Prouder to watch the festival grow into the incredibly popular and impactful event and has become. I wouldnt be surprised [applause] thank you. I wouldnt see us surprised to move some bestsellers on the needle today. It is important to keep the book festival a free event that serves the community. The library of congress and the book festivals real purpose is literacy which leads to learning an opportunity, which matches our goal of helping our community succeed. Learning to love books and learning to Love Learning are what the book festival is all about. In this session, ron chernow will discuss his biography of ulysses s. Grant. If we are lucky, certain other popular founding fathers. One thing i learned from this story of president grant was how people can evolve through persistence and hard work. Acknowledge and overcome their imperfections. An incredible story that reminded me a person of good will can learn from their mistakes and reach their potential. I hope you enjoy this session. It is my privilege to introduce the Deputy Director of national, International Outreach and our session moderator, colleen. [applause] thank you. Welcome to the 18th annual National Book festival. I am pleased to be joined on stage by ron chernow. Ron is an awardwinning journalist, historian, biographer. He has won the Pulitzer Prize for biography and the National Book award for nonfiction. In 2015, he won the National Humanities medal. His book on Alexander Hamilton with the inspiration for the awardwinning musical for which he worked as a historical consultant. We are honored to have you here today at the book festival. [applause] it is worth noting that our cochair of the festival, mr. David rubenstein, was due to conduct this interview but because of senator mccains funeral, he was unable to do so. I just happen to be a big admirer of ulysses s. Grant. I think we are going to have a fantastic time here today. Before we talk about grants, we need to ask a question about Alexander Hamilton. How could we not . Miranda linmanuel first approached you and said he wanted to create a hiphop musical based upon your book, what was your reaction . Did you ever think it would become a cultural phenomenon . Mr. Chernow very often, people say to me when you were writing that biography, did you have any idea it would be turned into a hiphop musical . I always think to myself, i think the question answers itself. [laughter] met Linmanuel Miranda back in 2008, lin was still starring in his first musical in the height. , he asked me on the spot to be the historical advisor to the show. I say, you want me to tell you when something is wrong . He said with great fervor, yes, i want a historian to take this seriously. That was music to my ears. I was a little bit skeptical but i was quite intrigued. You have certainly written the definitive biography of grant. I have to start with a key question. It has a good story to add. Who is buried in grants tomb . Mr. Chernow when i first started working on the book in 2011, i found that approximately half the people that i was working on that shot back who is buried in grants tomb . I got very interested in the origin of this. I traced it back to groucho marx. You can trace everything back to groucho marx. He had a quiz show in the 1950s 1950s called you bet your life. He was dismayed that so many of the contestants could not answer a single question. He decided he would ask every contestant a question that they could answer. That question was, who is buried in grants tomb . To his astonishment, half of the guests got it wrong. Such is the staying power of a the greatest comedian that the line has become a part of the popular culture. What started the beginning with grant . Where was he born . What was his family like . Mr. Chernow he was born in ohio. He grew up in a series of small towns in southwestern ohio, near cincinnati. Point pleasant was right on the ohio river. The significance of that was it separated the free state of ohio from the slave running state of kentucky. Ohio would freeze over and fugitive slaves would run to freedom. Very important in terms of grew up that grant really straddling the world of both the north and south. He came from a fairly welltodo family. His father was mayor of one of those three towns. His father was really the bane of his life. His father was really pushy and domineering. Becauset to west point he wanted to no, he did not. His father wanted him to. His father saw west point as a free form of rotational education. How did he do at west point . Mr. Chernow fairly well. His performance was lackluster. He was 21st in the class of 39. There was already considerable attrition before that. He became famous for two things at the academy. He was probably the best swordsman of his generation. He established a high jumping record on a horse. He managed to clear a record that was not equaled for many decades at the academy. He was also very good at drawing. This may seem insignificant, but cadets were taught drawing because they thought it was important for generals to be able to draw maps during battle. Grant was very good at drawing. During the civil war, he had the uncanny ability to visualize the battlefield. It all comes from this very visual sense he had that was first reflected in his capacity to draw. After west point, he has a number of assignments and ends up as a quartermaster in the mexican war. Light is his service as a porter quartermaster turn out to be important . Mr. Chernow very important because being a quartermaster in mexico gave grant a nuts and bolts knowledge of logistics. Looking ahead to the civil war, grant would be in charge of four or five different armies stretched across a 1300 mile front. Grants mastery of the logistics and railroad and telegraph enabled him to supervise these mass armies. Really importantly, as quartermaster, grant was not obligated to actually fight. He could have stayed behind the lines but he made a point of volunteering to fight in every single combat that his troops were involved in. That is real courage, that is real patriotism. After the mexican war, he marries julia dent. What was she like and what was her family like . Mr. Chernow grant comes from an abolitionist family and ohio. Then he marries into a slave owning family. The colonel becomes the bane of his life, very hard on grant. Julia was very outgoing and vivacious. Julie always had a vision of grants future that sometimes did not have himself. 