#20 James Garfield : The President who was Assassinated Twice (March 1881- Sept 1881)

Jan. 6, 2018

"Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President" by Candice Millard 2011

James Garfield was the epitome of the American Dream.  He was born in a log cabin in Ohio and raised by his dirt poor, widowed mother.   As the youngest child, his elder siblings anointed James as the one who would get to go to school and they all chipped in to try to make this happen.  But James was a restless, outgoing, curious boy and left school in his teens to work on the Erie Canal.  After nearly drowning, he decided school was better and threw himself into it while working as a janitor to pay his tuition. 

Garfield was a voracious reader and was amazingly intelligent in all subjects- math, science, languages, history, literature.  He was such a quick learner that he was hired by his college (Hiram College in Ohio) to teach many subjects while he was still in college.   After finishing his degree in Massachusetts, he returned to Ohio and became president of Hiram College at the age of 29, continuing to teach multiple subjects and publishing a mathematical proof. During this time he also taught himself law and passed the bar exam.

The man was obviously a very stable genius.

While in college, he met Lucretia Rudolph when he was her Greek teacher.  Lucretia was much quieter and more reserved than James- who was a big boisterous bear of a man who hugged everyone.  It took  several years for them to work up to marriage and they both had some doubts from the start.  After James had an affair, he and Lucretia not only worked out their issues but became devoted to each other for the rest of their lives.

Garfield began a political career in Ohio as a state senator but left that position to join the Union Army during the Civil War.  He worked his way up to the rank of Major General and was also elected to be a congressman from Ohio.  However, he refused to leave his military post to campaign for this position and  finally took up his congressional seat in 1863.  He served in this post until he became president. 

Worst mustache ever, Chester Arthur.

During reconstruction, the Republican party became split into two factions- the Stalwarts (who liked the spoils system)  led by Sen. Roscoe Conkling and the Half-Breeds (who wanted civil service reform) led by Sen. James Blaine.  At the 1880 convention these factions could not agree on a presidential candidate. Eventually Garfield was chosen and  Chester Arthur (a Stalwart) was added to the ticket as a compromise.  Garfield had no desire to run for president but left his quiet family and academic life in Ohio to help his country and party.  He did virtually no campaigning and won by only 2,000 in the popular vote, although a bigger margin in the electoral count.

Garfield was immediately wrapped up in his party's squabbles about appointments made through the spoils system or civil service reform.  He was overwhelmed by people claiming favors and wanting a political appointment.  One of these was a man named Charles J. Guiteau, a crazy, homeless man who felt that his support for Garfield deserved an appointment as minister to Austria or Paris.  He besieged the White House and State department with letters and daily visits, walking into Garfield's office at one point to demand his post.  Finally, Sec. of State Blaine told him he was nuts and was never going to get this office.  Guiteau then claims God told him to kill Garfield so Arthur could become president.  Guiteau shot Garfield in a train station in July 1881.  He was immediately captured after shouting that he had done this for Arthur.

President Garfield, who had zero  bodyguards with him, was rushed to the White House.  Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's son, was at the station with Garfield when he was shot.  Lincoln rushed to bring the surgeon who had treated his father to the White House to help Garfield.  Dr. Bliss was not even a very respected doctor and one who did not believe in antisepsis or germs.   Dr. Bliss secluded Garfield away from almost everyone but family and a very few other consulted doctors. Bliss and his helpers probed the wound  in Garfield's back at least 10 times with unsterilized hands and instruments looking for the bullet.   Alexander Graham Bell even invented a metal detector  to help treat Garfield and would probably have found the bullet if Bliss would have allowed  him to look closer.

Everyone has filthy hands in this picture.

Not surprisingly, Garfield would die two months after being shot, from massive infection.  Therefore this blatant medical incompetence was his second assassination.  Garfield suffered horribly during this time but was always kind, patient and positive. If the measure of a man is how they handle suffering, then Garfield is truly an amazing man. His autopsy revealed that he could have survived just fine if they had just left the bullet inside of him and done absolutely nothing.  Guiteau was hung a year later - even though he claimed insanity as a defense.

