Ron Chernow: Ulysses S. Grant

  Рет қаралды 59,381

Chicago Humanities Festival

Chicago Humanities Festival

6 жыл бұрын

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of George Washington, John D. Rockefeller, and Alexander Hamilton (the last of which inspired the Broadway musical), Ron Chernow comes to CHF to deliver a dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling presidents. In Grant, Chernow finds the threads that bind together the caricatures of Ulysses S. Grant-the inept businessman, the triumphant but brutal Union general, the hapless president-with his spirit and monumental accomplishments. With lucidity, breadth, and meticulousness, Chernow sheds new light on the man whom Walt Whitman described as "nothing heroic... and yet the greatest hero." Jeremy McCarter, author of Young Radicals and co-author of Hamilton: The Revolution, joins Chernow for this revealing conversation.
This program is generously underwritten by John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe.
This program was recorded on Wednesday, November 1, as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival's Fallfest/17: Belief.
See upcoming CHF events: chicagohumanities.org
Help us subtitle and translate our videos: chf.to/SubtitleCHF
Subscribe for more thought-provoking videos: chf.to/SubscribeCHF
Support CHF with a donation: chf.to/Support-CHF
Follow CHF on Twitter: / chi_humanities
Like CHF on Facebook: / chicagohumanities
Subscribe to the CHF podcast on iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ch...
Help us caption & translate this video!
amara.org/v/cbrW/

Пікірлер: 102
@DumpMoreTea
@DumpMoreTea 2 жыл бұрын
Listened to the audio book twice. Hit play again right after the first listen. Grant is the greatest American that America doesn’t know.
@skate103
@skate103 9 ай бұрын
Well said!
@marknewton6984
@marknewton6984 Ай бұрын
Ferdinand Ward thought so. Ponzi scheme..
@johnfleet235
@johnfleet235 Жыл бұрын
The rise of US Grant is amazing story, though I don't think chance had anything to do with except being in the right place at the right time. He was a West Point grad with combat experience, who had graduated from West Point in the early 1840's. I don't see Lincon giving command of all Union forces that did not have the background described above. The combat experience was important but being a West Point graduate was essential. Lee would never have surrendered to a non-West Point general. In 1861 and 1862, the pool of men with Grant's experience was small. The amazing part is that Lincoln found Grant. A general that could win, and that Lincoln was willing to support both politically and militarily.
@cynthiahawkins2389
@cynthiahawkins2389 4 жыл бұрын
I have this book now on my bedside table. I cannot put it down...during this awful quarantine in April 2020 - such distinguished company!!!
@Holmnielsen-
@Holmnielsen- 3 жыл бұрын
it's so good!
@statuesdesigns4223
@statuesdesigns4223 4 ай бұрын
They need to make a play called Grant! The Greatest American ever!!! 👍
@jromereyes2088
@jromereyes2088 5 жыл бұрын
Im reading this book now! What a read
@Holmnielsen-
@Holmnielsen- 3 жыл бұрын
so good! home you finished it
@delcapslock100
@delcapslock100 2 жыл бұрын
Reading it now. Incredibly good read for it's length!
@beingheardmedia6339
@beingheardmedia6339 5 жыл бұрын
President Grant crushed the Klan - MY HERO!!!!
@salbo1015
@salbo1015 2 жыл бұрын
#1 general in world history. A hero to all who yearn for freedom.
@GH-oi2jf
@GH-oi2jf 9 ай бұрын
Don’t overlook Mikhail Kutuzov. It is pointless to try to rank great figures. Just remember each for his accomplishments.
@northover
@northover 5 жыл бұрын
can't wait to visit the new Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University. a ten Miillion dollar addition to the University's Library; opened in november 2018.
@williambagley5415
@williambagley5415 5 жыл бұрын
I need to go on a road trip from California back to Dixie again and see this great library 😎
@stargazer7876
@stargazer7876 3 жыл бұрын
It's so sad what the Lost cause has done to Grant. It's a shame. Grant at one point at his death was probably the most famous person of his time. It's a travesty what the Lost Cause has done to this man. He wasn't perfect. No . However he was a brilliant general. It's why the movie Gods and Generals was the worst movie made of all time. How they glorified the south and was a mouthpiece of the Lost cause. It's a damn shame.
