1876 Ulysses S. Grant - No Political Training needed

Ulysses S. Grant is very well known and respected as a Civil War hero, but as a two-term president, he is often considered weak and ranked near the bottom. Grant had no political experience before coming into office and when appointing his cabinet he chose people he could trust, not those suggested by the Republican leaders. President Grant remarked that any failures he made were errors of judgment, not of intent. He did what he believed to be right, whether it was sending in the military to protect blacks from the Ku Klux Klan, or presiding over the panic of 1873. Like many presidents, his administration was plagued by scandals, but he stood by his cabinet. In his final address to congress, President Ulysses S. Grant admitted his in-experience and mistakes, but stood by every decision and action that he took:

"It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training. From the age of 17 I had never even witnessed the excitement attending a Presidential campaign but twice antecedent to my own candidacy, and at but one of them was I eligible as a voter. 

Under such circumstances it is but reasonable to suppose that errors of judgment must have occurred. Even had they not, differences of opinion between the Executive, bound by an oath to the strict performance of his duties, and writers and debaters must have arisen. It is not necessarily evidence of blunder on the part of the Executive because there are these differences of views. Mistakes have been made, as all can see and I admit, but it seems to me oftener in the selections made of the assistants appointed to aid in carrying out the various duties of administering the Government--in nearly every case selected without a personal acquaintance with the appointee, but upon recommendations of the representatives chosen directly by the people. It is impossible, where so many trusts are to be allotted, that the right parties should be chosen in every instance. History shows that no Administration from the time of Washington to the present has been free from these mistakes. But I leave comparisons to history, claiming only that I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, within the law, within the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent."

 
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29517
http://millercenter.org/president/grant/essays/biography/1