美国国家公共电台 NPR From Hamilton To Grant: Ron Chernow Paints A 'Farsighted' President in New Biography

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It was an improbable story, and yet, it's true. His 2005 biography of a Caribbean orphan¹ who became a Revolutionary War hero, and then one of the nation's most consequential² founding figures, became not just a bestseller but the catalyst³ for one of the most successful Broadway hits of all time, a hip-hop musical no less.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF PLAY, "HAMILTON")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Singing) And the world's going to know your name. What's your name, man?

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: (Singing) Alexander Hamilton. My name is Alexander Hamilton.

MARTIN: We're talking Ron Chernow, whose biography of Alexander Hamilton has sparked a massive reevaluation of America's first treasury⁴ secretary. And now, Ron Chernow has a new book, just out this week, which also aims to revise our understanding of a figure he sees as overlooked and misunderstood, the 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. In it, Chernow aims to rehabilitate⁵ the way Americans think about the man who not only led the Union Army into victory during the Civil War but also led the country during the tumultuous era that followed. And Ron Chernow is with us now from our studios in New York City. Mr. Chernow, thank you so much for being with us.

RON CHERNOW: Oh, it's such a pleasure to join you. Thank you.

MARTIN: Well, how did you decide what your next project would be after the incredible success of "Hamilton," which is not something that - forgive me - I don't know that anyone could have predicted that.

CHERNOW: (Laughter) Well, I thought that, you know, having done Alexander Hamilton and George Washington, I should probably give our Founding Fathers a breather from me for a while. And I had always had a fantasy about doing a big, sweeping⁶ saga⁷ about the Civil War and Reconstruction⁸. And Ulysses S. Grant is really the central figure that unites those two periods, and it fascinates me that there are so many Americans who know about the Civil War battles in intimate detail, but they know nothing about Reconstruction. And if you don't know anything about Reconstruction, you've walked out in the middle of the play.

MARTIN: Why is it that Grant has been so demonized? I mean, I'll tell you, as a kid who grew up in New York City, I remember going to Grant's tomb. And I remember that it was in disrepair, not well kept at all. I won't go into the details of how it kind of smelled.

CHERNOW: New Yorkers know what you're talking about (laughter).

MARTIN: You know what I mean? How - why is it? And then I go to, say, Gettysburg, which is in Pennsylvania, which was part of the Union. And you would not think the Union won the war given the Confederate kind of presence there. So how is it that Grant became the goat?

CHERNOW: You know, in many ways, the North won the Civil War militarily and then lost the peace. You know, a group of writers, included many Confederate generals, began a school of thought called The Lost Cause in which they began to romanticize the Confederacy. They said that the slaves had all been happy. They said that the war was not caused by slavery, the war was caused by states' rights. They said that Robert E. Lee was the great general. And not only the greater general, but he was a perfect Christian⁹ gentleman, and he embodied¹⁰ all of these noble values. And the more that Robert E. Lee was elevated by many particularly Southern historians, you know, part of that was really tearing down and denigrating¹¹ Ulysses S. Grant.

MARTIN: Well, the other point you make is that although, for whatever reason, people decided¹² to depict¹³ him later on in life as this kind of bloodthirsty buffoon¹⁴ - that he hated war - he was actually grieved by the loss of life. And he was modest in a way that I think many modern members of our military will recognize. He did not like to boast. He did not like to - he didn't like to talk about it.

CHERNOW: I think that was one of the most becoming traits of Ulysses S. Grant, in fact. You know, everyone knows him for the famous memoirs¹⁵ that he wrote in the last year of his life. And Grant only wrote those memoirs under duress¹⁶. The only reason that he decided to write the memoirs was a year before he dies, two things happened almost simultaneously¹⁷.

Number one, he becomes the victim of the Bernie Madoff of his day, a young man named Ferdinand Ward¹⁸, who was running a Ponzi scheme. Grant thought he was a multimillionaire. He woke up one morning and found out that he was worth exactly $80 and had been wiped out. Around the same time, he's diagnosed with cancer of the throat and tongue, so he's petrified¹⁹ that he's going to die and leave his wife destitute²⁰.

So he writes the memoirs again in agonizing²¹ pain, his mind often fogged by painkillers²². And his publisher is Mark Twain. It becomes the great bestseller. And Twain said that his own role - contrary to myths that he wrote it - Twain said that his own role was restricted to relatively²³ trivial matters of punctuation²⁴ and grammar and actually went down to the Library of Congress and went through every page of the manuscript just to verify (laughter) that it was in Grant's handwriting. And it was, except for some passages at the very, very end when he was close to death, and you could see he was dictating²⁵ to his son or a stenographer²⁶.