@TheDavidlloydjones
@TheDavidlloydjones 2 жыл бұрын
It's also a damn shame what the Lost Cause did to 160 years' worth of peckerwoods who are only now waking up to the fact that they went to their slaughter for the sake of the slavery system which kept their own wages so low.
@williambagley5415
@williambagley5415 4 жыл бұрын
I started this book a few years ago and got about 1/3 of the way through. I found the print too small and the reading of it exhausting. I'm going to pick it up again and finish it 😊🇺🇸
@raybarry4307
@raybarry4307 Жыл бұрын
I saw the # of pages and immediately went to Audible 😂
@syedmammar1
@syedmammar1 5 жыл бұрын
Will read soon!
@drizer4real
@drizer4real 2 жыл бұрын
Grant is the quintessential American hero: a virtual nobody who rose up to save the Union, from rages to riches and back again, and embodied all that is true manhood: no nonsense, hardworking, tough as to be able to withstand setbacks and punches, a positive singleminded sense of determination and focus. Grant was great because he was no superman or captain America, but a normal simple family man, who rose to the occasion when destiny knocked on the door. He could have been your neighbor and one would never expected that he would be a victorious general that would knock out three field armies and capture three forts and an enemy capital.
@Rowlph8888
@Rowlph8888 Жыл бұрын
Save the union? Well, yes, save the union money and time. He was very good in Short-term productivity and decisiveness. In terms of the victory, that was pretty much assured I think, at the time he took over . Just a matter of time The fact that the South continued to fight, when it was obvious that the tactics and time had shown that it was inevitable loss, with catastrophic loss of life, in the most inhumane and painful ways possible, was disgusting in itself.
@skate103
@skate103 9 ай бұрын
Well said indeed!!
@marknewton6984
@marknewton6984 7 ай бұрын
@@Rowlph8888 Grant was tough but not great. Jeff Davis should have called a truce after Gettysburg. Would have saved lives on both sides.
@viggosmiles9496
@viggosmiles9496 6 жыл бұрын
Grant the Movie !!
@blaidencortel
@blaidencortel 4 жыл бұрын
Peter Kleinman HBO mini series?
@avgmaster1
@avgmaster1 4 жыл бұрын
Will Smith as General Grant, or Nicole Kidman LOL!!!!!
@tomcaroscio
@tomcaroscio 3 жыл бұрын
My daughter lived across the street from Grant's Tomb when she went to graduate school in NYC. Located in Morningside Heights upper west side. Worth a visit!
@lizannewhitlow1085
@lizannewhitlow1085 4 жыл бұрын
Need more on James Garfield.
@jimwind7589
@jimwind7589 3 жыл бұрын
and Grant's 2 young brothers
@halwarner3326
@halwarner3326 6 жыл бұрын
I appreciate the comments . like many big issues there is complexity that gets entangled in bias.
@Ruckweiler73
@Ruckweiler73 2 жыл бұрын
Read his book on Alexander Hamilton which was a very good read.
@skate103
@skate103 9 ай бұрын
Grant has always been my hero- my cats are named Grant and Sherman ❤️
@marknewton6984
@marknewton6984 7 ай бұрын
My cat is named Stonewall.
@imaginationforyou
@imaginationforyou 4 жыл бұрын
Reading this book just finished the second chapter.... Great great 🙏
@Holmnielsen-
@Holmnielsen- 3 жыл бұрын
so good
@shotgun111180
@shotgun111180 6 жыл бұрын
can't wait to read, have to finish his other book Washington first!
@Raison_d-etre
@Raison_d-etre 4 жыл бұрын
This was all very interesting and I understand one can only talk about his book so many times before repeating himself, but I think this video would be more aptly named, "Chenow: the author of Grant".
@TexasMan77
@TexasMan77 4 жыл бұрын
Checked out all 3 of his books at the library, can’t wait to read them.
6 жыл бұрын
What a writer. I reread the Warburgs: the first sentence reads: the German Jews were a people SHIPWRECKED BY HISTORY. I am just green with envy.
@misonoresoconto
@misonoresoconto 5 жыл бұрын
Alexander Hamilton was saved on the $10 bill because of Chernow; the book and the play it inspired kept Hamilton on the ten. The Grant movie should be terrific but where is it? Still waiting for the film of this book to be made.
