Political Quotes

“Madam President, 201 years ago today, a great American hero was born. Ulysses S. Grant rose from humble beginnings to stand next to Washington and Eisenhower, as one of America's truly indispensable generals. William Tecumseh Sherman once remarked that ``Grant is the greatest soldier of our time if not of all time.'' This great defender of the Republic won our bloodiest war and crushed the darkest forces of disunion. He was an unshakable pillar of strength, upon which this Nation's future rested time and again. Virtually no one foresaw Grant's rise to greatness before the Civil War. Although he had graduated from West Point and distinguished himself as a soldier in the Mexican-American War, he had stumbled from one failure to another in private life. When the Confederates attacked Fort Sumner, that all changed. He redonned his army uniform and marched into the history books. For the first 3 years of the Civil War, Grant fought on the western front, winning several of the Union's early victories while commanders in the East dithered. After Grant's first great victory, his Confederate counterpart sued for peace and asked what terms he would give them. Grant firmly responded that he would accept, ``no terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender.'' This earned him the nickname ``Unconditional Surrender Grant'' and resulted in the largest capture of enemy troops in the history of Western Hemisphere up to that time. Grant waged a relentless form of warfare.…”