World tour of Ulysses S. Grant

World tour of Ulysses S. Grant

Grant with General Li Hongzhang, in China 1879, during Grant's world tour. Photo by Liang Shitai
Date	1877–1879
Participants	Ulysses S. Grant

This article is part of a series about Ulysses S. Grant
Personal Early life and career birthplace Post-presidency World tour Personal Memoirs Reputation Memorials Tomb Memorial Depictions Bibliography American Civil War Civil War service Campaigns Vicksburg Chattanooga Overland Petersburg Appomattox General Order No. 11 Commanding generalship 18th President of the United States Presidency Inaugurations first second Reconstruction Fifteenth Amendment Scandals Reforms Grantism Peace Policy Federal judge appointments Presidential campaigns 1868 election convention 1872 election convention 1880 convention
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Ulysses S. Grant began his world tour in May 1877, only a couple of months after his second presidential term had ended. After serving as a general during the Civil War, and as president for two consecutive terms during the turbulent Reconstruction era, Grant was ready for a vacation from the years of stress that war and politics had brought him. Now in his later fifties, Grant looked forward to the tour with great enthusiasm. With his wife Julia they embarked on a long-anticipated tour, which would develop into an around the world tour, lasting more than two and a half years. The tour was filled with visits to a variety of places and prominent people, including Queen Victoria, Pope Leo XIII, Otto von Bismarck and other such dignitaries around the world. The Grants had a flexible itinerary and their visits to various countries would bring them to Paris three times during their tour. Grant was often received by cheering crowds as "General Grant" the Civil War hero in the various countries along the tour, often with official greetings and huge celebrations.

During the tour abroad, Grant was encouraged by his successor President Rutherford B. Hayes, to represent the United States in an unofficial diplomatic capacity in some cases. This involved resolving international disputes between countries – an unprecedented role for the relatively young United States. As a courtesy to Grant, his touring party was often transported to their destinations by the U.S. Navy. When he returned to the United States he was received in grand formality as he journeyed across the country. By the time Grant had completed his world tour he had brought the United States into the realm of international prominence in the eyes of much of the world.