Counselor Not Savior: Hamilton Fish and Foreign Policy Decision-Making During the Grant Administration
MSU Affiliation
University Libraries; Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library
Creation Date
2026-04-29
Abstract
This article examines significant diplomatic moments during the Grant administration – the Cuban neutrality proclamation and the Treaty of Washington – and the methods employed by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish to manage diplomacy and to keep the United States out of war with Europe. It argues that Fish was a pragmatic adviser to the President, not a manipulator pushing Grant towards his own ends, or a savior pulling Grant back from disaster. Rather, Fish counseled Grant to make sound diplomatic decisions that insured peace, leading to greater autonomy in decision-making and a successful relationship between president and secretary of state.
Publication Date
1-29-2023
Publication Title
American Nineteenth Century History
Publisher
Taylor and Francis; Routledge
First Page
255
Last Page
270
Recommended Citation
Semmes, R. P. (2022). Counselor not savior: Hamilton Fish and foreign policy decision-making during the Grant administration. American Nineteenth Century History, 23(3), 255–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664658.2022.2165282
