Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses Grant was a war hero whose his military exploits opened the door to the White House. After his second presidential term, Grant and his wife traveled the world in style, spending much of their savings.
Later, Grant invested in a financial firm with his son — but when a third investor turned to embezzling, the business went south and Grant went bankrupt.
To get out of the hole, the former president wrote his memoir of the Civil War, and it became a best-seller. His family was left with $450,000 in royalties (more than $11 million today) after he died in 1885.