MARTIN: So tell us more about Grant. What were some of the things - again, we can only scratch the surface. I'm really curious about where Grant's philosophy came from in regard to his views about the dignity of all people. I mean, his own wife owned slaves.

CHERNOW: Well, it's a fascinating story because Grant grows up in an abolitionist family in southwest Ohio. He marries into a slave-owning family in Missouri. So he finds himself in the middle of his own private civil war between the Grants and the Dents²⁷. So what happens, you know, during the war with the Emancipation²⁸ Proclamation, the Union Army can begin to recruit and train black soldiers. And Grant, who was a very honest man, sees at a place called Milliken's Bend in 1863 that, in fact, the black soldiers are extraordinarily²⁹ courageous³⁰ and disciplined. And, of course, their motivation could not have been higher.

So Grant becomes the major force in terms of recruiting black soldiers. And Frederick Douglass said, let the black soldier carry a musket³¹ and have bullets in his pocket, and nothing can prevent him from earning citizenship³² after the war. And he was right. So the 13th Amendment³³ abolishes slavery. The 14th gives African-Americans full benefits of American citizenship.

And then the 15th Amendment, most importantly, most controversially, gives blacks - at least, black males - the right to vote. And Frederick Douglass said - and I quote - "to Grant the negro owes more than any other man, you know, his enfranchisement³⁴." But this is what triggers off a violent backlash in the South for the simple reason blacks make up more than a third of the Southern population. And there were states like South Carolina and Mississippi, where blacks make up the majority of the population. And this is where the reign³⁵ of terror of the Ku Klux Klan comes in.

MARTIN: And not only that. I mean, he oversaw³⁶ creation of the Justice Department. One of its aims is to bring indictments³⁷ against the Ku Klux Klan, to try to crush the Klan.

CHERNOW: Yeah, absolutely. People don't realize - you know, we had an attorney general going back to George Washington, but there was no Justice Department until Grant's first term in office. And the very week that the Justice Department was created, Grant appointed a crusading man from Georgia named Amos Akerman. And Grant was the major force behind something called the Ku Klux Klan Act.

Amos Akerman brings 3,000 indictments, gets more than a thousand convictions and crushes the Klan at a time when no Southern sheriff would arrest a member of the Klan. No Southern jury would acquit³⁸ a member of the Klan. No Southern white would testify against the Klan. And, Michel, there had been thousands - I mean, literally³⁹ thousands, of blacks murdered without a single prosecution⁴⁰.

MARTIN: Given the prominence⁴¹ that you now have both as an historian, but as a popular culture figure, you know, what are you hoping will happen when people reconsider Ulysses Grant?

CHERNOW: The caricature of his presidency⁴² was that it was, you know, stained by corruption⁴³, and nepotism⁴⁴ and cronyism⁴⁵. But to my mind, the big story of his presidency is he's really farsighted in courageous action in terms of protecting those 4 million former slaves who are now full-fledged American citizens, but who were under constant threat from the Klan in the South. And, you know, when - in 1948, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. did a poll of presidential historians, asking them to rank them in order. And Grant was down next to the bottom. In fact, I think Warren Harding was last, and Grant was next to last. Well, in the most recent ranking, Grant was 22, which meant that he was right in the middle. And I think that in the stock market of historical reputations, Grant's stock is definitely rising.

MARTIN: That is Ron Chernow. He is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for a biography. His latest book is "Grant." Mr. Chernow joined us from our studios in New York. Thank you so much for speaking with us. It's been a pleasure.

CHERNOW: Such a deep pleasure. Thank you.

1 orphan   

n.孤儿；adj.无父母的

参考例句：

• He brought up the orphan and passed onto him his knowledge of medicine.他把一个孤儿养大，并且把自己的医术传给了他。
• The orphan had been reared in a convent by some good sisters.这个孤儿在一所修道院里被几个好心的修女带大。

2 consequential   

adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的

参考例句：

• She was injured and suffered a consequential loss of earnings.她受了伤因而收入受损。
• This new transformation is at least as consequential as that one was.这一新的转变至少和那次一样重要。

3 catalyst   

n.催化剂，造成变化的人或事

参考例句：

• A catalyst is a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction.催化剂是一种能加速化学反应的物质。
• The workers'demand for better conditions was a catalyst for social change.工人们要求改善工作条件促进了社会变革。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 rehabilitate   

vt.改造(罪犯)，修复；vi.复兴，(罪犯)经受改造

参考例句：

• There was no money to rehabilitate the tower.没有资金修复那座塔。
• He used exercise programmes to rehabilitate the patients.他采用体育锻炼疗法使患者恢复健康。

