What Pete Hegseth Could Learn from Ulysses S. Grant 

Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth is committing a series of dangerous and reckless actions, which suggest, to me, that even if he has stopped drinking, he appears to be damaged by what recovering alcoholics call the “dry drunk syndrome.”  

I am particularly troubled because I am a recovering alcoholic. It has been over 36 years since my last drink. Still, I remember how hard that first year of sobriety was, and the looming dangers if we neglect the work necessary to restore physical, mental, and emotional health.  

Hegseth’s behavior continues to startle. Just this past week, he issued conflicting explanations for that double air strike on a boat in the Caribbean—first taking responsibility, then pointing to a subordinate, and finally blaming “the fog of war.” He was the subject of a scathing report from the Pentagon’s Inspector General, who found his use of a commercial messaging app to discuss war plans “created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots.” Hegseth claimed that he was exonerated. 

These come on top of his summoning 800 generals and admirals from around the world and to Washington to berate them and endorse an ominous change: “no more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.” Hegseth issued regulations that evicted the Pentagon press corps and replaced them with sycophants. Also alarming was his earlier dismissal of Judge Advocates General; their absence has likely lessened restrictions on unlawful military attacks, allowing the former Fox & Friends Weekend host to order U.S. warplanes and drones to strike alleged smugglers dead on the high seas. 

Hegseth’s ridiculous (and seemingly illegal) attempt to rename the Department of Defense as the War Department is perhaps another sign of struggle. That the name change could cost $2 billion didn’t prompt him to reconsider. 

So far, Hegseth has not been reined in by powerful administration figures, such as Vice President J.D. Vance and presidential advisor Stephen Miller. Republicans in Congress are supine, and an increasingly addled Donald Trump is backing Hegseth. 

Despite testimony alleging a recent history of public intoxication, Hegseth has denied having a “drinking problem.” Nonetheless, he promised during his confirmation that he would no longer drink if the Senate approved his appointment, which it did, of course, by the narrowest of margins. Let us take the 45-year-old at his word. Even so, those of us who have been through early sobriety struggled with being “dry drunks.” While it was true that we were no longer drinking, the years of severe physical, emotional, and psychological damage reared up during our first year sober and beyond. Our thinking is distorted; we can be ultra-sensitive, riddled with (often merited) guilt, prone to mood swings, bad decisions, and impulsive behavior. Those most affected by the dry drunk’s behavior are their immediate family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. But under Hegseth’s mercurial, bellicose affect, sit 3.5 million service members and civilians and a nuclear arsenal.  

We who went through that tough first year of recovery learned that putting down the drink was only a start. What also helped was joining a recovery program with others who had experienced or were experiencing the same ordeal. 

There is an example in military history that might appeal to Pete Hegseth and get him to do better: General Ulysses S. Grant. Biographers confirm that Grant had the illness of alcoholism; as a young officer in the 1840s, he attended meetings of the Sons of Temperance. But those who accused Grant of chronic drunkenness during the Civil War were wrong. Grant’s wartime chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel John Rawlins, had an alcoholic father and, before taking the assignment, made Grant pledge sobriety. Rawlins was known to speak frankly to the general about drinking. 

Grant may have stumbled briefly during the great conflict, but, by and large, he stayed sober and is regarded as one of America’s greatest generals. Contemporary accounts note Grant’s calm, even during the heat of battle. His Personal Memoirs, published in 1885, is considered a classic and is noted for its humility. Matthew Arnold, the British critic, said that the book showed Grant to be “humane, simple, modest; from all restless self-consciousness and desire for display perfectly free; never boastful where he himself was concerned.”  

Fortunately, our understanding of alcoholism has significantly deepened, especially in the U.S. military, which offers medical and psychological help to those with alcoholism (and drug addiction), maintains their anonymity, and does not scuttle their careers if they face their illness squarely. The Army Substance Abuse Program (ASAP) has telephone hotlines, and Veterans Administration hospitals treat alcoholism and addiction. One of my close friends in recovery, Brian M., a U.S. Army Lieutenant who survived the 1968 Tet Offensive, got sober after the war and went on to help many others, including veterans, over several decades. Pete Hegseth could find himself right at home in recovery.   

James North is the nom de plume of the writer, Dan Swanson.  

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