Ulysses S. Grant - 1868 Presidential Campaign

1868 Presidential Campaign

Grant's curt response to Johnson in the Stanton matter increased his popularity with the Radical Republicans; John Weiss Forney, editor of the Washington Daily Chronicle, who had paved the way for previous presidential nominations, took up the effort for Grant's nomination, by first inquiring with Rawlins about Grant's interest in the presidency. Rawlin's response was that while Grant was a loyal member of the Republican Party, he would be unable to serve as president for financial reasons, since he would lose his lifetime military pension upon ascendancy to the White House, and the presidency did not provide any such income benefit. By becoming President under current terms, Grant would at best leave the office at age 56 with no income, assuming he served two terms. Rawlin's strategy in making this response was that if Forney had real influence over the matter, he could facilitate a legislative change to solve the problem. The ultimate answer was that this could not be changed.

Forney forged ahead with an editorial reviewing Grant's record with the recommendation for his nomination; he made a point of getting Grant's personal review before publication. By reviewing the article, though limited to the accuracy of his record, Grant implicitly opened the door for the nomination despite the precarious financial prospects in his future. He was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate at the 1868 Republican National Convention in Chicago; he faced no significant opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became his campaign slogan.

As was common practice at the time, Grant remained home in Galena during the campaign, and left most of the active campaigning and speaking on his behalf to his campaign manager William E. Chandler and others. Grant's General Orders No. 11 and antisemitism became an issue during the 1868 presidential campaign. In a letter, published after the election, Grant sought to unequivocally distance himself from General Orders No. 11: "Grant's self-serving explanation", notes Jonathan Sarna, "did not actually bear close scrutiny," but Jews nonetheless generously accepted his attempt at self-extrication: "I have no prejudice against sect or race, but want each individual to be judged by his own merit. Orders No. 11 does not sustain this statement, I admit, but then I do not sustain that order. It never would have been issued if it had not been telegraphed the moment it was penned, and without reflection." Though Jewish opinion was mixed, Grant's determination to court Jewish voters ultimately resulted in his capturing the majority of that vote, though Grant did lose some Jewish votes as a result of the order. In the general election of that year, Grant won against former New York Governor Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 votes out of 5,716,082 votes cast. Grant commanded an Electoral College landslide, receiving 214 votes to Seymour's 80. When he assumed the presidency, Grant had never before held elected office and, at the age of 46, was the youngest person yet elected president. After the election, in an attempt to reconcile with Jewish leaders and people, Grant offered the position of Secretary of the Treasury to Joseph Seligman, a prominent Jewish businessman. Seligman, who had helped finance the Union war effort by obtaining European capital, declined the offer. Grant appointed more Jews to public office than any president before him. Grant was the first US President to be elected after the nation had outlawed slavery and given citizenship to former African-American slaves by US constitutional amendments. Implementation of these new rights was slow to come; in the 1868 election, the black vote counted in only sixteen of the thirty-seven states.