The President's Con Man

Money & Markets · New York, 1884–1885 · Ferdinand Ward & Ulysses S. Grant

TL;DR: Wall Street called Ferdinand Ward 'the Young Napoleon of finance.' His partner was the son of Ulysses S. Grant, and the ex-president's name pulled in the money. When the pyramid collapsed in 1884 it ruined Grant, who then raced his own throat cancer to write the memoirs that would pay his debts.

What actually happened

Grant & Ward paid fabulous 'returns' that were simply new investors' deposits; Ward kept the books, and the Grants kept recruiting. The 1884 collapse took a brokerage, a bank, and the family's entire wealth: Grant reportedly had less than $200 in cash. 'I have made it the rule of my life to trust a man long after other people gave him up,' Grant wrote, 'but I don't see how I can ever trust another human being again.'

Dying of throat cancer, Grant wrote his Personal Memoirs in a race he could see the end of, finishing days before his death in July 1885. Mark Twain published them; the book earned Julia Grant roughly $450,000 and became an American classic. Ward served six and a half years and died obscure.

The exact interval between manuscript and death varies slightly by biography and is flagged in the episode.

The play to remember

A famous name is collateral that its owner can't control. Ward didn't borrow money so much as he borrowed trust.

Sources & fact flags: Grant's Personal Memoirs and preface; NPS records; White and Chernow biographies.

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