Proposal to remove Grant dishonors America

In an instructive essay, Sean Wilentz, the celebrated American historian, writes :

...the proposal to substitute his (Ronald Reagan's) image for that of Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill is a travesty that would dishonor the nation’s bedrock principles of union, freedom and equality — and damage its historical identity. ...

As president, Grant...fought hard and successfully for ratification of the 15th Amendment, banning disenfranchisement on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. When recalcitrant Southern whites fought back under the white hoods and robes of the Ku Klux Klan, murdering and terrorizing blacks and their political supporters, Grant secured legislation that empowered him to unleash federal force. By 1872, the Klan was effectively dead...

Without question, his was the most impressive record on civil rights and equality of any president from Lincoln to Lyndon B. Johnson.

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