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President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier Hardcover – July 4, 2023

Purchase options and add-ons

• Print length 624 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Simon & Schuster
• Publication date July 4, 2023
• Dimensions 6 x 1.7 x 9 inches
• ISBN-10 1982146915
• ISBN-13 978-1982146917
• See all details

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster (July 4, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 624 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982146915
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982146917
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.7 x 9 inches
• #6 in U.S. Abolition of Slavery History
• #128 in US Presidents
• #306 in U.S. State & Local History

About the author

C. w. goodyear.

C.W.Goodyear is an author and historian based in Washington, DC. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up abroad before graduating from Yale University.

His latest work is "President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier," a critically acclaimed biography of America's 20th President.

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The case for James Garfield, the president history forgot

C.W. Goodyear’s new biography highlights the overlooked accomplishments of the 20th president, who died 200 days into his term

A previous version of this article misstated the inventor of the world’s first metal detector. It was Alexander Graham Bell, not Thomas Edison. This article has been corrected.

It’s not immediately evident why anyone should write an ambitious, thorough, supremely researched biography of James Garfield, the first such effort in nearly a half-century. The nation’s 20th president served just 200 days in office, 80 of which he spent dying after being shot by an assassin’s bullet, and seemingly the most interesting part of that abbreviated tenure — the assassination — was recently told in rollicking form by Candice Millard’s “ Destiny of the Republic .”

In the hands of a talented debut biographer like C.W. Goodyear, though, Garfield’s life becomes a fascinating national portrait of an imperfect union struggling across its first century to live up to the promise of its founding. “ President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier ” is ultimately not just a careful study of Garfield but a portrait of a nation in transition — from its wild youth, where Garfield emerges, the last president born in a literal log cabin, through its awkward, violent adolescence with the Civil War, where Garfield becomes the Union’s youngest general, and onward as it heaves through Reconstruction and the Gilded Age toward adulthood as an industrialized economic empire.

Garfield lived it all — starting work as a teenager on an Ohio canal towpath, traveling across a region whose canals his father helped build, teaching and ministering on the frontiers of the Western Reserve, then rising in local politics through the turbulent prewar years as the country was wrenched apart by slavery, ascending to fame in Civil War combat as one of the few Union officers who showed any ambition and aggression in the early years, and then catapulting himself into Congress at 31. From his first election as head of the debating society at Williams College to a then-long tenure of 17 years in the House and finally on to the White House, Garfield never lost an election. “The truth is no man ever started so low who accomplished so much in all our history,” Garfield’s presidential predecessor Rutherford B. Hayes once wrote. “Not Franklin or Lincoln even.”

Review of “Destiny of the Republic" by Candice Millard

“President Garfield” is delightfully and energetically written, and its subject brims with what he once called the “tossing bubbles of ambition.” At one point, asked why he was speaking at an event with nine people in the audience, he smiled and replied, “That is the way to get larger audiences” — and he was filled with an unstoppable curiosity about the world around him. (“He was always anxious to know all the whys and where,” one friend commented.) On his first trip to New York, he stopped a fruit vendor to ask about the strange, curved fruit on display; told with a puzzled sneer that it was a banana, Garfield remarked to his friend, “I have long since determined not to let an opportunity pass for learning something, simply because I must expose my ignorance in doing so.” He clearly possessed a mind of unending fascination: At one point, already well established in Congress, he published an original proof of the Pythagorean theorem.

It was this intellectual curiosity and thirst for education that would be one Garfield’s most lasting legacies: He fought for the creation of the federal Department of Education as one of the reforms necessary for a maturing country, which had extended the franchise to Blacks in early Reconstruction. “Shall we enlarge the boundaries of citizenship, and make no provision to increase the intelligence of the citizen?” he challenged his congressional colleagues.

How U.S. presidents prepare for the end of the world

Garfield spent 20 years of war and peace in the then-tiny capital of Washington, and it’s hard to find a notable figure he didn’t cross paths with, a collection of anecdotes, cameos and character sketches that together illustrate how America wrestled with what it wanted to be when it grew up. Characters of 19th-century historical significance weave in and out through Goodyear’s telling of Garfield’s story, from his teaching in 1854 at a Vermont school headed by a new headmaster named Chester A. Arthur; to his Union service around Ulysses S. Grant; to his interactions with a wealthy man he called “Rockafeller”; to a young Teddy Roosevelt, who cast his first presidential vote for Garfield in 1880; to Thomas Edison, who lighted a New Jersey street to signal Garfield’s presidency. (One puzzle in the book is the seemingly short shrift Goodyear gives Grant: Though the Union-preserving general’s reputation — long savaged by Lost Cause-friendly historians — has been restored by writers like Joan Waugh and Ron Chernow, Grant as general, president and ex-president here appears as a somewhat one-dimensional bumbler.)

Despite never living there himself, Garfield’s story is as much a New York story as a Washington one, his political career inseparable from the force of the Empire State and the rise of Wall Street after the Civil War. Goodyear notes that the number of bankers in Manhattan soared tenfold between 1864 and 1870 — and Garfield’s congressional career became linked to that state’s tough-edged spoils system, political machines, the scandals that swirled around them, gold panics and the brewing economic unrest of the new Gilded Age. (Capital, Garfield told workers on the campaign trail, is “only another name for crystallized labor saved up.”) The political drama and machinations of such scandals and literal backroom deals drove an era when elections were actually stolen — not the least of which was the presidential electoral stalemate in 1876 between the Republican, Hayes, and the Democrat, New York Gov. Samuel Tilden, whereby with a backroom deal Hayes ascended to the presidency and killed the vestiges of Reconstruction. To prevent any such problems in the future, Congress “solved” the conundrum with the Electoral Count Act, which, well, we now know didn’t exactly solve the problem of contested elections.

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Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Garfield’s story is the decidedly radical path he cut through U.S. politics — a man generally forgotten by modern history was one of the most big-thinking of his time. In his early days in Congress as a Republican, he was the only member of the Military Affairs Committee who supported equal pay for White and Black soldiers, and a Democrat called him “as wild a radical as ever sat in Congress.” For that era, it meant supporting Reconstruction, fighting back as Southern Democrats and the Klan unwound the short-lived progress of Black politicians in the South, and backing a reform agenda that rarely seemed to make much headway. Indeed, for all his wild, and clearly deeply held, beliefs, Garfield comes across as a sensible pragmatist, an “amiably obstinate” politician more interested in dealmaking than enemy-making — a conciliatory path that ultimately launched his presidential career as the compromise candidate for a Republican Party torn asunder by factions.

Ultimately — spoiler alert — Garfield’s presidency was cut short, very short, by an assassin who stalks the president across the book’s final pages and shoots him on the 121st day of his presidency in the train station in Washington. The story of Garfield’s death, though, shows how culturally, politically and scientifically immature the country remained: His murder at the hands of a disgruntled (and seemingly mentally ill) office-seeker was traceable to the generation-long fight against the spoils system, under which federal jobs were objects of patronage instead of merit; and any chance the president had at recovery was poisoned, literally, by the dirty fingers and instruments of purportedly learned doctors who had yet to embrace the practices of antiseptic medicine.

Garfield died as he lived — as a transition figure, killed in a country he loved and led that hadn’t matured enough to save him. Now his life and death offer an important reminder of how far America has come and how — then and now — it still has further to go to achieve its founding dream.

Garrett M. Graff is the author of, among other books, “The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert S. Mueller III’s FBI” and “Watergate: A New History.” His latest book, “UFO: The Inside Story of the U.S. Government’s Search for Alien Life Here — and Out There” will be published in November.

President Garfield

From Radical to Unifier

By C.W. Goodyear

Simon & Schuster. 624 pp. $35

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New biography of James Garfield reveals an influential statesman

James Garfield was the second American president to be murdered by an assassin. But unlike the first, Abraham Lincoln, there haven’t been many books written about Garfield and many Americans don’t know much about Garfield.

C.W. Goodyear, author of the new biography President Garfield From Radical to Unifier, pointed out on The Spark Monday, Garfield had a great impact during Reconstruction after the Civil War and the Gilded Age before ever running for president,”Whenever you ask contemporary Americans about the presidents they remember, it’s always a product of how long that president was in the White House and what they accomplished within it. And for Garfield, that’s a short story. By no fault of his own, of course, he was assassinated. But the greater legacy of his life is a pretty incredible one. He was not only one of the longest serving congressional congressmen in American history by that point. So he had witnessed and participated the rise and fall of reconstruction.”

Goodyear described Garfield’s as a man who led a remarkable life,”He was also this incredible American renaissance man. He was raised by a single mother, the last president to be born in a log cabin. And by his late twenties, he was a college president and a state senator and a preacher simultaneously. And then soon thereafter, he was the youngest brigadier general at that time in the Union Army. And then he was the youngest congressman, or at least technically the second youngest congressman in America halfway through the war. And then he also he had this incredible congressional career. And he also founded the first federal Department of Education as a congressman. And he wrote an original proof, the Pythagorean Theorem . So it’s an amazing life and just one that was real. It was honestly very revelatory, given a lot of the things that we’re going through today.”

