A President Forgotten: James Garfield Part Two

“Twenty-five years ago, this Republic was bearing and wearing a triple chain of bondage. Long familiarity with traffic in the bodies and souls of men had paralyzed the consciences of a majority of our people; the narrowing and disintegrating doctrine of State-sovereignty had shackled and weakened the noblest and most beneficent powers of the National Government; and the grasping power of slavery was seizing upon the virgin Territories of the West, and dragging them into the den of eternal bondage. 

At that crisis the Republican party was born. It drew its first inspiration from that fire of liberty which God has lighted in every human heart, and which all the powers of ignorance and tyranny can never wholly extinguish. The Republican party came to deliver and to save. It entered the arena where the beleaguered and assailed Territories were struggling for freedom, and drew around them the sacred circle of liberty, which the demon of Slavery has never dared to cross. It made them free forever. Strengthened by its victory on its frontier, the young party, under the leadership of that great man who, on this sport, twenty years ago, was made its chief, entered the national capitol and assumed the high duties of government. The light which shone from its banner illuminated its pathway to power. Every slave-pen and the shackles of every slave within the shadow of the capitol were consumed in the re-kindled fire of freedom. - James Garfield, 1880. 

Hey everyone, welcome back. 

Speaking at the Republican convention in Chicago, Garfield - who had just been elected to the Senate that January - was unsure of exactly how to endorse his fellow statesmen and hopeful nominee John Sherman. Going into the contest, most believed the convention would come down to a competition between former president Ulysses S. Grant and James G. Blaine. Yet, when Garfield rose to speak, he stirred something in the crowd and by the time the balloting was over - it was he who became the Republican nominee for president. In a presidency that previewed so much promise, Garfield would die less than six months into his administration - thanks more to medical malpractice than to the disgruntled office seeker who shot him. 

So this week I am wrapping up my coverage of President James Garfield. How did he get nominated to the presidency? What did his election look like? And what did his death mean for the country? 

Grab your cup of coffee, peeps. Let’s do this. 

In my opening episode dedicated to Garfield, I spent time exploring his youth, military experience, and early Congressional career. I closed with Garfield’s work on the commission reviewing the presidential election results of 1876 and hinted that more debate and intraparty acrimony was brewing ahead of the 1880 contest. The Republican convention was scheduled to meet in Chicago from June 2nd to June 8th where they would determine who in their party would face voters that fall. Garfield was sent to the convention to lead the support for fellow Ohio resident and presidential hopeful, John Sherman. The younger brother of Civil War hero William Tecumseh Sherman, John was not known for his charisma and did not head into the convention with a lot of wind in his sails. It was asking a lot of Garfield to inspire the gathered crowd to ignore the battered but still well respected Ulysses S. Grant and looming James G. Blaine to pick the somewhat lackluster John Sherman. 

Garfield himself was unsure of how he was going to convince the crowd to throw their support behind Sherman. A man who was known to have a way with words, Garfield found himself unprepared and without even so much as a draft of a speech. In a letter home he wrote in a panic quote, “it was a frightful mistake that I did not write before I came. It now seems inevitable that I shall fall far below what I ought to do,” end quote. Why the writer’s block? Garfield had doubts about Sherman’s candidacy. So while he was prepared to do his duty as a fellow Ohio resident and Republican party faithful, it made the writing process no doubt difficult. Saddled with an unexpected hotel guest during the convention, Garfield never got the chance to sit down and concentrate long enough to prepare a draft and arrived at the convention hall with little more than hope that inspiration would strike at the last minute. As fate would have it, Roscoe Conkling spoke ahead of Garfield and his remarks about Grant sparked something inside the young man from Ohio, leading Garfield to give an off the cuff, mesmerizing, and eloquent address - a portion of which I read at the top of the episode. 

With nominating speeches completed, voting began. Delegates were unable to come to a consensus on a candidate and although former president Ulysses S. Grant was an early favorite, he was unable to win enough votes to clinch the nomination outright. Despite not being a candidate himself, delegates pledged a vote here and there for Garfield throughout the various rounds, but never enough to mount a serious challenge - until the 34th ballot when Wisconsin awarded 16 of its 18 votes to Garfield. This created a palpable shift in energy in the room and Garfield, aware of the building coalition, tried to blunt the onslaught of support. He tried to raise a point of inquiry, arguing that any votes in his name should not be allowed as he never consented to be a nominee. He was denied. On the 36th ballot, Blaine and Sherman supporters joined forces and Garfield earned an impressive 399 votes to Grant’s 306 - earning him the nomination. 

