Volume XV, Issue 2 Fall/Winter 2019 IN THIS ISSUE GMA TO ELECTED FFICIALS: GMA to Elected Officials O Grant’s Tomb Needs Help 1 GRANT’S TOMB NEEDS HELP West Point Grant Statue mid the debate over whether to keep de Blasio reporting on maintenance and Unveiled on Campus 1 A. Confederate monuments in public operational deficiencies at Grant’s Tomb Inaugural Anniversary places, the tomb of the commander who and urging remedial action, as well as the 3 150Years After Grant achieved victory over the Confederates— need to complete the Tomb and improve Became President and who as president laid the foundations the learning experience of visitors. Grant’s 2019 GMA Dinner for the federal government as protector of Tomb, officially if confusingly named the 3 civil rights—needs help. General Grant National Memorial in 1959, Highlights a New Edition On March 28, 2019, the Grant Monument is a national park, which explains why fed- of Grant’s Memoirs Association (GMA) submitted a letter to eral elected officials are responsible for GMA Website Revamped President Donald Trump, members of the site. But New York City owns the plaza 4 Thank You, Reingold Congress, and New York City Mayor Bill north of Grant’s Continued on page 2 Detroit House to Move After Long Campaign 5 197th Birthday Ceremony GRANT STATUE UNVEILED AT WEST POINT Notes Grant’s 6 ising 150 feet above come Robert E. Lee’s sec- Presidential Legacy Rthe Hudson River, the ond-in-command in the Death Anniversary Plain at the United States Army of Northern Virginia. 6 Military Academy at West In conjunction with the A Moving Tribute Point is a location rich in 150th anniversary of his 134 Years Later history, the site for mili- first presidential inaugu- Special Insert tary ceremonies and daily ration, a statue honoring Grant’s Tomb Needs Help parades by cadets. The Grant was unveiled dur- perimeter of the Plain is ing a ceremony on the home to statues of a Plain on April 25, 2019. number of famous West The statue, designed by Point graduates, includ- artist Paula Slater, depicts ing Generals Dwight D. Grant, the first to hold the Eisenhower, Douglas Mac- rank of full general in the Arthur, George S. Patton, U.S. Army, in uniform with Still Rick Photos and now Ulysses S. Grant. The new statue on the day the four stars he wore It was at West Point that of its unveiling starting in 1866. The cere- GRANT an entering cadet named mony featured speeches Newsletter Staff “Hiram Ulysses” Grant became known as by a number of dignitaries who praised Editor “Ulysses S.” Grant, the result of a clerical Grant’s lifetime of leadership and service Frank Scaturro error when his congressman nominated to our country. Several hundred people Associate Editor Lucia McCreery him to attend the Academy. He didn’t were in attendance, including numerous Text exactly stand out in his class, but the skills officers and board members of the GMA. Andrew Hau that he learned and people he met would Lieutenant General Darryl Williams, Frank Scaturro prove to be critical during his remarkable Superintendent of the United States Mil- GRANT is published by the military career. Grant would get to know itary Academy, honored Grant with the Grant Monument Association. many of his future fellow soldiers and following words: “History has a habit of To submit a story idea, write to: adversaries during his years at West Point. calling out the right person at the right GMA Newsletter P.O. Box 1088, FDR Station Notably, James Longstreet, who graduat- time....Little did that young, unremark- New York, NY 10150-1088 ed one year before Grant, would serve as able cadet from Ohio know. what history [email protected] a groomsman at his wedding, according would one day demand of him, that one to some accounts, and later rose to be- day he would com- Continued on page 7 GRANT PAGE 2 Grant’s Tomb, continued from page 1 Tomb, which unclear whether the water damage this reflects is ongo- includes the memorial marking Grant’s temporary tomb ing, but repair is clearly necessary, as is adequate moni- site, the south plaza, and the overlook pavilion across the toring to ensure that any such damage be appropriately street that currently serves as a makeshift visitor center. repaired before the problem gets worse. Additional dis- These are integral parts of the site, even though they are coloration not believed to arise from water damage has on city rather than federal park land. They add a layer of long afflicted the marble floor surrounding the sarcopha- administrative confusion to existing problems: gi of Ulysses and Julia Grant. Security and maintenance deficiencies. In earlier de- As the NPS acknowledged more than two years ago in cades, through the early 1990s, vandalism and other its Project Management