"A Certain Daring"

"But I argue that this was really the minor story of his presidency.
"The major story was that he was the foremost president protecting the four million African-Americans who had been enslaved prior to the war, who, under the 14th Amendment, became full-fledged American citizens, and under the 15th Amendment, had the right to vote.
"This provoked the most violent backlash in the South. The Ku Klux Klan conducted a reign of terror throughout the South. Grant repeatedly sent federal troops into the South in order to rein in the Klan, and then finally brought 3,000 indictments against the Klan to crush them.
"So, as Frederick Douglass said, Ulysses S. Grant was 'the vigilant, firm, impartial, and wise protector of out race.'
"I feel it's a great unknown story about Grant."

Jeffery Brown at the PBS Newshour interviews Ron Chernow about Chernow's new book, Grant.