@paul-we2gf
@paul-we2gf Жыл бұрын
General Grant was the first modern General. He planned the operational action that leads to the surrender at Appamatock. Then becomes a supporter of black rights. Very impressive
@marknewton6984
@marknewton6984 7 ай бұрын
You mean Appomattox.
@TheDavidlloydjones
@TheDavidlloydjones 2 жыл бұрын
Sorry, Ron, Grant is not buried in Grant's Tomb. He's roughly two storeys above ground in Grant's Tomb.
@nathanielb9236
@nathanielb9236 2 жыл бұрын
Mic is literally in the exact same spot as before. Lady did not need to come up and adjust.
@charlesstuart7290
@charlesstuart7290 4 жыл бұрын
When I see a buddy I remind him that he stuck by me when I was crazy and I stuck by him when he was drunk.
@claudiusjacobi6469
@claudiusjacobi6469 3 жыл бұрын
History Channels series was excellent. Hope film does him justice. Hugh Jackman with a beard has a passing resemblance and can ride a horse.
@lemichaeldotson3254
@lemichaeldotson3254 2 жыл бұрын
Ulysses S Grant would have been invited to the bbq.
@marknewton6984
@marknewton6984 7 ай бұрын
The Last Supper?
@lizannewhitlow1085
@lizannewhitlow1085 4 жыл бұрын
Leo rules! New film! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@Raison_d-etre
@Raison_d-etre 4 жыл бұрын
Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere, and by the end, his date was too old for him.
@davelewis7915
@davelewis7915 3 жыл бұрын
Grant kicked ass
@marknewton6984
@marknewton6984 7 ай бұрын
Not at Cold Harbor.
@davelewis7915
@davelewis7915 7 ай бұрын
🤦‍♂️
@leslopinot3619
@leslopinot3619 4 жыл бұрын
Need to know names of those southern "lost-cause" historians and at least some categorical refutation of their claims. If these histories are still on shelves, we nee to be alerted. Also, there could be debate about this. Otherwise this sounds more like counter-propaganda propaganda: Revenge of the Yankee Historian. Chernow, though, gives us a movie - Gone With The Wind - and argues with this romanticized version of a Southern Belle's struggles during the Civil War. I don't hold Hollywood as accountable for historical accuracy as I do historians.The war exhibited several great generals. Unfortunately for the North, it took years for the talents of Grant and Sherman to emerge, become recognized and then deployed on a large scale. Militarily, Grant did what his predecessors failed to do: exploit the Union's massive, overwhelming superiority in manpower, industrial resources, transportation and communication.[Any account which fails to dwell upon these differences - as Grant would - is intellectually and, possibly, morally flawed.] Grant's predecessors were largely unfit as tacticians and strategists - especially when compared to the "wily," inventive, bold Lee who exhibited uncanny skills in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity. To denigrate Lee's abilities as a contrivance of propagandizing Southern historians is to commit the same sins alleged against the latter in defaming Grant. To ignore and fail to give measure of the great corruption in the Grant presidential administration (and his responsibilities therein) would be a great fraud - if one purports to present a "whole picture." Grant brilliantly, decisively arraigned his forces against Lee. He bravely endured the great losses and horrific criticisms to a final successful conclusion. One wonders of consequences had Lee accepted Lincoln's (and Scott's) offer of command of Union forces. Given his abilities at sizing up foes, doing the unexpected and exploiting weaknesses, would the war have been won by the North in the fist year - as Lee would likely do what Grant would eventually do. Too, he would have an advantage. He wouldn't have to face himself.
@robertgiles9124
@robertgiles9124 6 жыл бұрын
The kid at the end in the Question Period at 45:20 says "like" about a dozen times. You have to wonder about what the younger generation gets in their education when they speak as if clear thinking and articulation are their enemy. I was always so impressed by my European friends and how much more articulate and thoughtful they were and how aware of the whole world they seemed to be. I think Jay Leno used to have a segment about this.
6 жыл бұрын
Well, rejoice, he did not say, YOU KNOW, every two sentences!
6 жыл бұрын
But compared to THE DONALD, he must have a PhD.
