This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,

and we tell stories about everything here in this show,

including your story, sent them to our American Stories.com.

Up next, Christopher Klein is the author of four books, and he's a frequent contributor to the History Channel, National Geographic, and American Heritage.

You've heard Chris tell the story of how Johnny Carson saved Twister. He's

back with another one. Aided by Mark Twain, Ulysses S. Grant, former president and civil war hero,

race to complete a literary masterpiece that saved his wife from destitution. Here's

Christopher Klein with a story.

Shortly before noon, on May 6, 1884, Ulysses S. Grant entered the office of his Wall

Street brokerage firm, a wealthy man.

Hours later, he exited a pauper.

Thanks to a pyramid scheme operated by his unscrupulous partner, Fernand Ward, Grant's investment

firm had instantly collapsed, wiping out his life savings. Grant had all of $80 left to his

name. His wife, Julia, she had another $130.

Kind-hearted strangers responded by mailing Grant checks. Desperate to pay his bills, the former

president cashed them. Still smarting from bankruptcy's bitter sting, Grant that summer suffered

from an excruciating sting in his throat as well.

When he finally visited a doctor in October, Grant learned he had incurable throat and tongue cancer,

likely a product of his longtime cigar smoking habit. Grant had been no stranger to financial

misfortune. Failing as a farmer and a rent collector prior to the Civil War,

...