6 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

7 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

8 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

10 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 denigrating   

v.诋毁，诽谤( denigrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They bristled at his denigrating description of their activities. 听到他在污蔑他们的活动，他们都怒发冲冠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The KGB pigeonholed his report and reprimanded him for denigrating a brother officer. 克格勃把他的调查报告扔在一边，不闻不问，反而说他往同志脸上抹黑。 来自辞典例句

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

14 buffoon   

n.演出时的丑角

参考例句：

• They pictured their manager as a buffoon.他们把经理描绘成一个小丑。
• That politician acted like a buffoon during that debate.这个政客在那场辩论中真是丑态百出。

15 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 duress   

n.胁迫

参考例句：

• He claimed that he signed the confession under duress.他说他是被迫在认罪书上签字的。
• These unequal treaties were made under duress.这些不平等条约是在强迫下签订的。

17 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

18 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

19 petrified   

adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• I'm petrified of snakes. 我特别怕蛇。
• The poor child was petrified with fear. 这可怜的孩子被吓呆了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 destitute   

adj.缺乏的；穷困的

参考例句：

• They were destitute of necessaries of life.他们缺少生活必需品。
• They are destitute of common sense.他们缺乏常识。

21 agonizing   

adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式)

参考例句：

• I spent days agonizing over whether to take the job or not. 我用了好些天苦苦思考是否接受这个工作。
• his father's agonizing death 他父亲极度痛苦的死

22 painkillers   

n.止痛药( painkiller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some painkillers to ease the pain. 医生给了他一些止疼片以减缓疼痛。 来自辞典例句
• The primary painkillers - opiates, like OxyContin - are widely feared, misunderstood and underused. 人们对主要的镇痛药——如鸦片剂奥施康定——存在广泛的恐惧、误解，因此没有充分利用。 来自时文部分

23 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

24 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。

25 dictating   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• The manager was dictating a letter to the secretary. 经理在向秘书口授信稿。 来自辞典例句
• Her face is impassive as she listens to Miller dictating the warrant for her arrest. 她毫无表情地在听米勒口述拘留她的证书。 来自辞典例句

26 stenographer   

n.速记员

参考例句：

• The police stenographer recorded the man's confession word by word. 警察局速记员逐字记下了那个人的供词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A qualified stenographer is not necessarily a competent secretary. 一个合格的速记员不一定就是个称职的秘书。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

27 dents   

n.花边边饰；凹痕( dent的名词复数 )；凹部；减少；削弱v.使产生凹痕( dent的第三人称单数 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• He hammered out the dents in the metal sheet. 他把金属板上的一些凹痕敲掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Tin dents more easily than steel. 锡比钢容易变瘪。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

28 emancipation   

n.（从束缚、支配下）解放

参考例句：

• We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

30 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

31 musket   

n.滑膛枪

参考例句：

• I hunted with a musket two years ago.两年前我用滑膛枪打猎。
• So some seconds passed,till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket and fired.又过了几秒钟，突然，乔伊斯端起枪来开了火。

32 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

33 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

34 enfranchisement   

选举权

参考例句：

• It is not true that the enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination. 给予全体人民以公民权将导致种族统治，这种观点是不正确的。 来自互联网

35 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

36 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

37 indictments   

n.（制度、社会等的）衰败迹象( indictment的名词复数 )；刑事起诉书；公诉书；控告

参考例句：

• A New York jury brought criminal indictments against the founder of the organization. 纽约的一个陪审团对这个组织的创始人提起了多项刑事诉讼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These two indictments are self-evident and require no elaboration. 这两条意义自明，无须多说。 来自互联网

38 acquit   

vt.宣判无罪；(oneself)使(自己)表现出

参考例句：

• That fact decided the judge to acquit him.那个事实使法官判他无罪。
• They always acquit themselves of their duty very well.他们总是很好地履行自己的职责。

39 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

40 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

41 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

42 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

43 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

44 nepotism   

n.任人唯亲；裙带关系

参考例句：

• The congressman lashed the president for his nepotism.国会议员抨击总统搞裙带关系。
• Many will regard his appointment as the kind of nepotism British banking ought to avoid.很多人会把他的任命看作是英国银行业应该避免的一种裙带关系。

45 cronyism   

n.任人唯亲，对好朋友的偏袒

参考例句：

• Many small town mayor and city official practice cronyism.许多小镇的市长和大城市的官员都有任人唯亲的行为。
• Bringing business people into politics can also produce corruption and cronyism.商人从政也容易带来腐败和任人唯亲。