Republicans were the progressives politically in the late 1800s and Goodyear said Garfield was on eof the most outspoken,”He was a burn it down radical. He joined Congress in. 1863. He was this very young member of the House, and he was incredibly progressive. He was a member of the radical Republicans so far to the left of Lincoln. On the subject of social and racial issues in America at that time, by the time Lincoln was, I’d say, hesitantly embracing the idea that the abolition of slavery would be necessary. Garfield and their brand of Republicans, including the great Pennsylvanian, Thaddeus Stevens, by the way, I believe saw not only in the need for immediate abolition, but also immediate equality of race throughout the nation. They believe that leading Confederates should be exiled, disenfranchized or even executed. And they also believed in the necessity of breaking down Southern property, redistributing plantation land from the southern gentry of that time, the slaves to slaves and what they called loyal whites. So they believed fundamentally in the need for this thorough reconstitution of the South in order to make America into what they think it needed to be, which was something more in line with its founding ideals.”

As president for just a short time, Garfield became disenchanted with the patronage system of the party in power handing out federal jobs. It actually indirectly led to his assassination when a mentally ill man, who thought he should getting one of those positions, shot Garfield.

C.W. Goodyear will be at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg, Thursday, July 27 at 7 p.m.

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Book Review: ‘President Garfield’ chronicles short presidency that cast long shadow

This cover image released by Simon & Schuster sows “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier” by C.W. Goodyear. (Simon & Schuster via AP)

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Writing a book about James Garfield is no easy task. The 20th president who served the second shortest amount of time in the White House is popularly known more for his assassination than what he did in office.

But in “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier,” C.W. Goodyear admirably remedies that with a book that demonstrates the long shadow Garfield’s life and legacy has left our country.

The authoritative biography chronicles the life of a man who, in many ways, was one of the most well-spoken and intellectual men to hold the title of commander-in-chief. Underscoring that, every chapter opens with a different quote from Shakespeare that Garfield jotted down in his diary.

But Goodyear makes the case that Garfield’s strength didn’t come from showmanship or his speeches — though some of them resonate just as much as Abraham Lincoln’s.

With much of the book understandably focusing on Garfield’s time in Congress, Goodyear portrays him as someone who “embraced undramatic efficiency in the driest fields of lawmaking imaginable” in a town that attracts its fair share of show horses.

That approach was key in his role in Congress on Reconstruction and his advocacy for education, including as the father of the first Department of Education. The former college president was also a strong advocate for universal education as a solution to racial injustice.

Garfield’s short time in the White House still is given the attention it deserves, and that includes the story of his assassination. Though it takes up a briefer section of the biography, Goodyear describes in chilling detail the president’s killing as well as the horror show of medical blunders that contributed to his death.

With his engaging writing and comprehensive research, Goodyear’s biography offers a reassessment of Garfield that’s a welcome introduction to the statesman.

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President Garfield

From radical to unifier.

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Table of Contents

• Rave and Reviews

About The Book

About the author.

C.W. Goodyear is an author and historian based in Washington, DC. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up abroad before graduating from Yale University.

Product Details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 4, 2023)
• Length: 624 pages
• ISBN13: 9781982146917

Browse Related Books

• History > United States > 19th Century
• Biography & Autobiography > Historical
• Biography & Autobiography > Presidents & Heads of State

Raves and Reviews

“An ambitious, thorough, supremely researched biography of James Garfield . . . . Garfield’s life becomes a fascinating national portrait of an imperfect union struggling across its first century to live up to the promise of its founding.”

– Garrett M. Graff, The Washington Post

"The most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost 50 years, and the most readable ever. Mr. Goodyear is a stylish and energetic writer, whose passion for his subject is reminiscent of a youthful Edmund Morris in The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt ."

– Richard Norton Smith, The Wall Street Journal

"Authoritative. . . . With his engaging writing and comprehensive research, Goodyear’s biography offers a reassessment of Garfield that’s a welcome introduction to the statesman."

– Andrew Demillo, AP News

"James A. Garfield has long been too narrowly remembered for his untimely end. This spirited biography gives us the man in full, suggesting the president he might have become. A fine first book from an energetic young scholar whose skills enhance every page."

– John Lewis Gaddis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of George Kennan

“Goodyear relates his subject’s life in fascinating, comprehensive detail. . . . A masterful portrait of a man of great intellect, patience, and ability who should not be overlooked by history.”

– Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“[A] gloriously readable, fascinating biography.”

– Susan Larson, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

"Mr. Goodyear has given us an eloquent and moving biography of our 20th president. Born and raised in rural poverty, James Garfield raised himself up by his bootstraps, fought as a general in the Civil War, rose to leadership in postwar Congresses, challenged the tawdry politics of the Gilded Age, and suffered martyrdom by assassination that launched the beginnings of the end of the system that killed him. Goodyear's lucid prose disentangles the complexities and ambiguities of this story."

– James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of  Battle Cry of Freedom

“In an era polarized like our own, James Garfield went from being a firebrand to an engineer of compromise and healing. Goodyear chronicles his evolution in a meticulously researched reappraisal.”

– Walter Isaacson, author of  Steve Jobs   

“James Garfield, an American President known most for his death, is brought to life and sharply into focus in President Garfield . Meticulously researched and brilliantly narrated, Goodyear’s account weaves together a fascinating figure of towering talents with the extraordinary times in which he lived.”

– Stanley McChrystal, General, US Army (Retired), Founder & CEO, McChrystal Group

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Main Content

President Garfield, From Radical to Unifier

Bestselling author and historian C.W. Goodyear discusses his new biography of President James A. Garfield. This work offers fresh insight and nuance to the life and times of the 20th President of the United States of America, as well as his remarkable ascent in American politics.

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Book Review: ‘President Garfield’ chronicles short presidency that cast long shadow

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Writing a book about James Garfield is no easy task. The 20th president who served the second shortest amount of time in the White House is popularly known more for his assassination than what he did in office.

But in “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier,” C.W. Goodyear admirably remedies that with a book that demonstrates the long shadow Garfield’s life and legacy has left our country.

The authoritative biography chronicles the life of a man who, in many ways, was one of the most well-spoken and intellectual men to hold the title of commander-in-chief. Underscoring that, every chapter opens with a different quote from Shakespeare that Garfield jotted down in his diary.

But Goodyear makes the case that Garfield’s strength didn’t come from showmanship or his speeches — though some of them resonate just as much as Abraham Lincoln’s.

With much of the book understandably focusing on Garfield’s time in Congress, Goodyear portrays him as someone who “embraced undramatic efficiency in the driest fields of lawmaking imaginable” in a town that attracts its fair share of show horses.

That approach was key in his role in Congress on Reconstruction and his advocacy for education, including as the father of the first Department of Education. The former college president was also a strong advocate for universal education as a solution to racial injustice.

Garfield’s short time in the White House still is given the attention it deserves, and that includes the story of his assassination. Though it takes up a briefer section of the biography, Goodyear describes in chilling detail the president’s killing as well as the horror show of medical blunders that contributed to his death.

With his engaging writing and comprehensive research, Goodyear’s biography offers a reassessment of Garfield that’s a welcome introduction to the statesman.

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James Garfield

The 20th President of the United States

The biography for President Garfield and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.

James Garfield was elected as the United States’ 20th President in 1880, after nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. His Presidency was impactful, but cut short after 200 days when he was assassinated.

As the last of the log cabin Presidents, James A. Garfield attacked political corruption and won back for the Presidency a measure of prestige it had lost during the Reconstruction period.

He was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1831. Fatherless at two, he later drove canal boat teams, somehow earning enough money for an education. He was graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1856, and he returned to the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later Hiram College) in Ohio as a classics professor. Within a year he was made its president.

Garfield was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859 as a Republican. During the secession crisis, he advocated coercing the seceding states back into the Union.

In 1862, when Union military victories had been few, he successfully led a brigade at Middle Creek, Kentucky, against Confederate troops. At 31, Garfield became a brigadier general, two years later a major general of volunteers.

Meanwhile, in 1862, Ohioans elected him to Congress. President Lincoln persuaded him to resign his commission: It was easier to find major generals than to obtain effective Republicans for Congress. Garfield repeatedly won re-election for 18 years, and became the leading Republican in the House.

At the 1880 Republican Convention, Garfield failed to win the Presidential nomination for his friend John Sherman. Finally, on the 36th ballot, Garfield himself became the “dark horse” nominee.

By a margin of only 10,000 popular votes, Garfield defeated the Democratic nominee, Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock.