1850s, he is trying and failing to establish himself as a farmer in st. Louis. He fails at a real estate venture. Julia has a dream one night. She dreams that her husband becomes president of the united states. When she tells her friends and family about this dream, everyone laughs. Nothing could seem preposterous. This meant a struggling to support a wife and four children. Julia knew. You spend a fair amount in the book talking about his struggle with alcohol. What did you conclude . Did he have a problem with drinking . What evidence did you use to draw those conclusions . Mr. Chernow historically, the been, was he aas drunkard or not . That is a loaded, moralistic term. It implies a person who was andipated and irresponsible indulging this vice i tried moreproach it through a enlightened attitude. He was an alcoholic. I say that because he could never have just one drink. I say that because even one glass of alcohol changed his personality. This was something he struggled against his entire life. He was a member of a Temperance Lodge when he was in his 20s. The reason why there was so much difficulty previous writers had with his drinking, he was a binge drinker. He could go for two or three month without touching a glass of alcohol. He would then have two or three day benders that people exposed to him would not actually see him during that. It is a problem he struggles with. By the time he becomes president , it is largely conquered. It is certainly a problem that bedeviled him throughout the civil war. That causes him to leave the military. It precipitates an exit from the military. Mr. Chernow in 1854, he was assigned to very bleak lonely garrisons. He cannot afford to bring his wife and children. He was lonely, he was depressed. He starts drinking. In 1854, he shows up one day drunk and is drummed out of the service. It was very significant because the Peacetime Army was very small. There was an active rumor mill. All of the stories, grants history of drinking will follow him into the civil war. It will very much color how people see him. I think were it not for that history in all of the stories about brents drinking, Abraham Lincoln may have well brought grant sooner in the ward to act as general in chief. Now grant is a civilian. You have a poignant description of him. He ends up on the streets of st. Louis selling firewood to support his family. How does that happen . Mr. Chernow he tried making it as a farmer. He was very industrious. But he did not make a go of it. Firewood 10aking miles into st. Louis and he actually walks beside the wagon. Dayse who saw him in those selling firewood on the street corners of st. Louis said he was bearded, disheveled, unkemptlooking. One of his Old Army Buddies ran into him on the street and was really shocked by his unkempt appearance. He said, what are you doing . His response was very poignant. He said i am solving the problem of poverty. He was so poor at that point, that when christmassy had to pawn his watch to buy a Christmas Present for his family, circa 1857. Civil war breaks out 1861. And then something happens, fort sumter. You write in your book grant eventually joins the voluntary infantry illinois and then took a position in the union army. You wrote that a change overcomes grant. Mr. Chernow when the civil war breaks out, there was a desperate shortage of officers. A third of the Army Officers were from the south so many of them defected to the confederacy. There was a crying need for trained people. West still had all of that point stored in his mind. He fought with great distinction in the mexican war. He had been assigned to four different frontier garrisons before the civil war. So, his efficiency and his military knowledge immediately comes to the fore. New meaninge gives to the term meteoric. Two months after the outbreak of the civil war, he is a colonel. Four months after, hes a brigadier general. 12 months after the outbreak of the civil war, he is a major general. By the end of the civil war, this man who was working as a clerk and his fathers store back in 1860, the man who seemed like a certifiable failure in life is general chief of the union army with one million soldiers under his command. Far and away the Largest Military establish in the country until that time. He had some early victories that catches the eye of lincoln, right . Mr. Chernow absolutely. There is a disproportionate focus on virginia. It seems like the confederacy is winning battle after battle. If you look at what is happening in the western theater, grant was winning one victory after another. In early 1862, he has twin battles although in the northwest corner of tennessee. Fort henry and donaldson. Ry were significant fort henry was on the tennessee river, for donaldson on another. Thsoose two rivers penetrated deep into the confederacy, particularly grants victory at fort dalton was one of three times he captured an entirely federal army. It also granted a new nickname for grant because the general inside the fort was buckner who wanted to send a message. He wanted commissioners appointed to negotiate a truce xceptrant said no terms e unconditional immediate surrender. E, it became unconditional surrender. It was the first largescale victory of the war for the north. In late 1862, he issued general order number 11 which from theels south because he believes there engaged an illegal cotton ring. Was grant antisemitic or did he regret it . Mr. Chernow he regretted it almost as soon as he issued it. He said it was atrocious and inexcusable. People know that piece of the story. What they dont know is grant spent the rest of his life atoning for that action. Moreesident, he appointed jews in Public Office than any other of the 19th century president s combined. He became the first president to speak out on human rights abuses. It was because of persecution of the jews, one time