Frank Scaturro speaks at Grant Cottage on Saturday about President Grant's peacemaking efforts. Scaturro is an author whose books include President Grant Reconsidered (1998), and a lawyer who played a key role in the restoration of Grant's Tomb.
As president, Scaturro said, Grant resisted political pressure to wage war against both Spain and Britain, and submitted U.S.-British disputes to international arbitration which set a far-reaching and positive precedent.
He also talked about the book published earlier this year, Grant at 200: Reconsidering the Life and Legacy of Ulysses S. Grant, which he co-edited with Chris Mackowski. They both contributed essays to it, along with others including every living U.S. president, Grant scholars John F. Marszalek and Ronald C. White, and Ben Kemp, Grant Cottage operations manager.
I asked Scaturro about the successes and failures of Grant's peace policy toward American Indians, to which he gave a long and well-informed reply.
On international relations, I think Grant's two-term presidency has much in common with those of two other former generals, Washington and Eisenhower. All three knew well the horrors of war, and in part for that reason tried hard, for the most part successfully, to keep the nation at peace during their years in office.
