Civil War |
| 0:24.1 | as leader of the Union Army. |
| 0:26.1 | Now he aimed to tackle a peace. |
| 0:28.3 | His goal was to reconstruct a divided America, |
| 0:31.2 | and to ensure that all former slaves would now be truly free, |
| 0:35.1 | be equal citizens, and able to vote. |
| 0:37.7 | Yet he faced strong and persistent resistance |
| 0:40.1 | from Southern Democrats, whose till champion white supremacy |
| 0:43.4 | bolstered by the Ku Klux Klan and his lynchings. |
| 0:46.8 | He founded Hardett when forced laws then fight wars, |
| 0:49.3 | and by the end of his second term, |
| 0:50.8 | U.S. politics had turned its attention |
| 0:52.6 | from reconstruction to the economy, |
| 0:54.7 | and for decades afterwards, his critics had allowed his voices. |
| 0:58.4 | With me to discuss President Ulysses S. Grant, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.