geeky-President Warren G. Harding
Ulysses Grant could probably identify with Warren Harding when it came to appointing friends and having to wear their dishonesty. Both the Grant and Harding administrations were plagued by scandals, but both presidents were considered to be essentially honest men who had the misfortune of putting too much trust and authority in friends who were not as honest. But Grant did have one honest advisor in whom he could trust, his first Secretary of State Elihu Washburne. Unfortunately he only had the benefit of Washburne's presence in cabinet for eleven days. Perhaps if Grant had the benefit of Washburne's counsel for a longer period of time, he might have avoided some of the scandals that plagued his administration.
Grant and Washburne had a history that went back to the days when they both lived in Galena, Illinois. Although Washburne hailed from the state of Maine, he moved to Galena after completing law school at Harvard University. He became involved in politics and represented northwestern Illinois in the United States House of Representatives from 1853 to 1869. While in Congress, he was also a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee. Washburne had a reputation as an honorable man with considerable political courage. He met President-elect Abraham Lincoln when the latter arrived in Washington, D.C. on February 23, 1861. There were rumors of an attempt to assassinate Lincoln either on route to, or upon his arrival in Washington, and many Republican Party leaders were afraid to take the duty of greeting the President-elect when he arrived in town. Washburne and his brothers came up with a plan to prevent word spreading of Lincoln's arrival by personally cutting telegraph wires in certain locations.
Like Lincoln, Washburne had been a member of the Whig party, and he was an early member of the Republicans. A fervent abolitionist, he became a leader of the Radical Republicans. He was among the original proponents of legal racial equality. As a congressman, he served on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction which drafted the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. giving equal protection under the law to all citizens. After the Civil War, Washburne advocated that large plantations be divided up to provide compensatory property for freed slaves.
Washburne was an early supporter of Ulysses S. Grant, his fellow citizen of Galena. Washburne helped to secure Grant's promotions to brigadier general and lieutenant general. He was one of only a few men in Washington D.C. who had known Grant and he kept close ties on Grant through his brother Major General Cadwallader C. Washburne during the Vicksburg Campaign. On August 30, 1863, Major General Ulysses Grant wrote a letter to Washburne in which he assured Washburne, an abolitionist, that he believed the purpose of the Civil War was to end slavery within the United States.
When Grant became president in 1869, he appointed Washburne to succeed William H. Seward as Secretary of State. Washburne had given Grant a great deal of political advice leading up to Grant's election. While Grant would have like to have had Washburne's counsel for a longer period of time, he appointed his friend and mentor to the cabinet with the understanding that Washburne would hold the post only briefly and then serve as minister to France. Unfortunately Washburne became ill after becoming secretary and served for only eleven days in March 1869. This remains the shortest term of any Secretary of State. Washburne's successor Hamilton Fish, Grant's second appointment, would hold the office for the rest of Grant's two terms in office and briefly serve under President Rutherford B. Hayes. Fish would be Grant's most successful appointment. His relationship with Fish grew out of a strong friendship between the two men's wives.
In spite of his illness, Washburne was appointed as minister (head of the U.S. diplomatic mission) to France, a post he held until March of 1877. Washburne was the only diplomat from a major power to stay in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. He played a major role in providing both diplomatic and humanitarian support during the siege of Paris. He made the American legation the refuge of Germans and other foreigners who could not leave Paris. For this service, he received special honors from German Emperor Wilhelm I and Otto von Bismarck, as well as from the French leaders Léon Gambetta and Adolphe Thiers.
Washburne retired from government in 1877 and returned to Galena. He was mentioned as a presidential candidate at the Republican conventions in 1880 and 1884. In 1882, Washburne moved to Chicago, Illinois, and served as president of the Chicago Historical Society from 1884 to 1887. He died in Chicago on October 23, 1887 at the age of 71.
As for Grant, a number of scandals traced back to members of his cabinet, but left the public mistrustful of Grant. Millions of dollars in revenue were missing, and Grant's new Treasury Secretary, the reformer Benjamin Bristow discovered what became known as the Whiskey Ring, a scheme involving tax officials taking bribes in exchange for not collecting taxes from distillers. Grant told Bristow: "Let no guilty man escape if it can be avoided" and Bristow moved quickly in 1875 to raid and shut down corrupt distilleries, collapsing the Ring. Bristow obtained 238 indictments, leading to 110 convictions. Bristow discovered that Grant's personal secretary Orville Babcock was involved in the Whiskey Ring, but Grant believed Babcock to be an innocent victim. In 1876, Babcock was found not guilty at a trial in which Grant testified through a deposition on his behalf. After the trial, under public pressure, Grant dismissed Babcock from the White House. Several convicted Whiskey Ring members were later pardoned by Grant.[212]
The scandals increased as Congress began several investigations into corruption in the administration, the most notable of which regarded profiteering at western trading posts. The scheme involved Secretary of War William Belknap selling concessions for trading posts on western army bases in exchange for a cut of the profits. The accusations led to Belknap's resignation. Congress also investigated and reprimanded Navy Secretary George M. Robeson in 1876 for taking bribes from naval contractors.
Grant's Secretary of Interior Columbus Delano was forced to resign, having allowed a spoils system of land and patent frauds. He had facilitates the awarding of surveying contracts to his son, who was paid without doing any of the contracted work. Grant appointed Zachariah Chandler, who succeeded Delano and cleaned up corruption in the Interior Department. Grant appointed reformers Edwards Pierrepont and Marshall Jewell as Attorney General and Postmaster General, both of whom supported Bristow's investigations. Pierrepont cleaned up corruption among the U.S. Marshals and U.S. Attorneys in the South.
By 1876, the collected scandals led many in the Republican party to withdraw their support for Grant. Grant decided not to run for a third term, and the party settled on Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio as their candidate in the next election.