As President, Garfield strengthened Federal authority over the New York Customs House, stronghold of Senator Roscoe Conkling, who was leader of the Stalwart Republicans and dispenser of patronage in New York. When Garfield submitted to the Senate a list of appointments including many of Conkling’s friends, he named Conkling’s arch-rival William H. Robertson to run the Customs House. Conkling contested the nomination, tried to persuade the Senate to block it, and appealed to the Republican caucus to compel its withdrawal.

But Garfield would not submit: “This…will settle the question whether the President is registering clerk of the Senate or the Executive of the United States…. shall the principal port of entry … be under the control of the administration or under the local control of a factional senator.”

Conkling maneuvered to have the Senate confirm Garfield’s uncontested nominations and adjourn without acting on Robertson. Garfield countered by withdrawing all nominations except Robertson’s; the Senators would have to confirm him or sacrifice all the appointments of Conkling’s friends.

In a final desperate move, Conkling and his fellow-Senator from New York resigned, confident that their legislature would vindicate their stand and re-elect them. Instead, the legislature elected two other men; the Senate confirmed Robertson. Garfield’s victory was complete.

In foreign affairs, Garfield’s Secretary of State invited all American republics to a conference to meet in Washington in 1882. But the conference never took place. On July 2, 1881, in a Washington railroad station, an embittered attorney who had sought a consular post shot the President.

Mortally wounded, Garfield lay in the White House for weeks. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, tried unsuccessfully to find the bullet with an induction-balance electrical device which he had designed. On September 6, Garfield was taken to the New Jersey seaside. For a few days he seemed to be recuperating, but on September 19, 1881, he died from an infection and internal hemorrhage.

Learn more about James Garfield’s spouse, Lucretia Rudolph Garfield .

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My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies

The Best Biographies of James A. Garfield

20 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by Steve in Best Biographies Posts , President #20 - J Garfield

≈ 21 Comments

Allan Peskin , American history , biographies , book reviews , Candice Millard , James Garfield , Kenneth Ackerman , presidential biographies , Presidents

Despite what I perceived to be long odds, each of the three biographies of James Garfield I read were both interesting and meritorious. And one of them is among the most popular three or four books on an y president at the moment.

Somewhat in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, Garfield was born into poverty and worked diligently to better himself through education. But where Lincoln heard the clarion call of the legal profession, Garfield was drawn to teaching and, soon, the Union army. Both Lincoln and Garfield were drawn into national politics in mid-life, and both of their presidencies were cut short by a madman’s bullet.

Lincoln’s presidency witnessed the entirety of the Civil War before an assassin ended his second term as president. But James Garfield barely had time to appoint a cabinet and vanquish a power-hungry Republican rival before being shot just months into his first term.

I was surprised and delighted to find the story of this 200-day president so interesting. And I found myself wondering what  might have been had he lived. Several generations of historians have pondered the same.

*The first biography I read was “ Dark Horse: the Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield ” by Kenneth Ackerman. Published in 2003, this book proves to be a political thriller almost exclusively focused on the last sixteen months of Garfield’s life.

Ackerman’s account of the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago is absolutely captivating and the book’s pace rarely slows during its 453 pages. His accounting of the bitter political rivalry between fellow Republicans James Blaine and Roscoe Conkling is terrific. And it sets the stage perfectly for Ackerman’s description of the power struggle which later erupted between President Garfield and Senator Conkling.

As a presidential biography this book’s key weakness is its lack of coverage of most of Garfield’s life. And although it is tempting to assume that not much of consequence happened during his first forty-eight years, that is hardly the case. Nonetheless, this is an incredibly compelling narrative that will thrill all but the most hard-core of historians. ( Full review here )

*The second biography I read was “ Garfield: A Biography ” by Allan Peskin. Published in 1978, this was the first comprehensive biography of Garfield in four decades and was published just weeks before Margaret Leech’s biography “ The Garfield Orbit ” (which was completed after her death and is on my follow-up list).

In many ways, Peskin’s biography of Garfield typifies the perfect presidential biography. It is comprehensive, provides penetrating insight into its subject and proves informative without becoming dull or tedious. Despite its age it is easy to read and digest.

Its key flaws are a relative lack of focus on Garfield’s personal life (which leaves him more two-dimensional than he deserves) and a failure to provide more historical context. Often Peskin is so focused on Garfield’s “bubble” that national events of great importance are not articulated. But overall, Peskin’s “Garfield: A Biography” is excellent. ( Full review here )

*The last biography of Garfield I read was “ Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President ” by Candice Millard. Published in 2011, this popular narrative currently ranks as one of the most popular books of any kind on any president. Though it falls somewhat short as a presidential biography, the attention it receives is well-deserved.

“Destiny of the Republic” has nearly all of the drama of Ackerman’s book, but with a tighter focus on Garfield’s assassination, poor medical care and death…and less emphasis on his politics. But where Ackerman fails to cover Garfield’s early life at all, Millard merely provides it with glancing coverage. Only Peskin’s biography thoroughly covers the first 95% of Garfield’s life.

But what Millard provides is unique: a damning and insightful indictment of the medical care Garfield received after being struck by an assassin’s bullet. She nicely weaves together the stories of Garfield, his assassin, his doctor and Alexander Graham Bell in a way that is interesting and informative.

To a lesser extent she also tells the stories of other important political figures such as Garfield’s vice president. But for Millard, politics are secondary to the science of life and death. And she clearly believes that Garfield could have lived to finish his term in office. Although imperfect as a presidential biography, “Destiny of the Republic” is entertaining, provocative and intensely interesting. ( Full review here )

***During my journey through Garfield’s biographies I discovered another biography I need to read: Margaret Leech’s “ The Garfield Orbit ” which was unfinished when she died in 1974. Harry Brown completed the biography and it was published in 1978. Some observers have suggested it is superior to Peskin’s biography so I’m particularly curious to see how it compares. But, alas, that may have to wait until 2016. Or later.

– – – – – – –

Best Biography of James Garfield: Allan Peskin’s “ Garfield: A Biography ”

Also Must-Reads: Kenneth Ackerman’s “ Dark Horse… ” -and- Candice Millard’s “ Destiny of the Republic “

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21 thoughts on “the best biographies of james a. garfield”.

February 4, 2016 at 7:17 pm

This was an insightful and informative commentary on the three most popular biographies of this somewhat obscure president. I was fascinated by recent PBS broadcast that depicted present Garfield as A decent and forward looking man and the sense of tragedy of his assassination – the lure of what could’ve been – like JFK’s death in modern times. This drew me to explore the best readings on the subject. Your commentary does this and I thank you for providing it.

February 4, 2016 at 9:10 pm

Thanks – I’m only halfway through the PBS broadcast but enjoying it a lot. Garfield struck me as a potential game-changer executive; it’s too bad we’ll never know what “could’ve been”…

May 17, 2017 at 9:36 pm

Horatio Algier wrote the life story of Garfield and got his source material from people who knew him-at war, at school, at the various jobs, in the military and as President. . It was vivid experience toread. Parts of it made the hair on my neck stand on end. I would read it again. .

May 18, 2017 at 5:08 am

I have to admit I missed this one. Though it doesn’t seem like a conventional biography (at least not in the modern sense) it looks like it could be quite interesting! I’ll have to take a look…

June 29, 2017 at 3:19 pm

Steve, I’m curious if you have found the time to read The Garfield Orbit? I’ve been using your blog as a guide to inform me as I go through the journey (one bio per president). This is the first time I’ve ventured off the path of evaluating based on your review and choosing based on that. Admittedly, part of the reason for the diversion is that it is getting pretty expensive and I found a copy of The Garfield Orbit for $5.00.

Well, I’m a little disappointed. I’m only a hundred pages in, but so far this volume is reading more like a novel than a biography. I doubt if I will buy another Garfield bio until I conclude the journey, but was curious if your reaction was similar to mine.

Thanks so much for the blog, it has been a real boon to my project.

Regards, Chris

June 30, 2017 at 7:18 am

Thanks for your note! Unfortunately (or not?) I haven’t read The Garfield Orbit – it didn’t hit my radar until after I had committed to my reading list on Garfield. But once it became clear this is an old “classic” and one of the few real biographies of Garfield I concluded I had to add it to my follow-up list. I’ve heard mixed things (both that it’s better than the Peskin bio and that it deserves to be put out of its misery) so I decided I’ll just have to see for myself! Admittedly, I probably won’t get to it for quite some time…

April 27, 2019 at 4:14 pm

I recommend two follow up Garfield biographies for your consideration:

1. James A. Garfield: Party Chieftain by Robert Granville Caldwell. This seems to have been the standard single volume biography before Allen Peskin’s.

2. The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield by Theodore Clarke Smith. This is a two volume 1207 printed page cradle to grave treatment of Garfield. It is very thorough and relies heavily on primary sources. This seems to be the most scholarly biography on Garfield and is cited in all the single volume books I have read (Peskin, Leech, Caldwell, Millard and Ackerman).

