To the editor:

I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes a hero. I came up with this definition: a hero is a person who does the right thing regardless of personal cost or risk. Most of us want to do the right thing — it’s the “without regard to personal cost or risk” where we fall short. Yet one of the most heroic actions ever happened right here in St. Louis. It was March 29, 1859 when a young man rode to the old courthouse. There, he handwrote a single-page document that freed his only slave, William Jones. The young man was struggling to provide for his family, and the slave was an asset worth around $43,000 in today’s dollars. That young man was Hiram Ulysses Grant, the 18th president of the United States.

I have lived in Oakville most of my life, and have played ball at Jefferson Barracks, where Grant was stationed. Yet I never heard the story of him freeing his slave. I really don’t remember being taught about him saving the country or defeating the Confederacy. I do remember we had a steamboat on the riverfront called the Robert E. Lee. Why do you think that was the case?

On Jan. 20, 2025, the same day as Donald Trump’s second inauguration, he issued a sweeping clemency for all criminals involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Basically, wiping away 1,270 convictions. Now he wants us taxpayers to provide $1.8 billion for an anti-weaponization fund. This money will be paid to the convicted criminals from Jan. 6. Almost like funding his own personal army. I think this is doing the wrong thing and asking someone else to pay for it. In my book, that makes Donald a despicable coward. As a proud American, I ask you, don’t we deserve better?

Mark Snider

Oakville

Editor’s note: Since this letter was sent in, the president’s “anti-weaponization fund” was temporarily blocked before the Justice Department announced that the plan is not moving forward. On June 12, per the Associated Press, a federal judge agreed to extend a court-ordered block on the Trump administration’s creation and operation of the fund. The president has not publicly endorsed its cancellation and has continued to express support for the fund as of The Call’s press time.