‘Making a man President cannot change him’? The Life of Chester A. Arthur

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Welcome to Civics and Coffee, a history podcast. The show all about United States history, delivered to you and the time it takes to enjoy your morning cup of coffee. I'm your host, Alicia, a historian trained in United States history with a passion for telling both the known and unknown parts of America's past. So grab your coffee and get ready for some bite-sized history. Hey everyone, welcome back. I don't think it's a stretch to say that being president of the United States is a tough job, and has been since the earliest days of the Republic. Balancing competing priorities, managing egos, and assessing what legislation to focus on. All while overseeing the safety and health of the American people is a complicated task, requiring a cool head and focused mind. Sitting in the Oval Office carries incredible responsibility, and the men who've occupied the office thus far have demonstrated a wide range of character and capability to meet the moment. Several times throughout U.S. history, fate made it so that men who did not seek the office of president were nevertheless called upon to serve. Faced with calming a grieving nation while assuming the responsibilities of the office is not an envious task. Mix in a healthy dose of suspicion and cynicism in your ability, and I think the stress alone may make even the strongest person run for the hills. And yet, this is what twenty first President Chester Allen Arthur faced upon assuming office after the death of James Garfield in September 1881. Arthur, who did not wish to be president and who had long enjoyed the cushy side of political office, was ill prepared to take the reins and become the commander in chief in the fall of 1881, and there were many who did not think he was capable of doing the job, or at least doing it well. But Chester Arthur proved the naysayers wrong, becoming his own man to take a stand against the party machine politics that made his career. So this week I am diving into the life and administration of Chester A. Arthur. Who was he? How did he become vice president? And what legacy did he leave behind? Grab your cup of coffee, peeps. Let's do this. The man who would later become the country's twenty first president was born on October 5th, 1829, in North Fairfield, Vermont, to Malvina and William Arthur. Chester was the fifth of nine children, born to the Arthur family, who moved as needed to accommodate the patriarch's position as a reverend. The family eventually relocated to New York, and at 15, the young Chester enrolled at Union College, where he studied the normal coursework of Roman classics and Greek. After graduating in 1848, Arthur taught for a few years before turning his eye towards the law. Getting the abolitionist spark from his father, Arthur became a law clerk at the Erastus Culver Law Firm in 1854. Culver was a leading abolitionist, and while working with his fur, Arthur helped argue the Freedom Suit, Lemon v. New York, successfully securing the freedom of several enslaved individuals brought into the state by Virginia slaveholders who were relocating to Texas. Arth even became interested briefly in the free soil movement, relocating to Kansas with his brother in 1856, before deciding it was too chaotic and returning to New York City. Back on familiar ground, Arthur joined the newly established Republican Party and resumed his legal practice. He met the woman who would become his bride, Ellen Lewis Herndon, in 1856, and the couple married in 1859 and would go on to have three children. With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the country was soon facing civil war, which created a bit of tension in the Arthur household as Ellen's family was from the South and largely favored the Confederacy. Arthur knew how to make connections, and while he briefly considered a post on the battlefield on behalf of the Union, he instead accepted a post as a quartermaster general in the New York Volunteers, where he oversaw the housing, feeding, and supplying of several hundred thousand troops. Arthur did well in this post and earned the rank of Brigadier General. The post required Arthur to deal with several private contractors, and despite the expectation that he would avail himself of a little extra kickback from the various contracts he oversaw, Arthur resisted the temptation and in the process earned a reputation as someone who managed the post with efficiency. Despite his proven capabilities, Arthur lost the post in 1862 when Democrats took control and Arthur returned to his legal career. Arthur used his legal career to advance his interests. As biographer Zachary Carabel observes, quote, Arthur knew that his future career depended less on his legal acumen than on his social aptitude. A good lawyer might win cases, but only a well-connected man about town could win the business and gain the trust of wealthy and powerful clients, end quote. It was during this time that he met Roscoe Conkling, a man who would mean so much to his political career. The two men shared many things, a love of the finer things like tailored clothing and culinary adventures, but they were also different. Conkling was known as overbearing and demanding attention, whereas Arthur was happy to blend into the background. In this way, the men seemed to compliment each other, and in 1871, Arthur received one of, if not the best political posts in the federal government, the collector of the New York Custom House. As the collector, Arthur oversaw roughly 1,300 staff and earned