@zeroeffects88
@zeroeffects88 6 жыл бұрын
Calm down. “Like” is the same sort of verbal tick as “uhm,” which plenty of older people say constantly. Also, there are plenty of intelligent people who get nervous speaking in front of a crowd, never mind speaking to perhaps the greatest living biographer...
@robertgiles9124
@robertgiles9124 6 жыл бұрын
Right. Like your opinion is so perceptive.
@liviadix1433
@liviadix1433 3 жыл бұрын
What I find ironic is that the Democrat party resembles the past Republican party while the Republican party aspires to be the Democratic party of years ago. What remains the same is the divisions we are unable to overcome.
@mandyinseattle
@mandyinseattle 4 жыл бұрын
Is it just me or does anyone else find the questions kind of a little bit obtuse? So it seems like you admire General Grant as a great man, but how do you know? Uh, because he's done all this research and written a book for you to read and make up your own mind. The question seem childish to me. Nobody's perfect but Grant is pretty damn impressive, objectively speaking, I think anyone could say, unless you're a confederate supporter and intellectually dishonest. Not that the interviewer is but those people might not admit Grant's skills and talents and generosity.
@DZsWill12321
@DZsWill12321 3 жыл бұрын
In fairness, being a good host is just getting them to talk about everything and its hard to do that without sounding a little clueless. I think in that case he was trying to get him to open up to the researching process
@pseyedoc
@pseyedoc 3 жыл бұрын
love the writer. the interviewer is a certified jerk.
@tedosmond413
@tedosmond413 2 жыл бұрын
Both the japanese and germans faced their defeat and the future with greater dignity than did the Lee and the CSA.
@bobtaylor170
@bobtaylor170 2 жыл бұрын
What horse manure. You must not be aware that occupation forces in Germany were fighting roaming wolf packs of persistent Nazi commandos into the late 1940s.
@bobtaylor170
@bobtaylor170 2 жыл бұрын
The vast majority of Southerners resigned themselves to destruction. There weren't many KKK types, and the ones who were, were trying to keep blacks from voting. They weren't trying to kill American soldiers. As for Lee, it's hard to imagine a more appropriate kind of behavior in a man so consequentially defeated.
@marknewton6984
@marknewton6984 7 ай бұрын
Blame Jefferson Davis, not Lee.
@barbenders
@barbenders 6 жыл бұрын
The kid on stage with Chernow guiding the talk comes off as a bit of an elitest democrat shill.
@williambagley5415
@williambagley5415 5 жыл бұрын
I think the kid on stage is a snotty little bee-otch and needs a good slap in the face...by me 😄
@seanselman3128
@seanselman3128 4 жыл бұрын
The kid with him keeps trying to tie this somehow to Trump.
@zabaleta66
@zabaleta66 4 жыл бұрын
He's a pantywaist.....kick him off the seat.
@jimwind7589
@jimwind7589 3 жыл бұрын
ohh bless your heart
@bobtaylor170
@bobtaylor170 2 жыл бұрын
@@seanselman3128 , hard to take, to say the least. We really have had enough of these Woke types giving us lectures in virtue.
@pstha4537
@pstha4537 2 жыл бұрын
Grant was too merciful. That was his biggest problem. He lost the civil war actually because racism and oppression was still there.
@GH-oi2jf
@GH-oi2jf 9 ай бұрын
It was not an objective of the Civil War to eradicate racism.
@JRobbySh
@JRobbySh 6 жыл бұрын
What’s with all the white guilt stuff? What Kelly meant was what most historians have recognized which is that secession was the major issue of the war, not slavery. THAT was the Lost Cause, not slavery. Slavery was the cause of secession, and the Secessionists refused to compromise on that issue. The North proposed to qua rantee slavery by amending the Constitution, but that compromise was not accepted by the secessionists or the radical minority in the North.
6 жыл бұрын
The Gettysburg Address is a masterpiece of rhetoric of dubious logic: by the people for the people...... were the South not a people.......
@DeathWishMonkey
@DeathWishMonkey 5 жыл бұрын
What you described is not the modern historical consensus; it is outdated Lost Cause historiography of the previous century.
