The Player and the General

In the past weeks the viewing audience have had the chance to see The Last Dance and Grant as documentaries. One is about a basketball player and one about a general/president. The basketball player got 10 hours, millions of viewers, panel discussions, multi-network coverage, and mixed reviews. The general/president got 6 hours, some viewers, no panel discussions, one network coverage, and outstanding reviews. Does that say anything about where our interests are most days? Don't answer.

Michael Jordan and Ulysses Grant are and were unique figures in American society. Physically, they were total opposites. Perhaps in other ways it is not the case. Look at the following statements/descriptions and see which one fits Jordan and which fit Grant.

"dogged determination"

"not a model student"

"started over when things looked grim"

"could see an entire area"

"had a working partnership"

"Rookie of the Year"

"small for his size in high school"

"thought nobody could beat him"

"known by initials"

"believed you had to strike hard and keep moving"

"had a special attack energy"

"got into situations where something would not work and pushed the envelope"

"smoked cigars"

If you say that all the descriptions fit both guys, you get the prize. Their personalities are and were amazingly alike. They simply would not quit despite any problems on the court or battlefield. Grant was ignored for some years as someone who fell into the job of Union leader because so many that Lincoln had picked were losers. Actually, Lincoln saw what Grant was doing in the Western field and realized he was going forward all the time when the other Union generals were happy to just keep their heads above water. Grant saw that the South had  to be beaten by attacks, not retreats. He often suffered high casualty numbers, but he was not careless in the loss of his men. But he also knew that he had the figures on his side, and the South could not afford to lose even one man. He studied supply routes and railroad lines and again knew the South did not have a way to re-supply themselves if cut off. 

Even today at West Point or military schools his battle plans are studied because they are built on surprising the enemy, not doing what is expected at all times. The Vicksburg campaign has sometimes been called one of the most brilliant  uses of forces that any general ever devised. His Wilderness campaign was not a good one, but immediately he took his men and attacked in another direction despite logical wisdom which would have been to slink back to safer spots. Not Grant. Not Jordan. Always keep going against the odds. And was he destined from childhood to know how to understand military moves? His father got him an appointment to West Point without  Ulysses' knowledge, so he thought at first it was a mistake. And it was at West Point that his name got changed from Ulysses H. Grant to Ulysses S. Grant--the initials would be known to almost everyone just like MJ.

You have plenty of kids, boys and girls, named Jordan or Michael today. Not so many try Ulysses although in our family my sweet uncle Ulas was an attempt at it. My grandmother wanted to name him Ulysses but thought her Southern kin would be put to bed by the idea and came up with the "Ulas" version of it. Whether you name your children or watch a documentary, it is the interest in characters in our history who are ours. We claim them.They are American.