Ulysses Simpson Grant

US Army General, he was the grandson of the 18th US President and Civil War Union Army General Ulysses Simpson Grant. The son of Frederick Dent Grant and Ida Marie Honoré Grant, he was named for his grandfather, and educated in Austria-Hungary, where his father served as US Minister. He initially attended Columbia University, until he received an appointment to the US Military Academy, and then graduated sixth in the Class of 1903. His classmate, Douglas MacArthur, graduated first in the class. Assigned to the Corps of Engineers, he performed duties of an active duty Engineer lieutenant building a career of that time, serving on Mindanao, Philippines during the Insurrection (1903-1904), serving as Aide to President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House in 1904 (where he met his future wife), at the Cuban Pacification in 1906, and along the Mexican Border from 1913 to 1917, including the Veracruz Expedition in 1914 and the Mexican Expedition in 1916. In 1907, he married Edith Ruth, daughter of Secretary of War Elihu Root; they would have three children, all daughters: Edith, Clara, and Julia. In World War I, Captain Grant went to France where he was quickly promoted to Major, and in 1918-19, he served on the staff of General Tasker H. Bliss, the US Representative at the Versailles Treaty Council. Major Grant assisted in both treaty negotiations and in helping to write the controversial Treaty of Versailles. Returning to the United States, he became the District Engineer of the 2nd Engineer District in San Francisco, and four years later, moved to Washington DC, where he was appointed as the Executive Officer of the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission and a member of the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission. In 1927, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and placed in charge of the Park Police in Washington DC. In 1934 to 1936, he was Director of the Civilian Conservation Corps for the Delaware District, which encompassed the state of Delaware. In 1936, as a Colonel, he was appointed to Chief of Staff of the 2nd Corps, and in 1940, he was promoted to Brigadier General and appointed as Division Engineer for the Great Lakes Engineer Division. When the US entered World War II, he was made Chief of the Protection Branch of the Office of Civil Defense, and made responsible for the civil defense of the entire United States. After the War, Grant retired from the Army, and served on the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and served as Vice President of George Washington University in Washington DC. From 1957 until 1961, he served as Chairman of the Civil War Centennial Commission, which was planning the national celebrations of the 100th Anniversary of the Civil War. Following the death of his wife, Edith, he retired to his home in Clinton, New York, where he died in 1968. His numerous awards include the an honorary LLD degree from Hamilton College, New York, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the French Croix de Guerre, the British Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, the Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and the French Legion of Honor (Officer), along with numerous US campaign medals.