November is the month in which the Television Crossover Hall of Fame celebrates the newsmakers and the newscasters. And for the last few years it has been the multidimensional depictions of American Presidents which grab the monthly showcase. And for this bleepshow of a year, that hold constant.
The President who has that honor for 2020 is……
From Wikipedia:
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was an American soldier and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. Before his presidency, Grant led the Union Army as Commanding General of the United States Army in winning the American Civil War. As president, Grant worked with the Radical Republicans during Reconstruction to protect blacks and reestablish the public credit, while rebuilding the U.S. Navy.
Lincoln was assassinated, and was succeeded by President Andrew Johnson, who promoted Grant to General of the Army in 1866. Later Grant openly broke with Johnson over Reconstruction policies; Grant used the Reconstruction Acts, which had been passed over Johnson's veto, to enforce civil rights for recently freed African Americans.
A war hero but a reluctant politician, Grant was unanimously nominated by the Republican Party and was elected president in 1868.
On March 4, 1869, Grant was sworn in as the eighteenth President of the United States by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. In his inaugural address, Grant urged the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, while large numbers of African Americans attended his inauguration. He also urged that bonds issued during the Civil War should be paid in gold and called for "proper treatment" of Native Americans and encouraged their "civilization and ultimate citizenship".
As president, Grant stabilized the post-war national economy, created the Department of Justice, and prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan. He appointed African Americans and Jewish Americans to prominent federal offices. In 1871, he created the first Civil Service Commission. The Liberal Republicans and Democrats united behind Grant's opponent in the presidential election of 1872, but Grant was handily re-elected. Grant's Native American policy had both successes and failures. In foreign affairs, the Grant administration peacefully resolved the Alabama claims against Great Britain, but the Senate rejected Grant's prized Caribbean Dominican Republic annexation. Corruption in federal departments was rampant; four of Grant's appointed cabinet members resigned under scandal, while many Grant appointees were fired.
The Panic of 1873 plunged the nation into a severe economic depression, that allowed the Democrats to win the House majority. In the intensely disputed presidential election of 1876, Grant facilitated the approval by Congress of a peaceful compromise.
In his retirement, Grant was the first president to circumnavigate the world on his tour, meeting with many foreign leaders. In 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term. In the final year of his life, facing severe financial reversals and dying of throat cancer, he wrote his memoirs, which proved to be a major critical and financial success. At the time of his death, he was memorialized as a symbol of national unity.
Historical assessments of Grant's presidency have improved over time. Grant was ranked 38th in 1994 and 1996, but ranked 21st in 2018. Several modern historians have emphasized Grant's presidential accomplishments including the Alabama Claims settlement, protection of African Americans and Indians, and the first Civil Service Commission. In 1872, Grant created Yellowstone, the world's first national park.
Grant was sympathetic to women's rights; including support of female suffrage, saying he wanted "equal rights to all citizens."
Grant appointed more than fifty Jewish people to federal office, including consuls, district attorneys, and deputy postmasters. Grant was sympathetic to the plight of persecuted Jewish people.
In 1875, Grant proposed a constitutional amendment that limited religious indoctrination in public schools. Instruction of "religious, atheistic, or pagan tenets," would be banned, while funding "for the benefit or in aid, directly or indirectly, of any religious sect or denomination," would be prohibited. Schools would be for all children "irrespective of sex, color, birthplace, or religions."
In the greater tele-mosaic, Grant is a multidimensional. Those stand-alone portrayals of Grant in miniseries, TV movies, and documentaries are each put into separate Toobworlds from other TV dimensions. Those found in established TV series should all be considered the Ulysses Grant from Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld. The fact that he was portrayed by different actors in those episodes is not a Zonk; the Trueniverse audience is seeing Grant from the perspective of a regular character in that series.
Here are the portrayals of Ulysses S. Grant in the greater TV Universe.
EARTH PRIME-TIME
The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
1978
portrayed by Mark Slade as a young Captain Grant
"The Colter Craven Story"
November 23, 1960
portrayed by Paul Birch
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
October 21, 1955
“Presidential Citation”
November 16, 1956
portrayed by Paul Birch in both
“The Iron Trail”
January 1, 1957
portrayed by
Joseph Crehan
“Mr. Simpson”
January 22, 1960
portrayed by Paul Birch
1965–1969
portrayed by Roy Engel in six episodes
O’Bservation – As is often the case, the casting from the pilot for ‘The Wild Wild West’ did not transfer unchanged to the series. President Grant only appeared in six episodes of the series but he was played by Engel in those while James Gregory played Grant in the pilot. This could have been splained away in the past by an alternate dimension for prequels or really outlandish theories about alien impersonators, androids, plastic surgery. But nowadays I go with points of view.
Grant looked like James Gregory via James West’s perspective while all of the other appearances were due to him being seen from the points of view of Artemus Gordon and Frank Harper. And so was more akin to the reality of his appearance.
"The Assassins: Part One"
March 27, 1966
"The Assassins: Part Two"
April 3, 1966
portrayed by William Bryant in both (Seen during the War in the first; as the President in the second)
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
November 5, 1994
portrayed by Denis Lipscomb in both
2013-2016
portrayed by Victor Slezak in six episodes
EARTH PRIME-TIME PLUS
O'Bservation - This is the dimension that began conjoined with Earth Prime-Time but which became its own realm because of permanent alterations caused by time travel which clash with established historical facts in Earth Prime.
"The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln"
October 10, 2016
portrayed by Terry Lewis
COMIX TOOBWORLD DC
"Abominations"
November 3, 2016
portrayed by John Churchill
ALTERNATE TOOBWORLDS
portrayed by Norman Burton
The Blue and the Gray, 1982
North and South, 1985-1986/1994
O'Bservation - The Recastaway Discrepancy from Moses to Zerbe can be splained away with aging. But as for the change in appearance to Cravens from Zerbe? O'Bviously, that was a quantum leap "tourist" from the future of the current timeline inhabiting Grant's space.
portrayed by James Gammon
The Civil War, 1990
voiced by Jason Robards
Lincoln, 1992
portrayed by Rod Steiger
The Day Lincoln Was Shot, 1998
portrayed by John Ashton.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, 2007
portrayed by Harry Bulkeley
May 25, 2020 to May 27, 2020
portrayed by Justin Salinger.
Welcome to the Hall, Mr. President. Salute!
You’ll find the smoking lounge down the corridor.
