Presidential Biographies: James Garfield
James Garfield was President for less than a year, and he spent much of that time on his back, attempting to recover from a gunshot wound he received courtesy of a crazed man named Charles Guiteau. His presidency was one of potential rather than of accomplishment. Garfield came from an unprivileged background. His father died when James was very young, and by all accounts his mother was a resilient and strong-minded woman who instilled good values in her son. As a youth Garfield worked tending to the mules that pulled the canal boats. He went on to become a teacher, a preacher, a lawyer, and a soldier, rising to the rank of Major General during the Civil War. He had a long and distinguished career in the US House of Representatives, chairing the prestigious Ways and Means Committee. His was truly a rags to riches story.
Considered a principled man, he was not without his moral failings. These include an extra-marital affair and the acquisition of wealth unlawfully during the Credit-Mobilier scandal. He was someone who tried to stay on good terms with everyone and this would benefit him when, in 1880, his party was split between two strong-willed factions: the Stalwarts led by New York Senator Roscoe Conkling and the "Half-Breeds" led by Maine Senator James G. Blaine. When, at the Republican's Presidential Nominating Convention, party delegates could not agree on a candidate to lead them into the next election (the Half-Breeds wanted Blaine, while the Stalwarts proposed a third term for Ulysses Grant), the deadlock was broken by choosing Garfield, who had come to the convention to offer lukewarm support for John Sherman, the Senator from his home state of Ohio.
Garfield went on to win the election, but four months into his presidency, he was shot by Guiteau while at the Washington DC train station. Guiteau had some serious mental health issues. He was a Stalwart supporter who deluded himself into thinking that he deserved a cushy government job because he had given a speech supporting Garfield and credited this with Garfield's election. Garfield would likely have survived the wounds, but for negligent medical treatment. He died in September of that year, leaving a lot of concern about the man who would succeed him (but that's tomorrow's story.)
There are a lot of very good biographies that have been written about James Garfield. The Signature Series biography of Garfield was published in 2005 and written by John Taylor, and is called Garfield of Ohio: The Available Man. Other Garfield biographies include Allan Peskin's 1978 book Garfield: A Biography, Kenneth Ackerman's 2003 book (my favorite Garfield biography) Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of James A. Garfield, and last year's Garfield offering President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier by Charles Goodyear. All are very good.
The absolutely best book about Garfield focuses on his assassination, on his assassin and on his botched medical care. This is Candace Millard's wonderful 2012 book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President. I highly recommend this book for all potus_geeks. For those who like their history with more levity, Sarah Vowell offers a look at Garfield's assassination (and those of Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley) in her 2006 bestseller Assassination Vacation.
Garfield's career as a soldier during the Civil War is the subject of Daniel Vermilya's 2015 book James Garfield and the Civil War: For Ohio and the Union. The often overlooked story of Garfield's victory in the Presidential election of 1880 is recounted in the University of Kansas Press's Presidential Election series volume, published in 2020 and written by Benjamin Arrington, called The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880.
In used book stores I've managed to find a number of old books written about Garfield. These include From Log Cabin to the White House: Life of James A. Garfield-Boyhood, Youth, Manhood, Assassination by William Makepeace Thayer; the 1881 volume written by William Balch with the lengthy title of The Life of James Abram Garfield: Late President of the United States. The Record of a Wonderful Career, Which, Like That of Abraham Lincoln, By Native Energy and Untiring Industry, Led Its Hero From Obscurity to the Foremost Position in The Nation; and The Works of James Garfield by Burke Hinsdale, published in 1882. They're all very old books and were surprising finds tucked away in the musty shelves of some old bookstores.
It's surprising how some of the presidents with the shortest tenure in office have some of the most interesting stories, and James Garfield certainly fits this description. While one can never tell how a President will fare in office once elected, Garfield certainly had the experience in Congress and the skill of being on good terms with all factions that he might have been able to use those talents to heal the wounds still causing pain in the nation. Then again, it never seems to work out that way, does it?
Considered a principled man, he was not without his moral failings. These include an extra-marital affair and the acquisition of wealth unlawfully during the Credit-Mobilier scandal. He was someone who tried to stay on good terms with everyone and this would benefit him when, in 1880, his party was split between two strong-willed factions: the Stalwarts led by New York Senator Roscoe Conkling and the "Half-Breeds" led by Maine Senator James G. Blaine. When, at the Republican's Presidential Nominating Convention, party delegates could not agree on a candidate to lead them into the next election (the Half-Breeds wanted Blaine, while the Stalwarts proposed a third term for Ulysses Grant), the deadlock was broken by choosing Garfield, who had come to the convention to offer lukewarm support for John Sherman, the Senator from his home state of Ohio.
Garfield went on to win the election, but four months into his presidency, he was shot by Guiteau while at the Washington DC train station. Guiteau had some serious mental health issues. He was a Stalwart supporter who deluded himself into thinking that he deserved a cushy government job because he had given a speech supporting Garfield and credited this with Garfield's election. Garfield would likely have survived the wounds, but for negligent medical treatment. He died in September of that year, leaving a lot of concern about the man who would succeed him (but that's tomorrow's story.)
There are a lot of very good biographies that have been written about James Garfield. The Signature Series biography of Garfield was published in 2005 and written by John Taylor, and is called Garfield of Ohio: The Available Man. Other Garfield biographies include Allan Peskin's 1978 book Garfield: A Biography, Kenneth Ackerman's 2003 book (my favorite Garfield biography) Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of James A. Garfield, and last year's Garfield offering President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier by Charles Goodyear. All are very good.
The absolutely best book about Garfield focuses on his assassination, on his assassin and on his botched medical care. This is Candace Millard's wonderful 2012 book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President. I highly recommend this book for all potus_geeks. For those who like their history with more levity, Sarah Vowell offers a look at Garfield's assassination (and those of Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley) in her 2006 bestseller Assassination Vacation.
Garfield's career as a soldier during the Civil War is the subject of Daniel Vermilya's 2015 book James Garfield and the Civil War: For Ohio and the Union. The often overlooked story of Garfield's victory in the Presidential election of 1880 is recounted in the University of Kansas Press's Presidential Election series volume, published in 2020 and written by Benjamin Arrington, called The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880.
In used book stores I've managed to find a number of old books written about Garfield. These include From Log Cabin to the White House: Life of James A. Garfield-Boyhood, Youth, Manhood, Assassination by William Makepeace Thayer; the 1881 volume written by William Balch with the lengthy title of The Life of James Abram Garfield: Late President of the United States. The Record of a Wonderful Career, Which, Like That of Abraham Lincoln, By Native Energy and Untiring Industry, Led Its Hero From Obscurity to the Foremost Position in The Nation; and The Works of James Garfield by Burke Hinsdale, published in 1882. They're all very old books and were surprising finds tucked away in the musty shelves of some old bookstores.
It's surprising how some of the presidents with the shortest tenure in office have some of the most interesting stories, and James Garfield certainly fits this description. While one can never tell how a President will fare in office once elected, Garfield certainly had the experience in Congress and the skill of being on good terms with all factions that he might have been able to use those talents to heal the wounds still causing pain in the nation. Then again, it never seems to work out that way, does it?