Chester A. Arthur, the man who was the former customs collector at the Port of New York and a longtime ally and protégé of Conkling, received the nod for Vice President – much to Conkling’s chagrin. In fact, Conkling cautioned Arthur against accepting the appointment, seriously doubting Garfield’s ability to win the general election. In a preview of what was to come, Arthur went against his mentor’s advice and decided to accept the nomination, telling Conkling that the quote “office of the Vice President is a great honor than I ever dreamed of attaining,” end quote. Garfield endorsed his running mate – begrudgingly. The decision to put Arthur on the ticket was done without Garfield’s knowledge and while he understood the political calculus in picking Arthur – a Stalwart representing the important state of New York – he was understandably a little uneasy with having someone so close to Roscoe Conkling beside him as he prepared to run for an office he never asked for to begin with. 

Running on the Democratic ticket was Winfield S. Hancock, another Civil War veteran and a career Army officer. The two candidates were nearly identical, differing only over tariff policy. Garfield faced criticism over his connection to the Credit Mobilier scandal, but he kept a low profile, sticking to his farm in Mentor, Ohio instead of traveling the country seeking votes – maintaining the tradition of avoiding campaigning and risk appearing undignified. And while Garfield would not go out to solicit supporters, he also would not refuse anyone who came to his home and wanted to hear his ideas. Thousands of citizens traveled to Garfield’s property, where the candidate would address the crowd, giving birth to the Front Porch campaign. Garfield became the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to give a campaign speech in a language other than English, when he spoke to a gathered crowd in German. 

When election day came, it was clear that the race was going to be close. Voter turnout was high – estimates claim anywhere between 78 and 80% of eligible voters went out to the polls that November to exercise their voice. As the returns trickled in, it was unclear who was going to come out on top. No doubt exhausted, Garfield finally decided he had waited long enough and that the results of the election – whatever they were – could wait until after he had a few hours of rest. Finally, at 3 o’clock in the morning, Garfield turned into bed. When he awoke a few hours later, he learned he had pulled off a clear – albeit close – victory. He clearly won the electoral votes 214 to 155, but the popular vote by less than 10,000 ballots. One of the pivotal states ensuring Garfield’s victory? His running mate, Chester A. Arthur’s home state of New York. Taking a moment to himself, Garfield wrote a letter about his victory quote, “There is a tone of sadness running through the triumph which I can hardly explain,” end quote.  

In his inaugural speech on March 4, 1881, newly elected President James Garfield recounted the nation’s short history and spoke forcefully about his support for Black Americans’ right to the franchise. Countering the excuse that freedmen lacked the education to be trusted with the responsibility of voting, the president took the opportunity to share his support of universal education. Outlining several of his positions – including his stance on hard money, Garfield closed out his remarks by announcing he would continue the Civil Service fight his predecessor started, quote: “the civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis until it is regulated by law. For the good of the service itself, for the protection of those who are entrusted with the appointing power against the waste of time and obstruction to the public business caused by the inordinate pressure for place, and for the protection of incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall at the proper time ask Congress to fix the tenure of the minor office offices of the several Executive Departments and prescribe the grounds upon which removals shall be made during the terms for which incumbents have been appointed,” end quote.

Garfield had very little time in office - just under four months. Yet in that time, the new president chose to take on one of the most formidable challenges - and one of the most complex issues - possible: who would serve as the collector at the Port of New York. This choice guaranteed that he would expend a significant amount of political capital - and potentially risk the future of his presidency - on a single issue, going up against one of the most powerful members in the Senate, Stalwart Republican Roscoe Conkling. To go after the collectorship at the port was a bold move both because of what it represented politically and what it meant financially. Financially, the New York port collected more revenue than all other American ports - combined. In an era before income tax, the federal government was funded primarily through the collection of tariffs, making New York a highly pivotal city in ensuring the continuity of the federal government. Politically, it was the largest patronage appointment available and whoever had control of the New York Customs house wielded a tremendous amount of power and influence. 

Garfield choosing to go against Conkling so early in his presidency was also a sign of strength considering the headache his predecessor Rutherford B. Hayes suffered in his limited attempts at addressing civil service reform. It would be understandable if Garfield - a newly elected president who had been apprehensive about accepting the nomination and who barely won the popular vote - chose to play it safe for a few months and avoid immediate and direct conflict with a seasoned master of patronage like Conkling. But Garfield was clearly cut from a different cloth and seemed ready for the fight. 

For years, Roscoe Conkling relied upon the tradition of senatorial courtesy when it came to making key appointments to federal positions. Thus when Garfield indicated he was asserting his presidential authority, Conkling was unnerved. In a desperate act of protest, Roscoe Conkling and his fellow Senator Thomas C. Platt resigned their Senate seats - convinced they’d be reelected by their state legislators and thus undercut Garfield’s authority. They gambled wrong and it was the president who actually ended up on top - getting the individual of his choosing as the collector at the port of New York and firmly establishing himself as the leader of the party. Aside from establishing his cabinet and his battle with Conkling, Garfield was only really able to help address the federal debt - renegotiating government bond rates from 6% to 3.5%, helping cut the budget by 4% and saving the federal government about $10 million annually. 