Information System (PMIS) pro- forms of desecration marred both the Tomb and the sur- posal describing the need for repairs, the broken, cracked rounding grounds, including the then-abandoned over- outdoor plaza surrounding the Tomb “has become so look pavilion. In response, the congressional delegation deteriorated it has become a safety hazard.” The granite at the time secured increased appropriations to refurbish that constitutes the Tomb’s steps and adjoining south the Tomb and the adjoining front plaza and to provide plaza, including the two stairways that lead to the side- security. The latter took the form of a contract between walks, also shows some wear. the National Park Service (NPS) and a private company to The black fence that encloses the temporary tomb site provide two security guards during the hours the monu- behind the monument, which contains a plaque in Chi- ment is closed. nese and English along with memorial trees planted at Amid the budget cuts of recent years, however, the the direction of Chinese Viceroy Li Hung Chang in 1897, is number of guards has been reduced to one. That is sim- weathered and bent in a distortion of its original shape. ply insufficient. Not only did the monument suffer a graf- The nearby grassy area requires landscaping to spruce fiti attack during the government shutdown early this up large areas that have become dirt. year, when security was absent, but another major attack The monument’s external nighttime lights were re- occurred even after the government reopened: On or paired in 2017, but the lighting is basically limited to the about the night of February 15, 2019, the back of the inside of the front portico, the lower part of the cupola, Tomb, near the northwestern corner of the monument, and whatever light from the city park lamps dimly illumi- was hit by more graffiti—an extensive attack involving nates the Tomb — a far cry from the lighting that illu- three different colors of paint. This time, a security guard minated the Tomb early in its history, and which today was present, but he was in front of the monument, and by lights up both the Washington Mall’s presidential memo- the time he detected what happened, it was too late. The rials and any number of less prominent presidential and apparent perpetrators of this vandalism, one male and Civil War monuments. one female, reportedly vaulted over the eastern retaining Insufficient visitor access and facilities. The overlook wall before the guard could catch them. The area in- pavilion across the street from the monument, which volved is simply too large to expect a single security once provided public restrooms before being abandoned guard to provide effective protection and enforcement. for over 40 years, reopened in 2011 to accommodate a Additionally, the site faces mounting maintenance ranger station, gift shop, public restrooms, and small problems, some more recent and others lingering for exhibit space. While that marked an improvement for a years. Within the Tomb, there is visible discoloration and site that had not been making use of this space or offer- peeling from water damage at the cupola/roof level, as ing any public restrooms, the combination of budget cuts well as in the ceilings above the two reliquary rooms. It is and the need to staff the property has seriously dimin- ished visitor access to Grant’s Tomb. During the 1990s, Graffiti attack when the site underwent a major refurbishment following in the top photo years of desecration and neglect, its open hours expand- occurred when ed from five to seven days a week. That remedied a defi- the government was shut down, ciency that kept the site closed two days every week, to the one below the consternation of many visitors who had traveled long distances. Carmen Delgado after it reopened In recent years, however, budget crunches led to the reversal of this improvement as the Tomb returned to a five-day schedule. While the rangers at the site are excel- lent, they are spread so thin that the Tomb proper has been closed for staggered hours even during its five open days because rangers are needed to staff the overlook pavilion as well. This marks a regression in visitor access to a point even worse than during the days of desecra- tion. The GMA has heard from a number of visitors who were chagrined at their inability to enter the monument. The Tomb proper should be open to the public seven days a week throughout the year and adequately staffed for the entirety of its open hours. Continued on page 4 GRANT PAGE 3 THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF GRANT’S INAUGURATION arch 3, 2019, witnessed a beautiful ceremony at MGrant’s Tomb in commemoration of the 150th an- niversary of President Grant’s inauguration.