@texasforever7887
@texasforever7887 5 жыл бұрын
So slavery caused succession which caused the war??? See what you did there. Can we simply recognize that history is dirty and social morals change. Stop being such snowflakes and stop white washing history Hell the Confederate constitution explicitly states that the institution of slavery was the cause of secession and the speeches and arguments of the statesmen secession conventions were all about slavery. Can we just stop the lost cause myth crap. Yes I'm white and don't care about anyone's feelings. This is our history. Edit* you are correct in that Lincoln and the north didn't want to abolish slavery and the south overreacted and committed political suicide. All Lincoln wanted to do was stop the expansion of slavery into the new territories.
@texasforever7887
@texasforever7887 5 жыл бұрын
@ according to the supreme court at the time, no black people were not people and according to the US Constitution they were 3/5Ths of a person. That is why the 13th amendment was required to abolish it.
@neilpemberton5523
@neilpemberton5523 4 жыл бұрын
@@texasforever7887Your post got me thinking. If southern leaders had waited to negotiate with Lincoln in good faith instead of seceeding, they could have been offered compensation for freeing their slaves if Lincoln's political skills found a path to swing public opinion in the North. Of course the Fire Eaters feared any sort of compromise, so secession happened instead, and the Confederacy formed while putting a gun to its own head. Jeff Davis pulled the trigger by firing on Sumter, not being wise enough to listen in the cabinet room to Robert Toombs, who perfectly predicted the result of starting a war with the US. Both Texas Governor Sam Houston and William Tecumseh Sherman, superintendent of a new military school in Louisiana, also said the same as Toombs to anyone who would listen. Houston lost his job and died two years later, and Sherman went North to fight under Grant and in 1864-65 to equal, in public estimation at least, Grant's contribution in winning the war. It was doubly ironic that the racist conservative democrat George McClellan helped put the end of slavery on Lincoln's agenda and keep it there. McClellan's bungled Peninsula Campaign was key in nudging Lincoln towards the Emancipation Proclamation, and by strategically defeating Lee at Antietam he unknowingly granted Lincoln the moment to release it. Little Mac's feeble generalship against Lee in the Seven Days' Battles and arrogant insubordination in advising Lincoln to not interfere with slavery as a war aim only helped convince Lincoln that he needed a much more aggressive kind of general officer fighting a much more expansive style of war. After Grant and Sherman had fought through to the war's endgame, Lincoln delivered the coup de grace. As a brilliant Presidential Cabinet scene in Spielberg's movie Lincoln shows, the Emancipation Proclamation was merely a key war powers measure which therefore failed to guarantee the death of slavery, hence the need for the 13th amendment.
Ron Chernow: Hamilton and Washington (Full Length)
59:38
George Washington's Mount Vernon
Рет қаралды 58 М.
David McCullough: Americans in Paris
58:44
Library of Congress
Рет қаралды 149 М.
Increíble final 😱
00:37
Juan De Dios Pantoja 2
Рет қаралды 13 МЛН
Кәріс өшін алды...| Synyptas 3 | 10 серия
24:51
kak budto
Рет қаралды 1,2 МЛН
когда достали одноклассники!
00:49
БРУНО
Рет қаралды 4,2 МЛН
Ron Chernow on George Washington - Full Interview
48:20
George Washington's Mount Vernon
Рет қаралды 45 М.
Ron Chernow on Ulysses S. Grant with General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus
1:10:20
The 92nd Street Y, New York
Рет қаралды 266 М.
The Great Captains in American History - Grant
54:20
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Рет қаралды 34 М.
Doris Kearns Goodwin on Roosevelt & Taft
55:19
Library of Congress
Рет қаралды 117 М.
KLAN WAR: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction
28:29
Storytellers' Studio
Рет қаралды 748
Ulysses S. Grant: The Man Who Saved the Union
51:26
Rancho Mirage Writers Festival
Рет қаралды 99 М.
Q&A: Ron Chernow
58:12
C-SPAN
Рет қаралды 38 М.
Ron Chernow - Hamilton: From History to Drama
1:08:10
Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College
Рет қаралды 104 М.
The Vicksburg Campaign: Grant's Masterpiece
53:36
Kenosha Civil War Museum
Рет қаралды 37 М.
Increíble final 😱
00:37
Juan De Dios Pantoja 2
Рет қаралды 13 МЛН