From Rock Bottom to the White House

At 38 years old he was broke, and selling firewood on the street corner just to feed his family.

Once a promising officer in the U.S. Army, he had resigned in disgrace.

He failed in business.

He struggled with drinking.

He was barely surviving in a small Illinois town.

No one could have imagined what was coming.

Then war broke out.

He volunteered to rejoin the Army.

He did well enough to be promoted to leadership roles.

The same man who couldn’t keep a job was soon winning battles.

Within a year, he earned the nickname "Unconditional Surrender."

By 1863, he had captured Vicksburg—splitting the Confederacy in two.

By 1865, he accepted general Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.

In 1869 he went on to become the 18th President of the United States.

His name was Ulysses S. Grant.

The man once written off as a washed-up failure became the symbol of perseverance and redemption for a nation in need of healing.

We all experience setbacks.

Some are public...my list of public professional failures is long!

Some are private.

Grant’s story is an example that our lowest points don’t have to define us.

Keep going.