Thank you for your reviews, they are helpful and enjoyable.

May 21, 2019 at 3:37 am

Apologies for the tardy response, but thank you for the follow-up suggestions! I’m particularly interested to see what the pre-Peskin biography has to say about Garfield.

May 21, 2019 at 5:54 am

Thank you so.

July 17, 2020 at 7:00 pm

Thank you for this recommendation. I came across a very nice copy of an 1881 biography published just after his death, “The Life of James Abram Garfield” by William Ralston Balch. I’m curious about its quality. The author was also the managing editor of The American at the time, and it’s a pretty hefty book that covers Garfield’s entire life in great detail. I think it was $35. I may go back and pick it up. If anything, it’s in great condition for an antique book that would look good on my shelf. I’m curious what details about Garfield it may contain that others don’t, though the 2 volume set mentioned above probably has a lot of details in that. I wonder how much the 2 volume set may reference this single volume bio from 1881.

July 18, 2020 at 12:41 pm

A search in Hathi directed me to 3 references from TC Smith’s 2-volume biography (it must still be within copyright somehow). Unfortunately, both references are on the ‘inside’ of uncut pages so I am unable to check on them. Peskin does not use Balch’s biography, but calls JM Bundy’s work the ‘least untrustworthy’ of the 19th century Garfield books.

TC Smith’s work benefits from the author’s collaboration with Lucretia who allowed access to some personal information. In some respects it is quasi-authorized. Peskin – along with the authors of The Presidencies of JAG and CAA – note Smith’s quotations should be used with caution. He apparently took some liberties with selections and usage.

I am all for buying books with a nice shelf appearance. My copies of Smith’s biography are jacketed with uncut pages.

July 18, 2020 at 2:22 pm

Great minds think alike. Within the hours after my original comment, I did a very similar thing as you, albeit physically and not digitally! I wouldn’t have thought to search digitally, so good tip. I pulled my existing Garfield biographies off my shelf (including my Easton Press edition of Peskin’s bio) and I read in the back any notes I could find about sources, so I did see the same note from Peskin’s that you mention. That’s good as I found a pretty good copy of the Bundy work for under $20 which I’ll go ahead and purchase. I didn’t see anything about Horatio Alger’s “From Canal Boy to President” which is a beautiful book so I may buy that one just for the beautiful binding and appearance. As for Smith’s 2 volume, I’ll definitely be picking up that set. I’ve found 4 on AbeBooks but they didn’t have photos, so I’m just waiting for some requested images from the seller so I can better gauge their quality. I’ll probably buy one within the coming days. I’d like to get the 1881 edition, but may just settle for the 1968 reprint as it still looks nice and is much cheaper.

July 18, 2020 at 3:32 pm

Hathi and Library of Congress are great sources for electronically searching older works. It helps with obtaining bibliographical information as well – especially the LOC where you can tell when it was submitted for copyright.

TC Smith’s book was published in 1925 and reprinted – as you note – in 1968. Nice copies of the 1925 edition are not cheap. Check out eBay which has a jacketed set of the 1968 edition. Those jackets are rarely seen.

July 18, 2020 at 8:57 pm

And now they’re seen even more rarely as that set on Ebay is no longer there…it’s on its way to a new home and an owner who will take good care it! 😀

November 13, 2019 at 10:38 am

Over 20 years ago at a book sale I purchased as an interesting artifact James D. McCabe’s “Our Martyred President; The Life and Public Services of Gen. James A. Garfield,” published upon Garfield’s assassination in 1881. I never intended on reading it, but it was in great condition, looked good on a shelf, and as a history nerd I enjoy having such things around. One of my hobbies is reading presidential biographies, for which I refer to this incredible website for advice and direction (thank you, Stephen!), and for this and other reasons I recently decided to actually read McCabe’s work. I assumed – and was correct in doing so – that I would not be reading the work of a professional historian, and there is no pretense to objectivity in the introduction to the tome, but what I was pleasantly surprised to find (although it took several hundred pages to arrive at this feeling) was a sense of being very much in Garfield’s historic and political moment. McCabe fills out the volume by reproducing some of Garfield’s best known speeches and articles, but this only serves to accentuate the aforementioned mood of the book. The Gilded Age presidents can often appear pale, ambiguous shadows to the contemporary reader, as we have so much thrilling choice when it comes to biography of US political leadership – the Founding Fathers, Lincoln and the Civil War, TR and FDR – that it can be too easy to gloss over this formative period in US history when the nation was changing dramatically. I would not recommend reading McCabe’s “Our Martyred President” unless you have a real passion for this sort of thing, and if you elect to do so you will still need to rely at the very least on a good, brief biography on Garfield to fill in the many factual blanks, but since this website is obviously a place where like-minded souls may find themselves, I thought it worth the effort to leave this comment. By the way, McCabe is an interesting person in his own right (born in Richmond, graduated from VMI, worked during the Civil War for the Confederate government in an office job, wrote books on Grant and Lee), and you don’t even have to buy a hard copy of his book – it’s online in the public domain. You’re welcome.

November 16, 2019 at 8:23 am

August 30, 2020 at 6:43 pm

Can’t say enough about Candace Millard’s book, Destiny of the Republic. Also her book on TR going down the Amazon river is also exceptional. Her book on Winston Churchill was, surprisingly, not as good.

August 30, 2020 at 6:44 pm

The only one of those three I have NOT read is the one on Churchill. Luck was on my side?!? I did find the other two fabulous-

August 31, 2020 at 12:32 pm

I agree about Candice Millard’s book on Garfield, as well as the one on TR. Because of her book on TR I felt comfortable using Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Bully Pulpit to satisfy both my additional interest in TR and my need for a bio on Taft. As far as Churchill is concerned, I read and loved Andrew Roberts Walking with Destiny.

August 14, 2023 at 7:03 pm

I watched Hamilton at the beginning of Covid. Loved it and decided to read the book. Loved it and decided to read “Washington” by the same author. Loved it and decided to read John Adams… then jefferson… then… then… then. Just kept running through them in chronological order. It’s like real life Game of Thrones. Just placed on order James Garfield: A Biography. This website has been an invaluable resource for my own journey through The Great Biography of America. Thank you for all the excellent information.

August 19, 2023 at 7:50 am

FYI just read a promising review in the Washington Post of a new Garfield biography: President Garfield
 – From Radical to Unifier
, by C.W. Goodyear

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James A. Garfield: Life in Brief

James A. Garfield is remembered as one of the four "lost Presidents" who served rather uneventfully after the Civil War. Of the four lost Presidents—Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, and Harrison—Garfield is best remembered for his dramatic assassination a mere 100 days after he assumed office.

From Poverty to Politics

The youngest of five children born on a poor farm on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio, Garfield is perhaps the poorest man ever to have become President. Supporting himself as a part-time teacher, a carpenter, and even a janitor through college, he was an idealistic young man who identified with the antislavery tenets of the new Republican Party. After graduating from Williams College, Garfield studied law on his own and passed the Ohio bar exams in 1861 before throwing himself into politics and winning a seat in the Ohio legislature. Garfield was a loyal Unionist who built a reputation as a Civil War hero that earned him a seat in the House of Representatives without ever having campaigned.

During Garfield's congressional terms, debates raged between legislators who demanded that all U.S. money be backed by gold and the "Silverites" and "Greenbackers," who wanted to issue paper currency and coin silver more freely in an attempt to alleviate pressing debts, especially those of struggling farmers. Garfield advocated hard money policies backed by gold, making him a favorite with eastern "Gold Bug" Republicans. He opposed cooperative farm programs such as those supported by the Grange, an agrarian organization; labor unions; the eight-hour workday; and federally funded relief projects.

Like many men in office, Garfield had a scandal to live down. He was implicated in the Credit Mobilier scandal in which congressmen who owned stock in Credit Mobilier, a construction company for the transcontinental Union Pacific Railroad, were accused of turning a blind eye to corruption in the company.

In 1876, Garfield supported the reform-minded Rutherford B. Hayes for President. To soothe Democrats who were enraged by Hayes's election after disputes about the electoral returns from several key states, he supported the Compromise of 1877, which ended the military occupation of the South. Garfield also had a talent for achieving compromise between the "Stalwart" Republicans, led by Roscoe Conkling (the New York State political boss), and an opposing faction, disparagingly called "Half-Breeds" by Conkling and his allies.

Presidential Politicking

In the election of 1880, the Republican ticket looked like it would boil down to a fight between former President Ulysses S. Grant and the more moderate James G. Blaine. Garfield surprised everyone, however, by earning an ever-increasing number of votes in the convention balloting. He won the presidential nomination and eventually the election against Democrat Winfield S. Hancock, a Union general who made his mark at Gettysburg. The election was the closest on record. Garfield won by the narrowest of margins and only with the help of the New York political boss Roscoe Conkling, with whom Garfield had agreed to consult on party appointments—had New York gone Democratic, Garfield would have lost the presidency.

