Presidential Idea: Lesson about James Garfield

I recently finished reading a book on James Garfield called Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.  I have always been interested in Presidents and history and found myself not knowing much about the other assassinated president.  Everyone knows the stories of Lincoln and Kennedy, a few know of William McKinley's untimely death but very few know of James Garfield's assassination or his life leading up to his time as President.

I found his story to be quite interesting and wanted to share some of his life.

He was born in Ohio to a poor family.  His father died when James was barely a year old.  His mother and older siblings knew James was the smart one and worked in order to allow James to go to school.  He put himself through college by working as the janitor before becoming a professor and soon the President of the university at the age of 25.

While fighting for the Union Army he was elected to the House of Representatives yet continued fighting for he felt his time was better spent on the battlefield.  It wasn't until President Lincoln summoned him back to Washington as his votes were needed to pass legislation.

In 1880, the Republican party was having trouble deciding upon which candidate to nominate.  Garfield was in attendance at the Republican National Convention in Chicago as the freshly elected Senator of Ohio.  Garfield was asked to introduce to the electorate fellow Ohioan, John Sherman.  Following the exuberant introduction of James Blaine, Garfield stepped to the podeum to speak on behalf of Sherman.

Nothing touches my heart more quickly than a tribute of honor to a great and noble character; but as I sat in my seat and witnessed this demonstration, this assemblage seemed to me a human ocean in tempest.  I have seen the sea lashed into fury and tossed into spray, and its grandeur moves the soul of the dullest man; but I remember that it is not the billows, but the calm level of the sea, from which all heights and depths are measured.

He was trying to speak of Sherman but the convention hall would remember his words not the man he was trying to endorse.  The ballots kept coming back split between John Sherman, James Blaine, and former President Ulysses Grant.  On the 34th ballot, after the first 33 were all split evenly, James Garfield picked up a few votes.  On the succeeding ballot, Garfield picked up a few more and spoke to the convention announcing that they should not vote for him, that he was not running.  Eventually Garfield reached the majority needed to be nominated even as he was pleading with his own state's electorate that he was not running and that John Sherman should receive his votes. 

Even though he was never actually running for the Presidency he was now running for President.  However he was not spending millions and billions of dollars campaigning like we see today.  He took the approach similarly employed by Abraham Lincoln and others of the time by staying out of the limelight.  During the month of October leading up to the election, Garfield harvested his crops and 'ignored all the bad political behavior.'

There was one story that occurred in the process that I really enjoyed.  It was only a few weeks before the election and an all black group of college men from Nashville had come to Garfield's home in Ohio to sing for him.  When the singers had completed their song Garfield said, "I would rather be with you and lose than be against you and win."

He ended up winning the election to become the 20th President of the United States.  For a brief moment in time he was a sitting Representative in the House, Senator Elect, and President Elect.  He was only President for 4 months before he was shot by a delusional man, Charles Guiteau.  The gun shot wound was bad but hardly deadly.  What eventually killed President Garfield a full 3 months after his attacker show him was the lack of sterilization used by the doctors treating him.  His body was ravaged by infections from unsterilized fingers and instruments probing his wounds.

A few interesting notes about President Garfield's assassination:

• Alexander Graham Bell worked to create the first ever metal detector to find the bullet left inside Garfield.
• Arguably the first air conditioner was built using a fan, a giant ice tub, and a dryer to lower humidity because the President was continually running a fever and it was summer in Washington D.C.
• His head physician was named Dr. Doctor Bliss.  First name being Doctor.
• Robert Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln's only son to reach adulthood, was present or nearby for 3 Presidential Assassinations.  He was one of the first on the scene when his father was shot at Ford's Theater. He was Garfield's Secretary of War and at the train station when Garfield was shot.  He was with President McKinley in Buffalo, NY when he was shot and killed.