🔗 Share this article

For generations, the descendants of President Garfield shared stories about his impressive career but avoided talking about his untimely death. We understood what had happened, that he was gunned down in a train station,” explains one of his family members. “We learned about the story in historical accounts but, in one way or another, we just glanced over it.”

Revived Interest in a Historical Figure

This transformed in 2011 with the publication of a historical book, which sparked curiosity in Garfield's truncated career. This work has now resulted in a Netflix drama titled the presidential series, starring a talented performer as the commander-in-chief and another skilled actor as the wanderer who assassinated him.

The series aims to shine a light on Garfield, who emerged from difficult circumstances to the presidency during the historical period only to become a casualty to its deep political rifts. His tenure was cut short after only half a year not only by the killer's weapon but by medical malpractice – an event now largely forgotten while the assassinations of the Civil War president and JFK continue to captivate the public.

“It's impossible not to respect what he did. He was like a multi-threat: he was a legal professional, he was a preacher, he was a agriculturalist. He was multiple professions which also shaped who he was and his approach and the complete story about him the descendants preserve with us.”

From Humble Beginnings to the Presidency

Garfield was the final national leader raised in rustic conditions in the Midwest in 1831. His father died when he was just a toddler, leaving his mom, Eliza, to raise five children in difficult circumstances. An insatiable reader, Garfield found employment on vessels to make funds for an schooling.

He learned legal principles, was entered the clergy, became president of Hiram College in Ohio and was a government official. In 1858 he wed a former classmate, his future wife, with whom he would have a large family. An passionate nationalist, Garfield viewed the national conflict as a moral battle against forced servitude and rose to the military position.

“When I started researching him, I found it incredible. He was exceptionally intelligent. He was fearless. He was very progressive for the time. He was kind. He was a decent human being and would have been one of our great presidents had he remained alive.”

Public Life and Shocking Selection

Garfield was encouraged by Lincoln to depart military life when he was chosen to the legislative branch, where he would work as a political representative for 17 years. He was strong supporter of black suffrage, viewing it as a issue of rights and the realization of a military promise.

“His oration on the floor of Congress will affect you emotionally. He was an impressive communicator and this matter was deeply meaningful to him.”

At the political assembly in Chicago the political organization was deeply divided between the “faction members”, led by Senator Roscoe Conkling, who supported a continued leadership for military hero, and the “rival group”, who supported James G Blaine. Garfield attended as a advocate of his friend and fellow Ohioan John Sherman.

When the huge assembly was gridlocked between Grant and Blaine, representatives began looking for a compromise. Garfield's impassioned speech proposing Sherman impressed them. During the speech, he reportedly shouted, “And now, gentlemen of the convention, what do we want?” to which a attendee unexpectedly replied, “We want Garfield!”

On the extended selection process, a wave of backers made Garfield the unexpected candidate. To appease the Stalwart faction, Chester Arthur, a Conkling loyalist from New York, was chosen as his running mate. In the general election Garfield defeated the Democratic nominee to become the unique incumbent of the House ever to be elected president.

Brief Administration and Political Battles

“What would have made Garfield great and what is remarkably uncommon and maybe particular about the American presidency is he didn't want the job. It's not that he had never thought about it but he was thrust into it.”

The major battle of Garfield's brief term was his clash with Conkling over the “spoils system”. Conkling demanded control over government appointments in New York, particularly the powerful and lucrative post of port authority. Garfield refused, stating the issue was “if the commander-in-chief should be registering clerk of the senate or the nation's leader”. He nominated a opponent of Conkling to the post.

The confrontation turned into a public battle but Garfield outmaneuvered Conkling in the Senate. Confronting a humiliating public defeat, Conkling and his associate quit Congress in protest. The next day, Garfield's candidate was ratified. It was a landmark victory for the presidential control over the faction system and for the change movement over “machine politics”.

The Killer and His Mental Illness

But even as Garfield fought powerful figures of his party, he was being stalked by a disturbed and delusional man who embodied the problematic element of the patronage system. Charles Guiteau was a wanderer with a background of career disappointments, mental instability and physical and psychological abuse. He had failed as a lawyer, debt recovery agent, religious figure and member of a unconventional group.

“He was mentally ill and his particular brand of madness was delusion. He always believed that divine selection for significance. He actually had financially a better start than Garfield but where Garfield progressed and improved, Guiteau was unsuccessful in all endeavors.”

But Guiteau believed he had eventually located a way to accomplishment: politics. Caught up in the drama of the political contest, he prepared and gave an minor oration, and became certain in his thoughts that he was single-handedly responsible for Garfield's victory.

Under this thinking, Guiteau reckoned he had earned a high-level government job. He journeyed to DC and continuously bothered Garfield, Blaine and other leaders, requiring to be made the US consul in Paris — a position for which he had no experience. He became such a annoyance that he was eventually excluded from the White House.

The Assassination and Doctor Errors

On the tragic date, just four months into his presidency, Garfield was departing the capital for his educational gathering. As he passed through the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad station, Guiteau stepped from the shadows, produced an handgun from his jacket and shot the president twice in the back.

Garfield exclaimed: “What's happening?” and dropped on the station floor. When a {police officer|law