WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Great Men Back Then: Hamilton Fish

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

Hamilton Fish was Ulysses S. Grant's most trusted advisor. Listen to learn more of his significance in relation to Grant's presidency and American civil rights. 

You are listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lawrence Scott, and this is Great Men Back Then, the show where we talk about great people in American history. Today, we will be talking about the most trusted advisor to President Ulysses S. Grant. His name was Hamilton Fish. Now, don't get him confused with another very well-known man in history whose name is Hamilton Fish the Third, the man who commanded the 369th Infantry Regiment during World War I, also known as the Harlem Hellfighters, which was a unit that consisted of only African-American soldiers. Hamilton Fish the third is actually the grandson of Hamilton Fish, the man we will be talking about today. So obviously, He has a great family legacy, as we've already seen.

Hamilton Fish was born in 1808 and lived until September of 1893. He was an American politician and statesman who served as the 16th governor of New York, and also a United States Senator from New York, and the 26 U.S. Secretary of State. Fish was a great supporter of Abraham Lincoln, who was the Republican nominee for president in 1860, and during the American Civil War, Fish raised money for the Union War effort and served on Lincoln's Presidential Commission. After the Civil War, he continued to live his normal life, which was continuing his law practice, and he believed that he had truly retired from political life. But when Ulysses S. Grant was elected president in 1868, he wanted to appoint Fish as

the U.S. Secretary of State. So Fish being a big fan of Grant, decided he would take this on, even though he wasn't necessarily planning on doing anything in politics. Although Fish did many things while he was the U.S. Secretary of State, one stood out above the rest. He was a person who first implemented the new concept of international arbitration, where disputes between countries were settled by negotiations, rather than military conflicts. Overall, Fish has always been praised by many historians for his calm demeanor, even in difficult and stressful situations, and for his honesty and also his modesty. He was always pretty humble despite his many, many successes. It was during reconstruction

that Fish was known to sympathize with many of Grant's policies to eradicate the Ku Klux Klan, and he was also very opposed to the racism that was occurring in southern states, and he was in favor of equality among everyone in the United States, no matter what the color of their skin was. And I think this is really interesting to note, because he is, kind of part of the beginning stages of promoting equality in the United States. And then his grandson, who I will later do an episode on, his grandson, whose name is Hamilton Fish III, was in charge of leading the first black regiment in World War I, the Harlem Hellfighters. And so we can see

through this family the values of the individuals that remain the same through the generations. And I think that this speaks volume for the Fish family. Now, it is because Hamilton Fish performed well in his duties and because he was dedicated to ending racism in the United States and to promote equality among all citizens that I argue he was a great man. Thank you for listening to Great Men back then. I'm Lawrence Scott on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.