Ulysses S. Grant Report Ribbon 1879

President Ulysses S Grant Parade Ribbon Welcoming Grant Home From His Two Year World Tour**Special & Extremely Rare Reporter Ribbon**Grant Parade Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaREPORTERDecember 16, 1879
Notes & Literature: Leaving the White House, Grant and family stayed with friends in New York, Ohio, and Philadelphia for two months before setting out on a tour of the world. The trip, which would last two years, began in Liverpool in May 1877 where enormous crowds greeted the ex-president and his entourage. Travelling to London, the Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and Grant gave several speeches in the city.[7] They next traveled to Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland before returning to England. The Grants spent a few months with their daughter, Nellie, who had married an Englishman and moved to that country several years before. Returning to the continent, Grant and his wife journeyed on to France and Italy, spending Christmas 1877 aboard USS Vandalia, a warship docked in Palermo. After a winter sojourn in the Holy Land, they visited Greece before returning to Italy and a meeting with Pope Leo XIII. Travelling to Spain and then to Germany again, Grant met with Chancellor Otto von Bismarck; the two men discussed military matters.After another visit to England and then to Ireland, the Grants left Europe by ship, sailing through the Suez Canal to India. They visited Bombay, Lucknow, Varanasi, and Delhi, being welcomed in each city by the colonial officials. After India, it was on to Burma, Siam (where Grant met King Chulalongkorn,) Singapore, and Vietnam. Traveling on to Hong Kong, Grant began to change his mind on the nature of colonization, believing that the British rule was not "purely selfish" but also good for the colonial subjects. Leaving Hong Kong, the Grants entered China proper, seeing the cities of Canton, Shanghai, and Peking. He declined to request an interview with the Guangxu Emperor, a child of seven, but did speak with the head of government, Prince Gong, and Li Hongzhang, a leading general. They discussed China's dispute with Japan over the Ryukyu Islands, and Grant agreed to help bring the two sides to agreement. After crossing over to Japan and meeting the Emperor Meiji, Grant convinced China to acquiesce in Japanese annexation of the islands, and the two nations avoided war.By then the Grants had been gone two years, and were homesick. They crossed the Pacific and landed in San Francisco in September 1879, greeted by cheering crowds. After a visit to Yellowstone National Park, they returned at last to Philadelphia on December 16, 1879. The two-and-a-half-year voyage around the world had captured popular imagination, and Republicans—especially those of the new Stalwart faction, who had excluded from the Hayes administration—saw Grant in a new light. With Hayes having forsworn a second term when he was elected, the nomination for 1880 was wide open, and many thought that Grant was the man for the job.
Condition Report Top flap soiled with slight parting at fold. Some fraying of bottom edge. A Good Plus ribbon which is an American Treasure