James A. Garfield

James Abram Garfield was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his death on September 19, 1881. Born into humble circumstances in Ohio, Garfield rose through education, teaching, law, military service, and politics to become one of the most prominent Republican leaders of the post–Civil War era. His presidency was extraordinarily brief, but his career reflected many of the central political conflicts of the Gilded Age, particularly disputes over civil-service reform, political patronage, and the influence of party factions. Garfield was also a gifted scholar and orator who believed strongly in education, individual advancement, and public service. His assassination, only months after taking office, transformed him from a relatively obscure president into a symbol of the dangers of the nation's patronage system.

Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in Orange Township, Ohio, the youngest of five children of Abram and Eliza Garfield. His father died when James was only 18 months old, leaving his mother to raise the family with limited means. As a boy, Garfield worked on his family's farm and developed a fascination with reading and learning. At age 16 he left home to attend the Geauga Seminary, where he studied while working to pay his expenses. He later attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute—now Hiram College—and became an instructor there. In 1854 he entered Williams College in Massachusetts as a junior and graduated in 1856. Garfield returned to Ohio and became principal of the Eclectic Institute, where he taught a broad range of subjects. His intellectual abilities, religious convictions, and talent for public speaking quickly established him as a rising figure in his community.

Garfield entered politics as a Republican during the turbulent years preceding the Civil War. In 1859, Ohio voters elected him to the state senate, where he opposed the expansion of slavery and became increasingly involved in the Republican Party. When the Civil War began in 1861, Garfield volunteered for military service and eventually became a brigadier general. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Middle Creek in Kentucky in January 1862, helping Union forces secure an important victory. Later that year he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, beginning a congressional career that would last nearly 18 years. Garfield resigned his military commission in 1863 and took his seat in Congress, where he became an influential Republican. He served on important committees, supported Reconstruction and civil rights for African Americans, and developed a reputation as an able legislator and powerful speaker. By the late 1870s, he was one of the most respected Republican leaders in Washington.

Garfield's path to the presidency emerged from a bitterly divided Republican Party. At the 1880 Republican National Convention, former president Ulysses S. Grant was supported by the Stalwarts, who favored traditional patronage politics, while Senator James G. Blaine represented another major faction. Garfield was nominated as a compromise candidate after a prolonged convention and was elected president in November 1880. His administration immediately became entangled in the patronage struggle. Garfield attempted to resist the demands of Senator Roscoe Conkling and the Stalwarts, particularly over appointments to federal offices. His decision to nominate reform-minded figures, including William H. Robertson as collector of the Port of New York, provoked a major confrontation with Conkling. Although Garfield's administration had little time to accomplish its broader program, he supported civil-service reform, education, improved agricultural research, and modernization of the federal government. On July 2, 1881, Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker who believed Garfield owed him a government position, shot the president at a Washington railroad station.

After the shooting, Garfield spent the summer of 1881 attempting to recover while doctors struggled to locate and remove the bullet. He was moved from the White House to a seaside retreat in New Jersey in September, but his condition continued to deteriorate. Garfield remained mentally alert for much of his illness and continued to discuss government affairs with those around him. Although later medical understanding suggests that the medical treatment itself contributed substantially to his decline, physicians at the time repeatedly probed his wound in unsuccessful attempts to find the bullet. Garfield eventually developed severe infections and internal complications. His vice president, Chester A. Arthur, did not assume presidential powers during Garfield's illness, and Garfield technically remained president until his death. Garfield died at Elberon, New Jersey, on September 19, 1881, at the age of 49. Guiteau was convicted of murder and hanged in 1882.

Garfield's presidency was too short for him to establish a substantial record as chief executive, but his death had lasting consequences for American politics. His assassination dramatically increased public support for civil-service reform and helped create the political momentum that produced the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which began replacing the patronage system with a merit-based federal civil service. Garfield is also remembered for rising from poverty through education and becoming one of the nation's most accomplished scholars and politicians. His life demonstrated the possibilities of nineteenth-century American education and political advancement, while his death exposed the destructive consequences of the era's patronage politics. Although ranked among the lesser-known presidents because of the brevity of his administration, Garfield occupies an important place in American history as a reform-minded president whose unfinished career helped accelerate the transformation of the federal government.