Whoever thinks of James Garfield these days? In a year when Abraham Lincoln is so present and celebrated, it is worthwhile to devote reading time to another assassinated President, James A. Garfield. Candice Millard has written a fascinating and brilliant read about a little-known President who served for such a short time before meeting a horrific death, caused just as much by inept doctors as by the bullet which cut him down.
Garfield was born in a log cabin in Ohio. After his fathers early death, the family was desperately poor. It was only through his mother's determination and hard labor that the family survived, and James's destiny was planted. It was largely through the influence of his mother and brother that James finished his education. After a short stint working on the Erie Canal, he matriculated from Western Reserve Eclectic (now Hiram) to Williams College. He returned to Western Reserve Eclectic to teach and at the early age of 26 became President of the school. When the Civil War broke out, he left teaching and rose to the rank of Major General in the Union Army.
After the war, Garfield found he enjoyed speaking and politics. He never intended, nor did he wish to run for President. It was by a fluke, when an impasse was reached at the 1880 Republican convention, that he was nominated to run for President.
These bare fact do not convey the warmth and intelligence of Garfield. Millard does a stellar job of allowing us to see what a unique man Garfield was. In his short term in office, he carried on the beliefs and programs that Lincoln had put in motion.
On July 2nd 1881, a madman with delusions of grandeur, shot Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac train station where accompanied by his Secretary of State and good friend James Blaine, he waited to board a train to western Massachusetts, where he was to see his sons off to Williams College and join his family for a vacation.
At this time in history, Presidents had virtually no protection or bodyguards. Anyone could wander in and out of the White House at will, and when Garfield traveled, he did so alone, driving his own horse and buggy.
The saddest thing of all is that the bullet that entered Garfield was not fatal where it lodged in his body. What eventually led him to an appalling and frightful death, eleven weeks later, were the probings of his physician and subsequent massive infection caused by a lack of sanitation. Despite the fact that Joseph Lister had already proved the value of proper sanitation when treating patients, Dr. Willard Bliss, Garfield's physician, chose to ignore and even denigrate these measures.
I highly recommend Millard's book. It is a good choice for discussion groups as well as for anyone who would like to acquaint himself with the much loved in his time, and little appreciated now, 20th President.
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