Both James and Lucretia Garfield were devout members of a relatively new Protestant denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). "Crete" devoted herself to raising the Garfield's five children, all of whom grew up to have rather distinguished careers. Though she dreamed of refurbishing the executive mansion, Mrs. Garfield caught malaria from the swamps behind the White House before she could begin the project. Eventually, she enjoyed a complete recovery and lived to the ripe old age of eighty-six.

Since Garfield was struck down four months into his term, historians can only speculate as to what his presidency might have been like. Garfield was assassinated by Charles Julius Guiteau, an emotionally disturbed man who had failed to gain an appointment in Garfield's administration. Garfield did have time to appoint his cabinet, however, and in doing so, he refused to cave in to Stalwart pressure, enraging Senator Conkling, who resigned in protest. Had Garfield served his term, historians speculate that he would have been determined to move toward civil service reform and carry on in the clean government tradition of President Hayes. He also supported education for black southerners and called for African American suffrage, as he stressed in his inaugural address. Unfortunately, he is best remembered for his assassination. And although his killer was insane, Garfield's greatest legacy was the impact of his death on moving the nation to reform government patronage.

Justus Doenecke

Professor Emeritus of History New College of Florida

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James a. garfield presidency page, james a. garfield essays, life in brief (current essay), life before the presidency, campaigns and elections, domestic affairs, foreign affairs, death of the president, family life, the american franchise, impact and legacy.

James Garfield

James Garfield is best known as the 20th president of the United States. He was assassinated after only a few months in office.

Civil War and Congressional Career

Assassination and death, quick facts, who was james garfield.

James Garfield rose from humble beginnings to serve as a college president, a nine-time congressman, and military general before his election to the United States presidency in 1881. As the 20th U.S. president, Garfield's agenda of civil service reform and civil rights was cut short when he was shot by a disgruntled office seeker in July 1881.

James Abram Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in a log cabin in Orange Township, Ohio. Garfield's father, a wrestler, died when Garfield was an infant.

Garfield excelled in academics, particularly Latin and Greek. From 1851 to 1854, he attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later renamed Hiram College), and later enrolled at Williams College. After completing his studies, Garfield returned to the Eclectic Institute as an instructor and administrator. In his spare time, he spoke publicly in support of the Republican Party and abolition. On November 11, 1858, Garfield married Lucretia Rudolph, a former pupil. They ultimately had seven children.

In 1859, Garfield began to study law. At the same time, he embarked on a career in politics. He was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1859, serving until 1861.

In the summer of 1861, Garfield was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the Union Army. Later that year, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, commanding a brigade at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862.

Garfield's political career continued during wartime. In October 1862, he won a seat in Congress, representing Ohio's 19th Congressional District. After the election, Garfield relocated to Washington, where he developed a close alliance with Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase. Garfield became a member of the Radical Republicans, led by Chase, and found himself frustrated by moderates including Abraham Lincoln .

Garfield not only favored abolition but also believed that the leaders of the rebellion had forfeited their constitutional rights. He supported the confiscation of southern plantations and the punishment of rebellion leaders.

Following President Lincoln's assassination, Garfield attempted to ameliorate the strife between his own Radical Republicans and the new president, Andrew Johnson . When Johnson undermined the Freedman's Bureau, however, Garfield rejoined the Radicals, subsequently supporting Johnson's impeachment.

Garfield was nominated as the Republican candidate for the presidency in 1880 as a compromise. The deeply divided convention nominated Chester A. Arthur , a Stalwart Republican, for the vice presidency. Garfield and Arthur were narrowly elected to office over Democratic candidate Winfield S. Hancock, winning the popular vote by less than one-tenth of one percent.

Office-seekers besieged Garfield immediately following his election, convincing the new president of the importance of civil service reform. During his limited time in office, Garfield managed to initiate reform of the Post Office Department, and to reassert the superiority of the office of the president over the U.S. Senate on the issue of executive appointments.

Garfield also pledged to commit himself to the cause of civil rights. He recommended a universal education system funded by the federal government, in part to empower African Americans. He also appointed several former slaves, including Frederick Douglass, to prominent government positions.

Another office seeker, 39-year-old Charles J. Guiteau, grew resentful over repeated denials to his requests. On July 2, 1881, just 100 days after the president's inauguration, Guiteau shot Garfield in the back at Washington's Baltimore and Potomac train station. He immediately surrendered to authorities, announcing, "I am a Stalwart. Arthur is now president of the United States.”

Garfield clung to life as doctors tried to remove the bullet, their repeated attempts with unsterilized fingers and instruments ultimately doing more harm than good. Meanwhile, his administration was torn on how to proceed, with Arthur refusing to take over executive duties.

Garfield finally succumbed to a fatal heart attack, massive hemorrhaging and blood poisoning on September 19, 1881, his 199-day term the second shortest in U.S. presidential history. He left behind his wife, Lucretia, and their five children who had survived infancy.

• Name: James Garfield
• Birth date: November 19, 1831
• Birth State: Ohio
• Birth City: Orange Township
• Birth Country: United States
• Astrological Sign: Scorpio
• Williams College
• Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (Hiram College)
• Death date: September 19, 1881
• Death State: New Jersey
• Death City: Elberon

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After Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join Vic on a risky heist... Read all After Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join Vic on a risky heist. After Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join Vic on a risky heist.

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The 5 Best Books on President James Garfield

Essential books on james garfield.

There are numerous books on James Garfield, and it comes with good reason, aside from being elected America’s twentieth President (1881), he was an impactful major general in the Union Army during the Civil War and served nine terms in the House of Representatives, but was unfortunately assassinated just 200 days into his presidency.

“Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained,” he remarked.

In order to get to the bottom of what inspired one of America’s most consequential figures to the height of political power, we’ve compiled a list of the 5 best books on James Garfield.

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation’s corrupt political establishment. But four months after Garfield’s inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau.

Garfield survived the attack, but became the object of bitter, behind-the-scenes struggles for power over his administration, over the nation’s future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic  brings alive a forgotten chapter of U.S. history.

Garfield: A Biography by Allan Peskin

The definitive biography of America’s twentieth president, this gem among books on James Garfield was exhaustively researched and skillfully written, as well as a winner of the Ohio Academy of History Award, the Ohioana Book Award in History, and a Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year.

“Garfield’s military career, the congressional years, the Presidency, receive thorough attention and evaluation, and one of the delights of this massive biography is that Peskin writes so well…This is a brilliant and skillful portrait of a man of many parts, of the political and social landscape of his time,” notes Publishers Weekly .

Dark Horse by Kenneth D. Ackerman

Capitol Hill veteran Kenneth Ackerman re-creates an American political landscape where fierce battles for power unfolded against a chivalrous code of honor in a country struggling to emerge from the long shadow of the Civil War.

James Garfield’s 1880 dark horse campaign after the longest-ever Republican nominating convention, his victory in the closest-ever popular vote for president, his struggle against bitterly feuding factions once elected, and the public’s response to his assassination is the most dramatic presidential odyssey of the Gilded Age – and among the most momentous in our nation’s history.

This journey through political backrooms, dazzling convention floors, and intrigue-filled congressional and White House chambers, reveals the era’s decency and humanity as well as the sharp partisanship that exploded in the pistol shots of assassin Charles Guiteau, the disgruntled patronage-seeker eager to replace the elected Commander-in-Chief with one of his own choosing.

James A. Garfield by Ira Rutkow

James Garfield was one of the Republican Party’s leading lights in the years following the Civil War. Born in a log cabin, he rose to become a college president, Union Army general, and congressman – all by the age of thirty-two. Embodying the strive-and-succeed spirit that captured the imagination of Americans in his time, he was elected president in 1880. It is no surprise that one of his biographers was Horatio Alger.

Garfield’s term in office, however, was cut tragically short. Just four months into his presidency, a would-be assassin approached Garfield at the Washington, D.C., railroad station and fired a single shot into his back. Garfield’s bad luck was to have his fate placed in the care of arrogant physicians who did not accept the new theory of antisepsis. Probing the wound with unwashed and occasionally manure-laden hands, Garfield’s doctors introduced terrible infections and brought about his death two months later.

Ira Rutkow, a surgeon and historian, offers an insightful portrait of Garfield and an unsparing narrative of the medical crisis that defined and destroyed his presidency.

Crete and James , edited by John Shaw

Crete and James is a collection of letters exchanged by James A. Garfield and Lucretia Randolph Garfield during the mid-nineteenth century. Of the 1,200 or so letters written, the 300 included in this work chronicle their courtship and marriage, and also discuss the Civil War, political affairs, and the details of daily life during the years 1853-1881. In them, we watch Crete grow from a shy girl into a self-confident woman who guides her husband in social and political matters.