an impressive $12,000 annual salary, a salary he augmented through the collection of fines imposed on undervalued imported goods. In one particularly egregious example in 1872, a company undervalued an import by about $6,000, which equated to a roughly $1,600 revenue loss to the federal government, which prompted a penalty of $271,000, 50% of which could be kept by government officials legally. This meant that Arthur's actual salary was often closer to that of the president. And despite the excessive but legal fee collection, Arthur was viewed as an honest steward of the custom house, albeit not a very dedicated one. Again, from biographer Zachary Carabel, quote, he was late to arrive at his office, early to leave, and he did not administrate with a heavy hand, end quote. Arthur ran the Custom House honestly, but he was a major believer in the spoil system. This led to Arthur having a bloated staff hiring people due to party loyalty rather than demonstrated ability. When President Rutherford B. Hayes was elected in 1876, he decided to take on civil service reform, establishing the J Commission, and ultimately ending Arthur's tenure at the Custom House. Just a few years later, however, Fate's eye would look upon Arth again, this time as an odd companion to James Garfield on the 1880 Republican ticket. This, of course, was not exactly the plan. Conkling, furious with Hayes over his efforts at exerting his authority over civil service reform, was backing a grant renomination bid and was displeased when Garfield's name came out of nowhere to win the convention's support. Still nursing his wounds, Conkling was in a foul mood when Arthur approached his friend and longtime ally about the offer. And if you've seen Death by Lightning, then you know that initially Conkling was unsupportive, to put it wildly, about the prospect of Arthur joining the ticket, advising his longtime ally to avoid what he was convinced would be a losing proposition. In a bit of foreshadowing, Arthur stood his ground and, according to later reports, explained that the vice presidency was a higher office than he had ever dreamed of achieving, and he fully intended on accepting. This pushback from Arthur further angered Conkling, and the two squabbled, but their relationship survived. And eventually Conkling came around to seeing the benefit of having his friend inside the White House. And it was this friendship and Arthur's long support of the spoils system that gave several other people pause when they learned of his being named as the vice president. When the New York delegation sensed pushback to their proposed candidate, they threatened to stay home in November. And anticipating a tight race, their threat carried a lot of weight, and the resistance was dropped. Garfield and Arthur were different men with different perspectives. Garfield was not fond of the game of politics, whereas Arthur thrived in such an environment, and Garfield had dedicated his life in the service of the country through the military and then in Congress, whereas Arthur had only served in politically appointed offices. But the two men did share some beliefs, namely that black Americans deserved civil rights. But once elected, Arthur proved to be a thorn in Garfield's side, openly thwarting his attempts at building a cabinet as a result of his loyalty to the stalwart faction of the party, and Roscoe Conkling in particular. But just when Garfield had finally made some progress, sending Arthur and Conkling running for New York, he was mowed down by a crazed man on July 2nd, 1881. Charles Gateau, the man responsible for the shooting, had written several letters ahead of time, including one to the vice president advising him of who should fill his cabinet now that he would be president. It was not a secret that Garfield and Arthur had been on less than friendly terms, and there was immediate suspicion that perhaps the vice president was somehow involved in the plot against the president. Upon hearing the news from reports on his arrival in New York City, Vice President Arthur was in shock. Anyone looking for a smug or satisfied look was sure to be disappointed, as Arthur was instead deeply worried about the president losing his life and the idea that he might actually have to take on the role himself. Arthur had never wanted to be president. He had no desire to invite that kind of stress and responsibility into his life. And he saw the vice presidency as the best of both worlds. He could enjoy the prestige and social calendar that came with the office, but avoid all of the responsibilities. If Garfield did not survive, Arthur realized all of the country's problems would fall upon his shoulders. Arthur and Conkling made their way to the Fifth Avenue Hotel where crowds had already begun to gather. The general public was displeased with the idea of Arthur becoming president, especially in the earliest days after the shooting when suspicion of his involvement ran rampant thanks to the letters from Gateau. Worried about the ramifications, the New York police commissioner Stephen French assigned a few officers to guard the hotel lobby and the main entrance, while Arthur could only focus on the dread he felt and his concern about the president's condition. The vice president was delayed in getting updates initially as they were being sent to his home on Lexington Avenue, and not wanting to seem eager for the presidency, Arthur decided to wait for additional updates from New York. The cabinet disagreed. In a telegram from Secretary of State James Blaine, it was expressed that the cabinet believed that the vice president