Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877). As commanding general, Grant led the Union Armies to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War, which ended shortly after Robert E. Lee surrendered to him at Appomattox in 1865. After the war, Grant served as peacetime general, implementing Congressional Reconstruction, often at odds with President Andrew Johnson. Twice elected president, Grant led the Radical Republicans in their effort to remove the vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery, protect African-American citizenship, and defeat the Ku Klux Klan. Economically, Grant favored a deflationary policy and implemented a national gold standard. In foreign policy, Grant sought to increase American trade and influence, while remaining at peace with the world. During his second term the Panic of 1873 devastated the national economy, gold discovered in the Black Hills launched the Great Sioux War, while conservative white Southerners regained control of Southern state governments and Democrats took control of the federal House of Representatives. By the time Grant left the White House in 1877, his Reconstruction policies were being undone.
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