Through James’s flamboyant yet scholarly style, and Lucretia’s detailed, perceptive insights, we come to know them as though they were our close friends. Through their correspondence, the reader also meets the many people involved in their lives.  Crete and James  will be of great interest to those studying women’s history.

From Canal Boy to President by Horatio Alger Jr.

Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, James A. Garfield became the twentieth President of the United States in 1881. His time as President was brief: he served only four months before he was shot in a railroad station by a man who was angry because Garfield would not give him a job. The wound became infected, and Garfield died several months later. In response, From Canal Boy to President  was published to immediate success. It was often reprinted and widely read, well into the twentieth century.

The book illustrates Garfield’s growth and character to support ideas about life in America that have long been cherished. For example, this classic among books on James Garfield describes his capacity for hard work through a series of humble jobs – he worked on farms and on the canal as a boy, and he worked as a carpenter and as a janitor to get through college. It also describes how his love of learning, his great study habits, and his development of public speaking skills led to success as a teacher, professor, college president, military commander, lawyer, and statesman.

James Garfield and the Civil War by Daniel J. Vermilya

When the United States was divided by war, future president James Garfield was one of many who stepped forward to defend the Union. While his presidency was tragically cut short by his assassination, Garfield’s historic life covered some of the most consequential years of American history.

From humble beginnings in Ohio, he rose to become a major general in the Union army. Garfield’s military career took him to the backwoods of Kentucky, the fields of Shiloh and Chickamauga and ultimately to the halls of Congress. His service during the war helped to save the Union he would go on to lead as president. Join historian Daniel J. Vermilya to discover the little-known story of James Garfield’s role in the Civil War.

If you enjoyed this guide to the best books on James Garfield, be sure to check out our list of The 15 Best Books on President Abraham Lincoln !

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James A. Garfield

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 10, 2019 | Original: October 29, 2009

James Garfield (1831-81) was sworn in as the 20th U.S. president in March 1881 and died in September of that same year from an assassin’s bullet, making his tenure in office the second-shortest in U.S. presidential history, after William Henry Harrison (1773-1841). Born in an Ohio log cabin, Garfield was a self-made man who became a school president in his mid-20s. 

During the U.S. Civil War (1861-65), he fought for the Union and rose to the rank of major general. Garfield, a Republican, went on to represent his home state in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from 1863 to 1881. In 1880, a divided Republican Party chose Garfield as its dark horse presidential nominee. After winning the general election, his brief time in office was marked by political wrangling. In July 1881, Garfield was shot by a disgruntled constituent and died less than three months later.

Early Years

James Abram Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in a log cabin in Orange, Ohio , near Cleveland. His father, Abram Garfield, died less than two years later, so his mother, Eliza Ballou Garfield, raised young James and her older children while also managing the family’s small farm.

Did you know? The only person to serve less time in the White House than James Garfield was William Henry Harrison, America's ninth president. Several weeks after his March 4, 1841, inauguration, Harrison caught a cold that turned into pneumonia. He died on April 4, after just a month in office.

As an avid reader of adventure novels, Garfield aspired to become a sailor. Instead, as a teen, he settled for a position towing barges up the Ohio Canal to help support his impoverished family. From 1851 to 1853, Garfield attended Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College) in Hiram, Ohio. He then spent two years at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts , and proved himself to be a strong student and skilled public speaker. After graduating from Williams in 1856, Garfield returned to the Eclectic Institute and taught Greek and Latin, as well as other subjects. A year later, in 1857, he was named president of the school.

In addition to his duties at the Eclectic Institute, Garfield became an ordained Christian minister and studied law independently (he would be admitted to the Ohio Bar Association in 1860). In 1858, he married Lucretia Rudolph (1832-1918), who worked as a teacher and had been a classmate of his at the Eclectic Institute. The couple would have seven children.

In 1859, Garfield, a member of the Republican Party (which was founded in the 1850s by antislavery leaders) was elected to the Ohio Senate. With the threat of an American civil war looming, he used his position as state senator to advocate for forcing seceding Southern states to rejoin the Union.

The U.S. Civil War

When the U.S. Civil War (1861-65) broke out, Garfield joined the Union army and served as a lieutenant colonel with the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Despite a lack of military experience, he proved to be an effective leader. In November 1861, his brigade drove Confederate forces out of eastern Kentucky at Paintsville and Prestonsburg.

He also saw action at the Battle of Shiloh (April 1862), the Siege of Corinth (late April-May 1862) and the Battle of Chickamauga (September 1863). In 1862, while still serving in the army, Garfield was elected to represent his home state in the U.S. House of Representatives . Initially reluctant to resign his post, Garfield was eventually convinced to do so by President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), and left the military in late 1863, having achieved the rank of major general.

Congressional Career

Garfield began serving in the House in December 1863, and would remain in Congress until 1881. During this time, he served on a number of important congressional committees. However, his career was not without its challenges. In a political period marked by scandal and corruption, Garfield’s ethics were called into question when he was accused (but never found guilty) of accepting bribes in the Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1872.

A moderate Republican, Garfield had to appease both wings of his own party: the Stalwarts, who were the conservative, old-guard Republicans, and the Half-Breeds, who were moving toward progressivism. This was especially difficult maneuvering when Garfield served on the congressional committee charged with settling the disputed Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-93)-Samuel Tilden (1814-86) presidential election of 1876. Despite his challenges in the House, Garfield was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1880. He never took his seat, however, because of the events that transpired at the Republican convention in 1880.

Presidential Election of 1880

The 1880 presidential convention found Garfield campaigning for his longtime friend and fellow Republican John Sherman (1823-1900). Because of the party’s split between the Stalwarts and the Half-Breeds, it took 36 ballots to choose a nominee. The delegates, in a surprise move, chose Garfield as the party’s dark horse presidential nominee. To satisfy the Stalwart faction , delegates chose New York Customs House collector Chester A. Arthur (1829-86) as the Republican vice-presidential nominee.

In the presidential election later that year, Garfield defeated his Democratic opponent, General Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-86), by fewer than 10,000 popular votes.

Presidency and Assassination

Following his inauguration on March 4, 1881, Garfield spent most of his time on the job assembling his cabinet and making other appointments. Without a clear referendum in the election, and due to the split in the Republican Party, Garfield had to appease both Stalwarts and Half-Breeds in his appointments. The Half-Breeds were more instrumental in earning Garfield’s nomination, and he appointed their leader, Senator James G. Blaine (1830-93) of Maine , as his secretary of state. Garfield also named other Half-Breeds to important posts. As members of the Stalwarts faction received less significant posts, their leader, Senator Roscoe Conkling (1829-88) of New York, tried to block Garfield’s nominations. Conkling later resigned in protest.

After nearly four months of political wrangling and maneuvering, Garfield sought to finally move forward with his agenda for civil service reform and other initiatives. However, a disgruntled attorney who was refused a political appointment changed all that. On July 2, 1881, Charles Guiteau (1841-82) fired two shots at Garfield while the president was en route to a Williams College reunion. As Garfield fell to the ground, Guiteau exclaimed, “I am a Stalwart and Arthur is president now!” (Guiteau was later convicted of Garfield’s murder and executed by hanging in 1882.)

Garfield lay in the White House mortally wounded and near death for almost three months. Doctors were unable to locate the bullet in his back. Even inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) tried–unsuccessfully–to find the bullet with a metal detector he designed. On September 19, 1881, Garfield, age 49, died from an infection and internal hemorrhage. He was buried in Cleveland.

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Biography of James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States

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James A. Garfield ( November 19, 1831—September 19, 1881) was an educator, lawyer, and a major general in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was elected to the Ohio State Senate and to the U.S. Congress before becoming the 20th American president on March 4, 1881. He served only until Sept. 19, 1881, when he died from complications caused by an assassin's bullet 11 weeks before.

Fast Facts: James A. Garfield

• Known For : 20th president of the United States
• Born : Nov. 19, 1831 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio
• Parents : Abram Garfield, Eliza Ballou Garfield
• Died : Sept. 19, 1881 in Elberon, New Jersey
• Education : Williams College
• Spouse : Lucretia Rudolph
• Children : Seven; two died in infancy

Garfield was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to Abram Garfield, a farmer, and Eliza Ballou Garfield. His father died when Garfield was just 18 months old. His mother tried to make ends meet with the farm, but he and his three siblings, two sisters and a brother, grew up in relative poverty.

He attended a local school before moving on to Geauga Academy in Geauga County, Ohio in 1849. He then went to the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later called Hiram College) in Hiram, Ohio, teaching to help pay his way. In 1854, he attended Williams College in Massachusetts, graduating with honors two years later.

On Nov. 11, 1858, Garfield married Lucretia Rudolph, who had been a student of his at the Eclectic Institute. She was working as a teacher when Garfield wrote to her and they began courting. She contracted malaria while serving as first lady but lived a long life after Garfield's death, dying on March 14, 1918. They had two daughters and five sons, two of whom died when they were infants.

