Details
GRANT, Ulysses S. Autograph letter signed ("U. S. Grant"), as President, to John Hoey, Washington, D. C., 17 January 1873. 2 pages, 4to, Executive Mansion stationery, with original White House envelope, small closed tear at bottom of center crease, portion of a horizontal crease reinforced at verso, ink pale.
A PRESIDENT'S STOCK-MARKET SPECULATIONS--ON CREDIT. Grant juggles his precarious finances in order to dabble in the market: "I am very much obliged to Mr. Dinsmore," Grant tells Hoey, president of the Adams Express Company, "for his kindness in proposing to wait for the payment of the stock he purchased for me until I have the means without borrowing from others, and to you for preparing to hold for me some more until I can pay for it. The amount I spoke of...was 120 shares more, which would make my whole interest in Adam's Co. four hundred shares or one hundred shares for each of my children. Out of my present pay I never could pay for a single share, nor could I soon pay what I now owe Mr. D. out of that and my private income. But I expect within the next four months to sell from thirty to fifty thousand dollars worth of property and all I realize in this way I want to invest in something that will give me an income."
As President, Grant often hob-nobbed with wealthy businessmen like Hoey and Dinsmore (another Adams Express top executive). Their willingness to do him favors as President was one thing, but once he left the White House Grant had to shift for himself. There was no Presidential pension and no multi-million dollar speaking engagements to cushion his existence. His fatal mistake was to invest the bulk of his life-savings in a brokerage business with a Wall Street crook, leaving him $150,000 in debt. Fortunately for him (and his wife and children) he had one remaining, highly valuable asset to sell: his war memoirs.
A PRESIDENT'S STOCK-MARKET SPECULATIONS--ON CREDIT. Grant juggles his precarious finances in order to dabble in the market: "I am very much obliged to Mr. Dinsmore," Grant tells Hoey, president of the Adams Express Company, "for his kindness in proposing to wait for the payment of the stock he purchased for me until I have the means without borrowing from others, and to you for preparing to hold for me some more until I can pay for it. The amount I spoke of...was 120 shares more, which would make my whole interest in Adam's Co. four hundred shares or one hundred shares for each of my children. Out of my present pay I never could pay for a single share, nor could I soon pay what I now owe Mr. D. out of that and my private income. But I expect within the next four months to sell from thirty to fifty thousand dollars worth of property and all I realize in this way I want to invest in something that will give me an income."
As President, Grant often hob-nobbed with wealthy businessmen like Hoey and Dinsmore (another Adams Express top executive). Their willingness to do him favors as President was one thing, but once he left the White House Grant had to shift for himself. There was no Presidential pension and no multi-million dollar speaking engagements to cushion his existence. His fatal mistake was to invest the bulk of his life-savings in a brokerage business with a Wall Street crook, leaving him $150,000 in debt. Fortunately for him (and his wife and children) he had one remaining, highly valuable asset to sell: his war memoirs.