Post-presidency of Ulysses S. Grant

Post-presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
Grant sometime in the 1870s
18th President of the United States
In office
March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877
Personal details
Born
Hiram Ulysses Grant

(1822-04-27)April 27, 1822
Point Pleasant, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJuly 23, 1885(1885-07-23) (aged 63)
Wilton, New York, U.S.
Resting placeGeneral Grant National Memorial
Manhattan, New York

After eight years in the presidential office during Reconstruction, Ulysses S. Grant looked forward to retirement from public life. When his second term in office ended in March 1877, Grant had gained weight, while he desired to travel the world and visit his daughter in Scotland. Grant began his post-presidential life with a two-year tour that took him and his wife and entourage around the world.

On returning, Grant was welcomed home with an adoration unknown since the end of the Civil War, and he began to consider running for a third term as president in 1880. Following a hard-fought defeat at the Republican National Convention that year, Grant embarked on a financial career in partnership with Ferdinand Ward, but the venture failed and Grant was nearly bankrupted.

Diagnosed with cancer in 1884, he began writing his memoirs as a way to tell his story and provide for his family after his death. The book, finished just before his death the following year, was a huge success and remains in print. Grant was interred in Grant's Tomb, a massive mausoleum in New York City.