Career Before the Presidency

Garfield began his career as an instructor in classical languages at the Eclectic Institute and was its president from 1857 to 1861. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1860, and he was ordained a minister in the Disciples of Christ church, but he soon turned to politics. He served as an Ohio state senator from 1859 to 1861. Garfield joined the Union army in 1861, taking part in the Civil War battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga and reaching the rank of major general.

He was elected to Congress while still in the military, resigning to take his seat as a U.S. representative and serving from 1863 to 1880. During this time he had an extramarital affair with a woman in New York City. He later admitted the indiscretion and was forgiven by his wife.

Becoming President

In 1880, the Republicans nominated Garfield to run for president as a compromise candidate between conservatives and moderates. Conservative candidate Chester A. Arthur was nominated as vice president . Garfield was opposed by Democrat Winfield Hancock .

Acting upon the advice of President Rutherford B. Hayes, Garfield shied away from actively campaigning, speaking to reporters and voters from his home in Mentor, Ohio, in what was referred to as the first “front porch” campaign. He won 214 out of 369 electoral votes .

Events and Accomplishments

Garfield was in office for only six and a half months. He spent much of that time dealing with patronage issues. The one major issue that he faced was an investigation of whether mail route contracts were being awarded fraudulently, with tax money going to those involved.

The investigation implicated members of his Republican Party, but Garfield didn't flinch from continuing. In the end, revelations from the incident, called the Star Route Scandal, resulted in important civil service reforms.

Assassination

On July 2, 1881, Charles J. Guiteau, a mentally disturbed office seeker, shot Garfield in the back in the Washington, D.C., railroad station while he was on his way to a family vacation in New England. The president lived until Sept. 19 of that year. Guiteau apparently was driven by politics, saying to police after he surrendered, "Arthur is now president of the United States." He was convicted of murder and hanged on June 30, 1882.

The cause of death was massive hemorrhaging and slow blood poisoning, which was later described as being related more to the unsanitary way physicians treated the president than to the wounds themselves. Doctors of the time were unschooled in the role of hygiene in preventing infection. The standard procedure was to devote most of the treatment effort to removing the bullet, and a number of doctors repeatedly poked his wound in an unsuccessful search.

Garfield served the second shortest presidential term in American history, topped only by the 31-day term of William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, who caught a cold that turned into fatal pneumonia. Garfield was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland. Upon his death, Vice President Arthur became president.

Because of Garfield's brief time in office, he couldn't achieve much as president. But by allowing the investigation into the mail scandal to continue despite its effect on members of his own party, Garfield paved the way for civil service reform.

He also was an early champion of the rights of African Americans, believing that education was the best hope for improving their lives. In his inaugural address, he said:

“The elevation of the Negro race from slavery to the full rights of citizenship is the most important political change we have known since the adoption of the Constitution of 1787. No thoughtful man can fail to appreciate its beneficent effect upon our institutions and people.…It has liberated the master as well as the slave from a relation which wronged and enfeebled both.”

Garfield's prolonged death is credited with helping to establish the American president as a celebrity. The public and the media of the day were described as being obsessed with his lengthy passing, more so even than they had been with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln 16 years before.

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James Abram Garfield

November 19, 1831–September 19, 1881

James Abram Garfield was an American political and military leader who rose to the rank of major general in the Union army during the American Civil War, and who served as a U.S. congressman and senator before being elected as the 20th President of the United States in 1880.

James Garfield was promoted to major general on September 19, 1863, for gallantry at the Battle of Chickamauga (September 19 -20, 1863). Image Source: Library of Congress .

James A. Garfield Biography

James Garfield was the 20th President of the United States, serving from March to September 1881. He was assassinated just six months into his presidency and is the second-shortest-serving president in American history. Garfield was a Republican and a former Union general during the Civil War. As president, he sought to promote civil service reform and to improve the efficiency of the federal government. He was also committed to maintaining a high level of economic growth and promoting American commerce. Despite his short time in office, Garfield’s presidency was marked by significant events, including the appointment of the first African American to a high-level government position, the enactment of important legislation to regulate railroads, and the start of a major economic recession.

Quick Facts About James Garfield

• Date of Birth: James A. Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in a log cabin in Orange Township, Ohio, near Cleveland.
• Parents: Garfield’s parents were Abram and Eliza (Ballou) Garfield.
• Date of Death: Garfield died on September 19, 1881, in the Elberon section of Long Branch, New Jersey.
• Buried: Garfield is buried in the Garfield Memorial in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Nickname: Garfield’s nicknames were “Boatman Jim” and “Preacher President.”

James Abram Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in a log cabin in Orange Township, Ohio, near Cleveland . He was the youngest of five children of Abram and Eliza (Ballou) Garfield. Garfield’s father died at age thirty-three when Garfield was just seventeen months old. After his father’s death, Garfield’s mother raised the family by operating the family farm.

Garfield attended local schools, and as a teenager, he briefly worked as a helmsman on the Ohio and Erie Canal. Garfield attended the Geauga Academy in Chester, Ohio in 1849. From 1851 through 1854, he attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later Hiram College) in Hiram, Ohio. Garfield completed his formal education at Williams College in Massachusetts from 1854 to 1856, where he graduated with honors.

After graduating from Williams, Garfield returned to Ohio, where he worked as a professor of ancient languages at the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute from 1856 to 1857. He then served as the principal of the school from 1857 to 1860.

During Garfield’s tenure as principal, he married Lucretia Rudolph on November 11, 1858. The couple had met when they each attended the Geauga Academy nine years earlier. One year prior to his marriage, Garfield began studying law, and in 1860, he joined the Ohio bar. Garfield began his political career in 1859 when voters elected him as a Republican to the Ohio Senate, where he served until 1861.

Civil War Officer

When the American Civil War began Garfield lobbied Ohio Governor William Dennison for a commission in the Union volunteer army. In the summer of 1861, he entered the military with the rank of colonel in command of the 42nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In the autumn of 1861, Major General Don Carlos Buell placed Garfield in charge of the 18th Brigade of the Army of the Ohio and ordered him to clear Confederate forces from eastern Kentucky.

Battle of Middle Creek

In December, Garfield’s brigade departed from Catlettsburg, Kentucky. On January 10, 1862, they defeated the Rebels at the Battle of Middle Creek . Garfield’s victory helped cement the Union’s hold on eastern Kentucky and enabled the Federals to carry the war into eastern Tennessee. For his efforts, Garfield earned a promotion to brigadier general, effective January 11, 1862.

Shiloh and Corinth

After the victory at Middle Creek, army officials ordered Garfield west, where he commanded the 20th Brigade of the Army of the Ohio at the Battle of Shiloh (April 6 and 7, 1862) in Tennessee. Immediately after that battle, Garfield served under Major General Thomas Wood during the Siege of Corinth , Mississippi (April 29 to May 30, 1862).

Illness and Recuperation

During the summer of 1862, Garfield became ill and returned home on leave to recuperate. He returned to active duty in the fall, and traveled to Washington to await orders.

Congressman Garfield

In November, although he did not actively seek office, voters in Ohio’s 19th Congressional District elected Garfield to the United States House of Representatives.

Return to Combat – Gallantry at Chickamauga

In the spring of 1863, Garfield returned to combat duty as Major General William S. Rosecrans ‘ chief-of-staff. While with Rosecrans, Garfield served with distinction and he received a promotion to major general for his gallantry at the Battle of Chickamauga , Georgia (September 19 and 20, 1863). When Major General Ulysses S. Grant relieved Rosecrans of his command after the defeat at Chickamauga, he chose George Thomas instead of Garfield to command the Army of the Cumberland . Perhaps feeling slighted, Garfield resigned his commission and assumed his seat in Congress in December 1863.

Radical Republican

Upon joining the United States House of Representatives in 1863, Garfield became aligned with Radical Republicans who promoted harsh terms for the South when the war ended. In 1864, Garfield voted in favor of the Wade-Davis Bill , which President Abraham Lincoln pocket-vetoed. Because of Lincoln’s lenient Reconstruction policy, Garfield did not actively support the president’s reelection in 1864.

U.S. Senator

Garfield served in the House of Representatives for nine terms from December 1863 until March 3, 1881. On January 13, 1880, the Ohio Senate elected Garfield to the United States Senate, but he never served because voters elected him to the U.S. presidency later that same year.

Dark-horse Presidential Candidate

When the Republican National Convention met in Chicago in June 1880, the delegates divided their support for a presidential candidate between three men: Maine Senator James G. Blaine, Ohio Senator John Sherman, and former President Ulysses S. Grant. When none of the candidates could garner enough votes to secure the nomination, Garfield emerged as a compromise candidate. On June 8, 1880, after thirty-six ballots, the delegates selected Garfield as their nominee for the 1880 presidential election. Throughout the summer and fall, Garfield conducted the first “front porch campaign” from his home in Mentor, Ohio. On November 2, he won a close contest against fellow Union Civil War General Winfield Scott Hancock .

