Beginning in Ulysses S Grant’s first term, the civil-war general turned president focused his energies on a new campaign. Although this one also involved the army, it primarily relied on the forces of the American legal system to combat a rising threat in the south – the racist violence of a new clandestine organization, the Ku Klux Klan. To a large extent, Grant prevailed, as chronicled in a new book, Klan War: Ulysses S Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction, by the historian Fergus Bordewich.
A longtime chronicler of American history, Bordewich now aims to correct what he sees as an unfair portrayal of Grant: a great general but a poor president. In his view, Grant showed rare courage and determination to prosecute the Klan to the fullest possible extent.
