What President's middle initial doesn't stand for anything?

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Original photo by Library of Congress/ Unsplash The "S" in Ulysses S. Grant doesn't stand for anything. 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?  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.   Walt Whitman published Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs after his death. Walt Whitman published Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs after his death.

After the capture of Fort Donelson in 1862, newspapers nicknamed the Union's victorious general "__." After the capture of Fort Donelson in 1862, newspapers nicknamed the Union's victorious general "__." Numbers Don't Lie Lines in Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey" (the hero's name, Odysseus, was eventually Romanized as "Ulysses") 12,109 Length (in feet) of the General Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, the largest equestrian monument in the U.S. 252 Approximate year (CE) the letter "S" entered Old English, according to the OED 1000 Number of Union soldiers under Grant's command at the end of the Civil War 1,052,038 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."   You might also like 7 Facts You Might Not Know About Franklin D. Roosevelt These seven facts illuminate what made Roosevelt one of the greatest, and most controversial, Presidents who ever lived.

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