General David Petraeus with Price Professor David Sloane at the USC Price Conversation in New York. (All photos by Andy Brown, Documentation Photography Services) More photos from the event are available on Flickr »
By Eliza Gallo
Alumni and faculty from the USC Price School of Public Policy converged on New York City’s Harvard Club on April 5 for a far-ranging discussion of U.S. Civil War campaigns and the leaders at their helm, featuring retired General David H. Petraeus.
For this second installment of the series USC Price Conversations in New York, a packed audience heard Petraeus, a Judge Widney Professor at USC with a joint appointment at the Price School, and Price Professor David Sloane speak on “Ulysses S. Grant and Military Leadership Today.”
“At USC Price, we prepare our students to be the next generation of leaders — and tonight is a unique chance to learn from a revolutionary leader,” said Dean Jack Knott in the event’s opening remarks.
Sloane noted that though the Civil War ended more than 150 years ago, there are modern lessons to be drawn, and the repercussions are still being felt. “The conflicts and the controversies continue in our politics today,” Sloane said.
Petraeus drew a moving parallel between General Ulysses Grant’s determined attitude during one bloody battle and his own experiences in Iraq.
After the terrible first day at Shiloh, Grant and General William T. Sherman were resting within earshot of the wounded and dying soldiers on the battlefield. “Well, Grant,” Sherman observed, “we’ve had the devil’s own day today, haven’t we?” Whereupon Grant took a soggy cigar from his mouth and replied, “Yep. Lick ’em tomorrow, though.”
Petraeus recalled a day in Mosul, Iraq, after the 101st Airborne Division, which he commanded, lost 17 soldiers in a collision of two helicopters during night operations. After a long night, Petraeus was walking with his head down the following morning from the division’s operations center. A young soldier saw him and said: “Sir, it looks like you’ve got your dog tags dangling in the dirt. I just wanted you to know that it seems to me that this tragedy has provided 17 reasons that we have to get this operation right.”
For Petraeus, those moments hold a very important message in leadership.
“You can’t let your shoulders slump. You’ve got to be determined, you’ve got to be resolute, you’ve got to drive on – and you’ve got to be seen as such,” Petraeus observed. “Grant had this unbelievable quality about him that was just flat indomitable… And, while I’m certainly not trying to compare the American Civil War to Iraq, in many respects command is command.”
Sloane and Petraeus also discussed how military leaders must have a vision of what happens after the war is over. Sloane noted that at Appomattox, “Grant does something which immediately becomes very controversial: He paroles the Confederate officers as part of the surrender of General Robert E. Lee’s troops.”
Many people wanted the Confederate leaders to be tried for war crimes, and they saw Grant’s action as a betrayal. Sloane said, “But for Grant, it was an essential thing to do.”
“It was a moment of compassion. It was as moment of reconciliation,” Petraeus added, stressing the importance of beginning to try to heal the nation after the Civil War. “Grant defused, at least temporarily, what could have been extraordinary animosity, and even showed respect. The Confederate leaders there never forgot his actions.”
Petraeus recalled an experience of his own, as commander of the Surge in Iraq, when one of his leaders asked if Petraeus really intended for U.S. commanders to sit down across the table from insurgent leaders who had American blood on their hands. “Yes,” Petraeus explained, “that’s how these things end.”