Brooks Simpson on President U.S. Grant and His Alleged “Corruption”

Who says Twitter is only good for selfies, LOLcats, and tweeting about coffee?

Ta-Nehisi Coates, a columnist for The Atlantic, took to Twitter the other day to ask his followers a question about the extent to which President Ulysses S. Grant was “corrupt” compared to his contemporaries. He specifically requested the help of Brooks Simpson, Arizona State University history professor and noted Grant scholar. Simpson fired off a series of tweets in response that conveyed a nuanced, thought-provoking interpretation that I find extremely helpful for my own purposes. I get more questions from visitors at my job about Grant’s presidency than about his generalship during the Civil War, and these corruption questions pop up frequently. Simpson’s response will definitely be a part of my arsenal next time I’m asked about Grant’s alleged corruption.

Here’s what Simpson had to say:

Was Grant actually more corrupt than his contemporaries? #twitterstorians Help me @BrooksDSimpson Your my only hope

— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) December 17, 2014

@tanehisicoates No. Grant personally honest, sometime naive. More a case of an active press than a major uptick in petty corruption. [1] — Brooks D. Simpson (@BrooksDSimpson) December 18, 2014

@tanehisicoates Buchanan bribes & offers; arms contracts under Lincoln; incidents under A. Johnson … steady rate of petty corruption. [2]

— Brooks D. Simpson (@BrooksDSimpson) December 18, 2014

@tanehisicoates Grant faced a more active reform press dedicated to raising such charges. [3] — Brooks D. Simpson (@BrooksDSimpson) December 18, 2014

@tanehisicoates Among those suspected of dirty hands, Garfield and Blaine later ran for president. Public had short memories. [4]

— Brooks D. Simpson (@BrooksDSimpson) December 18, 2014

@tanehisicoates Study of Grant’s presidency still suffers from stifling conventional wisdom and repeating untested assumptions. [5] — Brooks D. Simpson (@BrooksDSimpson) December 18, 2014

@tanehisicoates Some revisionism (Smith and Brand’s synthesis) goes too far in other direction, makes Grant better than he was. [6]

— Brooks D. Simpson (@BrooksDSimpson) December 18, 2014

@tanehisicoates And of course “corruption” used to attack Reconstruction experiment and African Americans as political actors. [7] — Brooks D. Simpson (@BrooksDSimpson) December 18, 2014

@tanehisicoates So, to answer: Grant was far less corrupt than many of his contemporaries, if corrupt at all in any meaningful way.

— Brooks D. Simpson (@BrooksDSimpson) December 18, 2014

There you go.

Cheers