Grant and the Campaign for a Third Term

Ulysses S. Grant came close to receiving a third presidential nomination in 1880.

Dissatisfaction with Hayes, significant Democrat successes in the 1878 midterm elections, and Grant’s popularity, rekindled by news accounts of his global journey, converged to make it “inevitable that Grant’s name would be put forward for the Republican nomination,” wrote Grant biographer Jean Edward Smith. There also were calls for some strong authority to deal with the radicalized labor and farm movements of the late 1870s, and to avert whatever crisis that could arise over a presidential election dispute in 1880, as had happened in 1876. These factors were working in favor of a new Grant-for-president boom, according to writers William McFeely, Spencer L. Leitman, and Kenneth D. Ackerman.

Ackerman also points out that while Grant’s popularity soared during his world tour, Hayes was blasted for abandoning the southern GOP. Grant felt his candidacy would have the larger purpose of ending Northern-Southern sectional strife, according to Ackerman. These factors were among those that contributed to Grant’s willingness to consider another term.

The boom continued during the summer and fall of 1879. When Grant returned to the United States in September 1879, he was welcomed by immense torch-lit processions and banquets in cities from San Francisco to Philadelphia. The public’s enthusiasm surprised Grant’s opponents, his supporters, and the ex-president himself. In addition, supporters of the ex-president were well equipped tactically.

The canvas on his behalf was managed by the so-called Triumvirate of Senators: Roscoe Conkling of New York, Donald Cameron of Pennsylvania, and John Logan of Illinois, who headed up the three largest delegations to the national convention.

But there were high hurdles. There were harsh critics in the rank and file, in the press, and there were other candidates, including the popular James G. Blaine.

President Rutherford B. Hayes

<<	Grant and the Campaign for a Third Term	>>
A Boom For Grant	Contenders	Other Hurdles
Grant's Participation	The Big Three Battlegrounds	Tactics
The National Convention		A Third Term for Grant: Point - Counterpoint
The 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago: The Setting
Conkling Nominates Grant	Was Grant a Candidate?	Q&A with author Ken Ackerman
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