BRET BAIER Talks new Book - TO RESCUE THE REPUBLIC: ULYSSES S. GRANT, THE FRAGILE UNION AND THE CRISIS OF 1876

I Am Refocused Radio

BRET BAIER is the chief political anchor for Fox News Channel and the anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier. He previously served as Chief White House Correspondent for Fox News Channel and as the network's National Security Correspondent based at the Pentagon, reporting on military and national security affairs. A recipient of the National Press Foundation's Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, Baier is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Three Days at the Brink: FDR's Daring Gamble to Win WWII; Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire; Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission; and Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage and Love. He lives with his family in Washington, DC.
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ABOUT BRETT BAIER'S BOOK TO RESCUE THE REPUBLIC: ULYSSES S. GRANT, THE FRAGILE UNION AND THE CRISIS OF 1876
From Bret Baier, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning chief political anchor for Fox News Channel, and the anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier, comes TO RESCUE THE REPUBLIC: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876 (Custom House; Hardcover; $28.99; on sale October 12, 2021), a riveting and timely reassessment of Ulysses S. Grant. This first installment in Baier's new book series illuminates the life and legacy of one of America's most consequential yet misunderstood leaders, Ulysses S. Grant, whose actions both as general and as president played an unparalleled role in preserving the United States.
Published against the backdrop of our own time's extreme political division and recent contested election, Baier's meticulously researched narrative could not be more relevant. While Grant's military genius during the Civil War is rightly celebrated, it has overshadowed our appreciation of his remarkable political leadership as president during the Reconstruction Era. Baier argues that Grant's two terms in the White House were equally consequential, notably his commitment to protecting the rights of African Americans and suppressing the Ku Klux Klan. All the while, Grant sought to all hold together the fragile Union-a mission that would be tested by a crisis that consumed his last days in office, one that threated to plunge the nation back into civil war.
Born a tanner's son in rugged Ohio in 1822 and battle-tested by the Mexican American War, Grant met his destiny on the bloody fields of the Civil War. His daring and resolve as a general gained the attention of President Lincoln who appointed Grant as Lieutenant General of the Union Army in March 1864. Within a year, Grant's forces had seized Richmond and forced Robert E. Lee to surrender. Four years later, the reunified nation faced another leadership void when, following Lincoln's assassination, an unworthy successor completed his term. Again Grant answered the call. At stake once more was the future of the Union, for though the Southern states had been defeated, it remained to be seen if the former Confederacy could be reintegrated into the country-and if the Union could ensure the rights and welfare of African Americans in the South. Grant met the challenge by boldly advancing an agenda of Reconstruction.
In his final weeks in the White House, however, Grant faced a crisis that threatened to undo his life's work. The contested presidential election of 1876 produced no clear victory for either Republican Rutherford B. Hayes or Democrat Samuel Tilden, who carried most of the former Confederacy. Soon Southern states vowed to revolt if Tilden was not declared the victor. Grant was determined to use his influence to conserve the Union, establishing an electoral commission to peaceably settle the issue. Grant brokered a grand bargain: the installation of Republican Hayes to the presidency, with concessions to the Democrats that effectively ended Reconstruction. This painful, though perhaps necessary compromise saved the Union, but the consequences of Reconstruction's roll-back stills haunt the country.
Deep with contemporary resonance and brimming with fresh detail, TO RESCUE THE REPUBLIC reveals Grant, for all his complexity, to be among the first rank of American heroes.
PRISE FOR TO RESCUE THE REPUBLIC
"With To Rescue The Republic, Bret Baier, the nation's leading reporter of history, has written a veritable tour de force. This remarkable book is history as it should be: magnificently composed, meticulously researched, and brimming with lessons for today's divided political arena. Baier has brought to life the riveting but too often forgotten story of how US Grant preserved the Republic at one of its moments of greatest peril. This is not just a tale for our age, but an absorbing tale for the ages. It belongs on the bookshelf of every lover of history."- Jay Winik, New York Times bestselling author of April 1865 and 1944
"Bret Baier's To Rescue the Republic is narrative history at its absolute finest. With great verve and a fair-and-balanced ethic, Baier brilliantly recounts the heroic life of Ulysses S. Grant - as Civil War general, U.S. President, Reconstruction Era leader and beloved national icon. His dramatic retelling of the election of 1876 which pitted Samuel J Tilden against Rutherford B. Hayes is stupendous. A fast-paced, thrilling and enormously important book. Highly recommended!"- Douglas Brinkley, the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University and author of American Moonshot
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