This bodes ill for writers polishing their GRANT biopic scripts.

According to historian Jonathan Sarna (writing in Tablet magazine, which also employs yours truly): “In response to a letter from an influential B’nai B’rith leader and lawyer, Adolph Moses of Illinois, a Confederate veteran, on Sept. 14 Grant dispatched a private letter to their mutual friend, former Congressman Isaac Newton Morris, in which he unequivocally distanced himself from General Orders No. 11 and forswore prejudice. The confidential letter was not published at the time. Grant, according to Simon Wolf, the Jewish community’s unofficial government lobbyist, did not want the public to believe that ‘he was catering for the good wishes and possible votes of American citizens of the Jewish faith.’ That, apparently, was acceptable for him to do in private but not in public.” (The Tablet piece is here: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/93625/the-jewish-vote/2 — Sarna has also written a book called When General Grant Expelled the Jews.)

In sum: Ulysses S. Grant = NOT AS COOL AS LINCOLN.