Original photo by Library of Congress/ Unsplash
Ulysses S. Grant is one of the most important figures in U.S. history. A brilliant tactician and military strategist, he served as the commanding general of the Union armies toward the end of the Civil War, bringing them to victory, then served for two terms as the United States’ 18th President (1869–1877). So it’s strange that many Americans don’t know his real name. Born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, Grant went by the name “Ulysses” from a young age (even when boys teased him with names like “Useless Grant”). So where does the “S” come from?
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It's a fibBy 1885, several business failures had left Grant in financial ruin. Dying from cancer and afraid for his wife’s future, Grant finished his memoir days before his death. The book, published later that year by his friend Mark Twain, earned Julia Grant $11 million in today’s dollars.
In mid-June of 1864, during the height of the Civil War, Congressman Elihu B. Washburne had the same question and wrote to Grant in search of an answer. “In answer to your letter,” Grant wrote in response, “I can only state nothing.” Twenty-five years earlier, when U.S. Congressman Thomas Hamer nominated Grant to the prestigious military academy West Point, he wrote the then-17-year-old’s name as “Ulysses S. Grant,” thinking his middle initial was “S” for his mother’s maiden name “Simpson.” Grant tried to remedy the error but to no avail — the “S” even appeared on his diploma. The mistake proved prophetic as the object of his lifelong devotion became embedded within his very name: U.S. Grant.
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Ulysses S. Grant wasn’t the only President with an unusual “S” middle initial.
As Grant approached the end of his life, another future President’s life was just getting started. Born in Lamar, Missouri, on May 8, 1884, Harry S Truman had a middle initial that wasn’t a mistake like Grant’s, but instead honored both of Truman’s grandfathers — Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. Unable to decide which of them to honor, Truman’s parents just put “S” with no period. From the very beginning of his presidency, this middle initial was a controversy. Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone tried to give Truman a middle name during his oath of office in 1945, stating, “I, Harry Shipp Truman,” only for Truman to reply, “I, Harry S Truman.” Other erroneous middle names adorned correspondence to Truman throughout his life, but in the end, the 33rd President’s middle name was simply “S.”
Darren Orf lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes about all things science and climate. You can find his previous work at Popular Mechanics, Inverse, Gizmodo, and Paste, among others.
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