In 1884, former president and Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant was not just broke — he was financially ruined. He had joined Grant & Ward, a Wall Street investment firm co-founded by his son and run by financier Ferdinand Ward. Grant had no financial expertise, and trusted Ward completely.

But Ward was secretly operating what we’d now call a Ponzi scheme — using new investors’ money to pay off earlier ones, all while promising outrageous returns. When the scheme collapsed, it wiped out investors across the country — including Grant himself, who had invested everything.

Soon after, Grant was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer. Refusing to accept charity, he found another way to provide for his family: he began writing his memoirs.

Encouraged by Mark Twain, who offered a lucrative publishing deal, Grant poured his final strength into the project — and finished it just days before his death in 1885. The result, “The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant”, became a massive bestseller and secured his family's future.