in russia and one time in poland. During the last year of his second term, he was invited to a dedication of a synagogue. Very tiny synagogue. Aant went with his son and u. S. Senator. It was a three hour ceremony. Probably had 40 or 50 people. One hour into the dedication of this synagogue, the elders of the synagogue went over to grant and said, mr. President , we are very touched you would come to this humble function. You can leave now. Grant insisted on staying the full three hours. Reached into his pocket, gave a donation to the synagogue. It was one of the pleasurable Things Writing about him. He was not a prejudiced man. He was not a man full of hatred. On can read statements native americans. su dont see that in grant papers at all. This was something that was very out of character for him. He apologized and atone for it the rest of his life. And number of other successes. More manpower and resources. And then he has the victory at vicksburg. What is vicksburg so impressive . It was really a daring capture. Mr. Chernow new orleans, baton rouge, and memphis had fallen to union forces. It meant that the one great bastion on the Mississippi River left to the confederacy was vicksburg. Vicksburg was located at the time, there was a bend in the mississippi that forced folks to slow down. It was seven miles and very elaborate fortification. It seemed like this impregnable fortress. Grant had a daring strategy to take vicksburg. Under cover of night, he had ironclads and transports come down the river despite heavy shelling from the confederates. He also marched some troops down the western bank of the mississippi. They then crossed over south of vicksburg to the only high dry land in that area. And then grant has this lightning campaign. He wins five major victories in a three week period. Surrounds vicksburg, lays siege to it and vicksburg surrenders. It was the same time as the victory of gettysburg. For a second time, gran is t the union not only control the mississippi but it bisected the confederacy. A lot of the supplies between the horses and livestock came from west of the mississippi. That was grant. When did president lincoln bring them east to lead the union army . Reinstated the title of lieutenant general. The only person who had held that was george washington. Grant happened to arrive the same day lincoln was having a reception at the white house. Lincoln warmly embraced him. There was pandemonium in the room. Grant was a hero. They urged grant to stand up on the sofa so people could see him because he was relatively short. He was perspiring profusely. Grant was always a little bit socially awkward. He later said the hardest campaign he ever fought was standing on that sofa in the white house. Grant was impressive on a tactic, operational, and strategic level. How rare was that to find those qualities any general . Mr. Chernow there was an interesting comment comparing grant and lee. Grants strategy embraced content, at least strategy embraced estate. Lee had to inflict so much pain. Capture and destroy the army. Hadvarious union armies been operating independently of each other. Grant coordinated the movements and he turned them into a single fighting force. He saw the way to wear down the confederacy was by having union forces simultaneously attack the Confederate Army so they could not switch reinforcements. He finally pins robert e lee down in richmond. Another wonderful comment from sherman. Sherman said about grant, robert e lee would attack. Ulysses s grant would attack the bedroom and the kitchen. Im not sure what he meant about that. In terms of attacking the kitchen, it goes back to richmond and petersburg. He began to systematically cut off every railway line and canal. He finally started them out. Forcing them to flee the west where grant and sheridan overtook lees army and force them to surrender. That was the third Confederate Army that grant captured. Robert lee never captured a single union army. How does grant conduct himself at appomattox . Mr. Chernow that is a touching part of the story. He refuses to allow his soldiers to gloat or celebrate. He is very generous to the confederacys soldiers, who are starving. He issues rations to feed them and allows the confederate officers. The most beautiful part in his memoirs is about the meeting at appomattox. He wrote that he didnt want to rejoice over the downfall of those who had fought with such valor. And suffered such hardship for a cause. Even though that cause was the worst of any army could fight for. He pays homage to the bravery of the confederate soldiers. The cause for which they were fighting with the perpetuation of slavery. It was one of the worst causes people fight for. That humanity and fairness and balance he brought to that subject was one that should stay with us. He did not accept president lincolns invitation to attend fords theater. Would history have unfolded different if he had been there . Mr. Chernow it is quite a story. Late march, 1860 four, abraham and mary lincoln went down to city point virginia where grant has his headquarters. Mary lincoln, who is showing increasing signs of mental instability, she throws a jealous fit. She imagines that the young wife of a general is flirting with her husband. She cannot figure out what is going on. She burst into tears. Julia grant was there. Julia grant intervenes to try and protect her. We all know what happens when you try to intervene in a fight. Mary lincoln turns on julia grant. She turns on her so angrily that lincoln thought it was important the public see the victorious president and general. Julia grant laid down the law to her husband. She said she refused to go to the theater if mary lincoln would be there. They made excuses. They went off to burlington, new jersey. One of the great whatifs of history. If you s grant if ulysses s would have been in the theater, would you have had a security detail . Would have sensed the assassin entering the box . Booth would have killed grant as well as lincoln. We will never know. Manage to winnt the republican nomination in 1868 . Had he showed an aptitude for politics . Mr. Chernow not really. It was kind of a great