President Garfield and Assassination

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite inaugurated James Garfield as President of the United States on March 4, 1881, but he served only six months. At 9:30 a.m., on July 2, 1881, Charles Guiteau, a deranged office-seeker, shot the president at the Sixth Street Station of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad in Washington, DC. Garfield survived the shooting and lingered in poor health for ten weeks before dying from complications on September 19, in the Elberon section of Long Branch, New Jersey. Garfield’s body lay in state in Elberon and Washington before being returned to Cleveland, Ohio for his funeral on September 27. He was buried in Lake View Cemetery. In 1890, President Garfield’s remains were moved to the newly erected Garfield Memorial in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.

Significance of James A. Garfield

James A. Garfield was an important historical figure because he served as the 20th President of the United States (1881) and played a brief role in Gilded Age Politics . He was the first president to be assassinated while in office. Garfield was a former Union general and a Republican who campaigned on a platform of civil service reform, and his presidency was marked by efforts to modernize the government and reduce the influence of political bosses. Despite his brief presidency, Garfield made significant contributions to American politics and history, including his support for African-American rights, his efforts to improve education and promote economic growth, and his advocacy for civil service reform.

• Written by Harry Searles

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Biography: Dr. Susan Emma Hertz Howard

Year of birth/death

b. 1968/1956

Medical School

University of Michigan Medical School New York Women's Medical School

Location: Vermont

Career Path

• General medicine

Achievement: Dr. Susan Howard was the first woman physician practicing in Burlington, Vermont.

Susan Emma Hertz Howard, M.D., broke off her engagement to have her own career. After graduating at the turn of the century, she became the first woman physician in Burlington, Vermont.

Susan Hertz was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1869. Her mother, Mary Henderson, was from Natchez, Mississippi, and her father's parents were from Germany. Her father fell ill and was often away for treatment as she was growing up. When his condition worsened, the whole family, including two sisters, moved to Vermont.

Susan Hertz spent much of her childhood with her aunt, Carrie Henderson and her husband, Lieutenant Wadhams. In their company, she met some remarkable people. In 1881, at age 12, she accompanied her uncle to a White House reception following Chester A. Arthur's swearing-in as president, after the assassination of President James Garfield. On March 1, 1885, authors George W. Cable and Mark Twain spent the day with aunt Carrie and her husband in Washington, D.C. The 15-year-old Susan sat next to Mark Twain and chatted with him, and he signed the family autograph album with "There ain't no pints about that frog that's any different from any other frog." Ten years later, while visiting her father's brother, Franz Hertz, in Germany, Susan Hertz met Prince Otto von Bismark. Germany's Emperor William II had forced Bismark into retirement and her uncle and aunt attended the historic reconciliation when the emperor bestowed a military cape on Bismarck.

Susan Hertz was engaged to marry a minister, but on her return from Germany, she decided instead to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. She studied homeopathic medicine at New York Women's Medical College and was also required to work in the city's poorest areas. She loved this work and graduated with her doctor of medicine degree in 1896.

Seeking broader training, Dr. Hertz then studied at the University of Michigan Medical School, graduating in 1900. During her 1901 internship in Detroit, she observed that wealth offered no protection from illness and that she could help rich and poor patients alike with compassion and her medical training.

Dr. Hertz passed the four-day medical board examination and set up practice as the first woman physician in Burlington, Vermont. She was welcomed by most local doctors, who invited her to attend an American Medical Association meeting with them in New Jersey, but was barred from practicing in Burlington's hospital. Instead she became attending physician to a Catholic children's home and a home for unwed mothers.

Dr. Hertz was looking for a house to rent for her offices when her uncle introduced her to Harry Stinson Howard. Dr. Hertz married Harry Howard in 1904, and she suspended her practice to travel with him. Their twin daughters were born in 1908, and in 1909 she resumed her practice as a school physician. She later served as medical director of Burlington's public schools, and was an advocate of women's rights throughout her career.

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Moviegoing remains in a sling, evident in Universal’s The Fall Guy currently coming in lower than expected with $28M this weekend . Perhaps Furiosa and Garfield can bring some zing over Memorial Day weekend at the end of the month.

Both hit three-week tracking Thursday, with the Warner Bros/Village Roadshow Mad Max prequel eyeing a $40M-$50M domestic opening over the Friday-Monday span of May 24-27 with Sony/Alcon Entertainment’s Garfield at $35M.

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Garfield, of course, is tracking with families and older adults. Unaided awareness — the polling category where respondents immediately name a movie they plan on seeing without being guided by a pollster — is just under that of Kung Fu Panda 4 ($57.9M) and 2019’s The Addams Family animated movie ($30.3M 3-day). First choice is strong with women under 25.

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Furiosa ‘s first choice is best with dudes over 25 with overall unaided awareness behind Mad Max: Fury Road ($45.4M), Blade Runner 2049 ($32.7M) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ($60.3M).

Biggest Memorial Day weekend of all-time at the domestic box office was notched in 2022 by Top Gun: Maverick with $160.5M. Last year, Disney’s live-action take of classic toon, Little Mermaid, sang its way to a $118.8M stateside start over the four-day stretch.

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A biography of an early postmaster general is now available

Ebenezer hazard began his role in 1782.

An article examining the life of Ebenezer Hazard, who served as postmaster general during the earliest days of the republic, was recently added to the postal history section on usps.com.

It was written by Junemarie Brandt, an acting postal history senior research analyst.

Hazard was named postmaster general in 1782, toward the end of the Revolutionary War. He was the third postmaster general after Benjamin Franklin (1775-1776) and Richard Bache (1776-1782).

Hazard worked a number of postal jobs before his appointment as postmaster general, including surveyor of post roads and inspector of dead letters.

As deputy postmaster of New York in 1776, he was forced to follow Gen. George Washington’s constantly moving army — on foot.

“I submitted to this indignity and the fatigue consequent upon it, although it was not my business, as a Postmaster, to follow the Army like a sutler,” Hazard wrote.

In 1779, he informed Congress that finances were so tight, he was paying post riders out of his own pocket for fear they would resign en masse and cause the department to collapse.

“As postmaster general, Hazard prioritized setting the Post Office’s financial house in order, streamlining congressional ordinances related to the organization, and improving postal routes,” Brandt said.

His tenure came to an end in 1789, likely due to a dispute with President Washington over the delivery of newspapers. He then moved his family back to Philadelphia and went into the insurance field.

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A new TV drama focuses on Benjamin Franklin

The eight-part series debuts April 12

It was fast, it didn’t last long but it left a legacy

Happy birthday, Mr. Franklin

The first postmaster general was born 318 years ago

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Andrew garfield, claire foy to star in film adaptation of enid blyton’s ‘the magic faraway tree’.

The project has 'Wonka' and 'Paddington 2' star Simon Farnaby on board as its screenwriter.

By Lily Ford

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Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy will lead the film adaptation of Enid Blyton’s children’s classic The Magic Faraway Tree .

The story from the author, based on her The Faraway Tree series of novels for children, follows Polly and Tim and their children Beth, Joe and Fran — a modern family who find themselves forced to relocate to the remote English countryside.

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Neal Street Productions, Elysian Film Group, and Ashland Hill Media Finance will produce, with principal photography to begin in June 2024 and additional casting currently underway.

Screenwriter Simon Farnaby, British star of Wonka and Paddington 2, said: “To have two actors of the quality of Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy is a dream for any screenwriter.”

“I have long admired their warmth, wit and lightness of touch. Plus they have the power to imbue their characters’ complexities that I don’t have the power to write…I mean, even Enid Blyton might be impressed we got Spider-Man and the Queen….”

Director Ben Gregor ( Britannia , Cuckoo , Black Ops , Fatherhood ) added: “Andrew and Claire are exquisite performers and I feel so spoiled to have them for this film. They are the cornerstones of our big-hearted world and the perfect people to bring our lovely script to life.”

Palisades Park Pictures is handling worldwide sales, with CAA Media Finance co-repping U.S. rights. It will be shopped around at the Cannes film market this month.

The film is produced by Academy Award-nominee Pippa Harris ( Empire of Light , 1917 , Call the Midwife ) and Nicolas Brown ( Britannia , Informer , Penny Dreadful ) of Neal Street Productions, along with Danny Perkins ( Greatest Days ) of Elysian Film Group and Jane Hooks ( Golda , Living ).

Executive Producers include Ashland Hill Media Finance’s Simon Williams, Joe Simpson and Jonathan Bross, and Palisades Park Pictures’ Tamara Birkemoe.

The film has been in development for several years, with Perkins, Harris and Brown working on the film when the former was running StudioCanal U.K.

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