needed to return to Washington as quickly as possible, and they recommended that he take the midnight train. After arriving back in D.C., Arthur tried to clear the air with the president in person to assure him he had nothing to do with the shooting, but the attending physician refused to let him through. While at the White House, Arthur was pulled into a room with the other cabinet officials where the mood was tense, and he was eyed with suspicion. Responding to the tension, Arthur quipped, quote, I pray to God that the president will recover. God knows I do not want the place I was never elected to, end quote. This seemed to melt the ice a bit and allowed the men a chance to strategize. While the Constitution laid out what to do when the president passed away in office, it did not mention what to do if the president became disabled. Garfield was mostly mentally aware, but was physically unable to move around. Arthur, afraid of being perceived as eager for the job, refused to take command of the situation, leaving the cabinet to debate exactly the next steps. They argued over several scenarios before ultimately doing nothing and hoping that no emergencies demanded action. When the president finally succumbed to an infection on September 19th, Arthur was beside himself. He was likely feeling a mix of emotions, sadness, fear, and a little bit of regret for never getting the chance to clear the air with the president. At 2 15 AM on September 20th, inside his Lexington Avenue townhouse, Chester Alan Arthur took the oath of office. Administered by a state official, there was question as to its validity, so Arthur went through the oath again on September 22nd at 12 noon, after which he shared brief remarks and then called a meeting of the cabinet, where he asked them to stay on until Congress reconvened in December. And while the American public was initially uneasy about an Arthur presidency, he earned their trust over the weeks following Garfield's shooting, largely because of how he responded in the aftermath by showing deference and not displaying a desire to jump into power. Insiders who were worried Arthur was a stalwart or a conkling man would soon be proved wrong, as Arthur the president was a departure from Arthur the Vice President, leading one of his former machine acquaintances to observe, quote, he isn't Chet Arthur anymore. He's the president, end quote. President Arthur did not become a progressive reformer, but he also refused to tow the stalwart line. Perhaps he was inspired by letters from Julia Sand, an unknown constituent who first wrote Arthur on August 27, 1881, telling him that the American public was grieving the thought of having him as their president, and it was time for him to rise to the moment, writing, If there is a spark of true nobility in you, now is the occasion to let it shine. Sands continued, Faith in your better nature forces me to write to you, but not to beg you to resign. Do what is more difficult and more brave. Reform. Arthur demonstrated more independence than anyone thought possible. He exercised the veto, using it to try to kill the Patronage Heavy River and Harbors Act of 1882, only to be overridden by Congress. He also pushed back against the original proposal over Chinese exclusion, which called for an explicit ban of Chinese immigrants for 20 years, finding the bill too harsh and expressing concerns about what such a bill might do to relations between the two nations. Arthur can't be given too much credit here, however, as he did eventually sign the bill that came to be known as the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, accepting an initial 10-year ban, which, of course, was extended, marking the beginning of an era of explicit racial exclusion by the United States. Arthur's crowning achievement, however, and the one that likely shocked all of the critics, was his signature on the Pendleton Act of 1883. Otherwise known as civil service reform, the bill established a bipartisan civil service commission, outlawed levying political fees against office holders, required that newly hired federal employees start at the bottom and advance through the ranks through written merit examinations, and it ensured that the federal employees remained in place and were not fired due to political affiliation, so that the government and by extension the American people benefited from the most capable and talented workforce possible. In the midst of his tenure, Arthur was diagnosed with nephritis, then known as Bright's disease. He was sick, but did not want to admit defeat and thus did not remove his name from the race in the 1884 nomination contest. Despite his commendable service, Arthur had alienated the Stalwarts by exercising independence, and the half-breeds still did not trust him. And so James G. Blaine ultimately won the nomination, only to lose the election to Democrat Grover Cleveland. Arthur did not get long to enjoy post-presidency life, passing away on November 18, 1856, at just 56 years old, making him one of the youngest ex-presidents. From the outside, Chester A. Arthur was not a man built for the presidency. However, he managed to surprise everyone, including himself. Perhaps publisher Alexander K. McClure said it best when he wrote, quote, No man ever entered the presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired more generally respected. Thanks, peeps. I'll see you next time. Thanks for sitting down with me as I explored this chapter of American history. If you liked what you heard, be sure to subscribe and share with your friends. I look forward to our next cup of coffee together.