As the nation’s capital prepared for the Fourth of July festivities, the president was gearing up for a summer vacation of his own with a quick stop to visit his alma mater, Williams College where he was scheduled to give a speech. The president traveled to the Baltimore and Potomac train station like any other wealthy man of the era - meaning without police or sentry. Despite the fact that leaders across Europe had fallen victim to assassinations - and that President Lincoln himself had been murdered less than twenty years before - there was a belief that somehow the United States was immune to political violence. The American justification was that Lincoln was not shot because of his political station - but as a result of war. As such, presidents continued to operate and travel like before - without any protection or guard. When Garfield arrived at the train station that morning on July 2nd, 1881 he walked into the pressed red brick edifice as would any other citizen, not knowing that lurking in the shadows was a scorned man who believed he was on a mission from God. A who had tried - and failed - multiple times to secure a consulship with the administration. After failing in his quest and being roughly rebuked by Secretary of State James Blaine, Charles Guiteau decided his true purpose was to elevate Chester A. Arthur to the presidency - and eliminate James Garfield. 

After borrowing money to purchase a revolver, Charles Guiteau aimed and fired his first shot. The president tensed and threw up his arms, crying out “My god - what is that?” as Guiteau aimed and fired again, hitting Garfield in the back. He then turned to leave the station - heading toward the exit. Witnesses of the shooting began to yell for bystanders to detain Guiteau and James Blaine, who joined the president as he walked into the station, demanded the doors be barred. Unable to escape, Guiteau was quickly detained by a local police officer and taken into custody. The president, badly injured, lay on the floor. Despite multiple gunshots, Garfield’s wounds were not fatal. The first bullet had miraculously only grazed his shoulder and although the second shot hit the president squarely in the back, it managed to miss his spine and vital organs. Had he been left alone, James Garfield would have likely made a complete recovery. However, as the president of the United States, his medical care was seen as priority one. 

Unfortunately this was an era when American medical professionals remained skeptical about germ theory, despite the growing body of evidence in Europe indicating the importance of clean instruments and clean hands in avoiding infection. Thus, as the president lay on a dirty train station floor, Dr. Smith Townsend stuck his ungloved, unsanitized finger into the wound, likely introducing the first of a series of infections that would cause more damage than the bullet lodged in the president’s back ever could. 

The medical malpractice continued, when Dr. D. Willard Bliss - whose first name was, I kid you not, Doctor, was called in to treat the president. Originally requested by Robert Todd Lincoln, Dr. Bliss was one of the physicians on hand after President Lincoln was shot and was thus a familiar entity. In the end, however, the task proved to be too overwhelming for Dr. Bliss, who became singularly obsessed with being the president’s savior. Assuming complete control of the president’s care and refusing to allow any other medical professional to evaluate his patient, Dr. Bliss spent the next several weeks exacerbating Garfield’s condition, probing the wound repeatedly, convinced that extraction was the only way to ensure the president’s full recovery. Of course, each time the doctor reopened the wound, he introduced more germs and infection. A victim of hubris, Dr. Bliss refused to believe his treatment plan wasn’t working and issued press release after press release indicating all was well and that the president was just about to turn the corner. 

Meanwhile, privately the hunt for the mystery bullet continued. Inventor Alexander Graham Bell was brought in to see if one of his inventions might be successful in locating the bullet. The device - an early version of a metal detector - was carefully guided over the right side of the president’s body where the machine picked up a faint sound. These results did not match Bell’s prior test runs and the inventor was initially hesitant and unconvinced. Dr. Bliss, however - obsessed with being vindicated in his treatment plan - announced that Bell’s device worked and had successfully located the bullet on the president’s right side. The truth was that President Garfield was riddled with infection and he was slowly giving way. Likely sensing the end was near, the president informed Dr. Bliss that he wanted to be moved to a location where he could watch the ocean. On the evening of September 19th, more than two months after being shot, President James Garfield took his last breaths. He was 49 years old. 

In the aftermath of Garfield’s death, Vice President Chester A. Arthur took the oath of office, becoming the twenty-first president. Arthur was unexpectedly hit hard by his predecessor’s death and sought to honor his legacy by carrying out what he believed Garfield wanted, including civil service reform, signing the Pendleton Act in 1883. Lost in the prime of his life, it remains unknown what might have become of James Garfield had he been allowed to live out the remainder of his presidency. What would have happened with Black political rights? How would Garfield have handled the economic downturn in the 1880s? Would he have run for and won reelection? These are all questions that we will never have the answers to. 

James Garfield may be one of the forgotten presidents for some, but I hope after these couple of episodes he is remembered a little more for how he lived than how he died. 

Thanks, peeps. I’ll see you next time.