George H. Pendleton (Brothers No More)

George Hunt Pendleton (July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 17th President of the United States. He was president during the rebuilding years after the Civil War and is widely known for getting the country back on its feet, along with some controversies during his presidency.

Early Life
See here.

Political Career
See here.

Presidency
Pendleton won an easy election in 1868 in the wake of the failed Civil War effort. He pledged to return the country to normalcy and fix the downtrodden economy that resulted from the lost war. His first four years focused on those goals, and he did achieve some success. Life did return to normal and the economy wasn't terrible, but critics say that this was a false sense of prosperity that had no real foundation.

After winning another easy election with no organized opposition in 1872, President Pendleton set his sights on a new goal: reconciliation with the Confederacy. He felt that the public wanted to move on from the war, and that the best way to do that was make friends with the Union's Southern neighbor. He thought that forging a permanent peaceful relationship with the C.S. would cement his legacy as a great president and national healer.

In pursuance of this goal, he set up a secret correspondence with the Confederate President Stonewall Jackson. Pendleton was able to convince Jackson that reconciliation was desirable for both nations. In order to secure Jackson's cooperation, he made a deal: if President Jackson would visit the U.S. on July 4th, 1876 (the nation's centennial), then Pendleton would convince Congress to pass a new fugitive slave law that sent all escaped slaves from the South back to their masters.

The law barely passed through the Democrat-dominated Congress, and the visit was secured. The law and visit outraged the U.S. public. Some began calling for Pendleton's impeachment and conviction for treason, though the Democratic majority in Congress would never let that actually happen. Pendleton was correct in thinking that the public wanted to move on from the war, but he gravely misinterpreted how they wanted to do that. He thought that they wanted a peaceful friendship with the Confederacy, when they actually wanted to ignore its existence.

Pendleton was not very popular when he left office, but he was able to pass off the presidency to a fellow Democrat in Samuel J. Tilden.

Post-Presidency
Pendleton retired to his home in Cincinnati after leaving office. He found that he wasn't extremely loved by the people, though his autobiography did sell well enough. He occasionally advised President Tilden on matters important to him. The two men did form an alliance of sorts in their pursuit of civil service reform. When Tilden's health declined and he was unable to campaign for his cause, Pendleton took up a lot of the lobbying work.

Still being relatively young, Pendleton did try to win positions in government after his presidency. He ran for governor of Ohio, shockingly losing to his National American opponent. In November 1889, he receieved an appointment by President Carlisle to be the U.S. ambassador to Germany. He died before he could take up his new post.

Legacy
Pendleton's legacy is a complex one. For one, he's remembered for helping to rebuild the country in the years after the Civil War, a goal that Abraham Lincoln failed at. On the other hand, he completely misread the public and pulled off the foolish stunt of hosting the Confederate president at the White House during the nation's bicentennial. Some have even called him a traitor to his country.

He is barely remembered in the South. In the C.S., he's only known as the man who swindled Stonewall Jackson into visiting the North.