Most Americans would not realize that the assignation of President James Garfield was a turning point in our history.  The wounds and division that our country and the Republican party suffered during Reconstruction might never have occurred under the leadership of this brilliant and unifying leader.

# 30 Calvin Coolidge : The Silent, Cheapskate, Vanilla President (1923-1929)

Nov 26, 2017

"Coolidge" by Amity Shales 2013

How can there be a giant book about a president who rarely spoke and had minimal personality?

Well, there is one and it took me forever to read it since I kept falling asleep.  His nickname was Silent Cal since he would invite guests to his house, politicians and cabinet members to meetings, and press to briefings and literally say nothing. 

Calvin Coolidge was born in a very small Vermont town on a very small farm.  The town was so small that his father was like the mayor, police chief, tax collector and probably dog catcher.  He was a sickly, skinny kid and his parents were both rather cold, practical New Englanders.  He knew he was too physically weak to be a good farmer so he decided to go to college and study law.  It took some tutoring for him to get accepted  (he was always very bad at math) but he finally got in to Amherst College.   He was so awkward and unpopular that even though 95% of the students belonged to a fraternity, no one asked him to join until his Senior year.  By then he had become pretty good at debate and speeches if he could mainly just read them. 

His early career started with a small law office in Northampton, MA  and he struggled with money for many years, continuing to need support from his folks.  He married a beautiful woman named Grace- not quite sure what she saw in him. He literally counted every penny and they never bought a house until the last few years of his life.  He progressed from the state legislature, to mayor, to lieutenant governor, and then governor of Massachusetts. 

Coolidge was surprisingly popular for a republican governor in a democratic state.  Most of his career he seemed to try to find the middle way.  He was never very talkative but listened a lot.  Two things helped propel him upwards. First, the governor he was lieutenant for was super wealthy and a great friend.  His name was Stearns and  he helped Coolidge a lot, personally and professionally.  Second, when he was governor there was a massive strike by the Boston police department.  Coolidge fired all of them and said they had endangered the public and did not deserve their jobs.  It made him look like a tough guy who was very decisive.  Ironic, since it really was the first major stand he had taken.  But he got a LOT of press for this.

Coolidge was chosen to be vice president for Warren G. Harding because of his "toughness".  Their personalities were totally different.  Harding was a partier ( lots of liquor even during Prohibition) and he was a great schmoozer with people.   Harding's administration was also plagued with corruption ( ie Teapot Dome Scandal) since he appointed a lot of cronies.  The very upstanding Coolidge sort of felt awkward and embarrassed by all that.  However, he and Harding were alike in that they wanted to shrink government and get the debt incurred during WW1 paid off.   However, Harding died after about 2 years in office and Coolidge took over.

As president, he was still a cheapskate. He refused to ever provide aid for social programs, veterans and natural disasters that struck during his term.  His Treasury secretary was the famous rich guy Andrew Mellon and his budget director was named Lord. He held weekly meetings with them and literally examined every expenditure-- deciding what kind of paper was cheaper and cutting government departments. He said the country should have a consistent budget of just 3 billion dollars. ( Bahaha!) Impressively,  he did manage to shrink the war debt and have a surplus every year.  Mellon convinced him that if the wealthy paid significantly less taxes, the government would actually bring in more revenue since it would stimulate the economy ( is this where the "trickle down"  idea started??! Argh!) Mellon and Coolidge called it "scientific taxation" and said it would be an experiment.  And it seemed to have moderate success, UNTIL the stock market crashed right as Coolidge left office which led to the greatest depression in our history.   

While he was running for reelection for a full term after finishing Harding's remaining term, Coolidge's son, Calvin Jr. died at the White House.  He got a blister on his toe playing tennis and it turned into sepsis, so he was dead within a week. This devastated Coolidge and he became even quieter and lost a lot of enthusiasm for being president.  While he was reelected for a full term, he refused to seek another one after that.  He went home to Vermont and Massachusetts. He spent time writing a weekly column , farming, and being closer to his remaining child, John.  Since he was never a robust healthy man, he died of a heart attack at the age of 60. Maybe his heart broke when he saw how much money FDR was spending by then.