| Bust of Ulysses S. Grant | |
|---|---|
 The monument in 2015 | |
 | |
| Year | 1896 (1896) |
| Subject | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Location | San Francisco,California, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 37°46′18″N122°28′01″W / 37.77167°N 122.46693°W /37.77167; -122.46693 |
A bronzebust ofUlysses S. Grant was installed inSan Francisco'sGolden Gate Park, in theU.S. state ofCalifornia, in 1896 and vandalised and removed in 2020. The original sculptor of the bust was a renowned German born sculptor by the name of Rupert Schmid who had been noted for his commissioned work includingThe Progress of Civilization, a memorial arch atStanford University before it was toppled in an earthquake in 1906.[1]
Grant was stationed innorthern California in 1852–1854. After Grant's death in 1885, a committee was formed to create a monument in his honor. Rupert Schmid, a German-born immigrant to the United States who had met Grant and had sculpted the bust forGrant's Tomb, was commissioned in 1894 to create a bust. The bust was completed and installed in 1896.[2][3] Under pressure from the local stonecutters' union, which objected to the use of prison labor in the cutting of the granite base of the statue, the statue was taken down days after its initial installation, and reinstalled with a new base later the same year.[2]
On June 19, 2020, the monument was toppled by protestors and defaced with the words "Adios America" in red paint as a response to Grant's brief ownership of a slave.[4][5] HistorianGregory Downs, noting Grant's enforcement of civil rights and prosecution of theKu Klux Klan, opined, "When the mob members tore down Grant's bust, they unknowingly built upon a 150-year effort to erase and defame him."[6]
Media related toUlysses S. Grant by Rupert Schmid at Wikimedia Commons18thPresident of the United States (1869–1877) | |||||||||
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