Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

by Candice Millard

James A. 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, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back.

But the shot didn’t kill Garfield. The drama of what hap­pened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in tur­moil. The unhinged assassin’s half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power—over his administration, over the nation’s future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect. As his con­dition worsened, Garfield received help: Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, worked around the clock to invent a new device capable of finding the bullet.

Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic will stand alongside The Devil in the White City and The Professor and the Madman as a classic of narrative history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, American History, Presidents, Book Club, Politics

339 pages, Hardcover

First published September 20, 2011

About the author

Candice Millard is a former writer and editor for National Geographic magazine. Her first book, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, was a New York Times bestseller and was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor, and Kansas City Star. The River of Doubt was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and a Book Sense Pick, was a finalist for the Quill Awards, and won the William Rockhill Nelson Award. It has been printed in Portuguese, Mandarin, and Korean, as well as a British edition.

Millard's second book, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine & the Murder of a President, rose to number five on The New York Times bestseller list and has been named a best book of the year by The New York Times, Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, The Kansas City Star, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Destiny of the Republic won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the PEN Center USA award for Research Nonfiction, the One Book—One Lincoln Award, the Ohioana Award and the Kansas Notable Book Award.

Millard's work has also appeared in Time Magazine, Washington Post Book World, and the New York Times Book Review. She lives in Kansas City with her husband and three children.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 5 out of 5]

In recent years I've been attracted to books about obscure presidents. When I read about the Candice Millard book on James Garfield I was instantly intrigued. I mean no one knows much of anything about Garfield including myself. He is easy to pass over because he barely survived 6 months into his term as president and a good portion of that time he was fighting for his life. The only time his name is brought up in conversation is when someone is struggling to remember the names of the four assassinated presidents.


James A. Garfield

Garfield is a self made man, a true American success story. He grew up on a modest farm in Ohio with his brothers and his mother. He loved books and was a life time reader of literature scoring big points with me and certainly moving up in my esteem. He worked as a carpenter at college to pay for his tuition. Everything he seemed to turn his hand to he showed above average aptitude including strategy in war time during the nations civil struggle, and in peace time as a president trying to heal the divides in his own party.

Garfield's rise to the nomination in the 1880 Republican convention was not only improbable, but would have been a ludicrous thought for Garfield as well. He had no intention of seeking the nomination; in fact, he went to the convention to give the nomination speech for John Sherman, brother to General William Tecumseh Sherman. At the end of the speech instead of hearing chants for Sherman he heard chants for Garfield. In the first balloting Grant is leading by a healthy margin with Garfield only receiving a single vote. As the voting continues Garfield steadily gains a handful of votes on each round until it becomes obvious to everyone that he is the bipartisan candidate and a flood of votes go to him.


Guiteau thought he deserved an office for his fervent (demented) support of the election of President Garfield.

Charles J. Guiteau, to put it mildly was deranged, and history should have passed without anyone knowing his name, but for the singular moment when he was able to borrow the money from an acquaintance, go down to the local shop, and purchase a handgun for the purpose of shooting the president of the United States. The Secret Service, at this time in history, was used primarily to investigate counterfeit money. The American public felt it was too much like royalty for a President to be guarded. They felt he should be accessible to the public. Guiteau shot Garfield twice once in the arm and once in the back in the middle of a train station. After 80 days of battling for his life Garfield died not from the assassin's bullets, but from the abysmal care of his doctors. He died from an infection he acquired from his doctors poking their unsterilized fingers and equipment into his wounds.


Alexander Graham Bell

When Alexander Graham Bell discovered that doctors were searching for the bullet that entered Garfield's back he thought there should be a way to find the bullet without probing for it. He invented what he called an induction machine which is basically a precursor to the Geiger counter. Doctor Bliss, the self-appointed lead doctor on the Garfield case, insisted the bullet was on the right side and would only allow Bell to scan the body on that side. If Bell had been allowed to do a full scan they would have found that the bullet was on the left side and possibly would have given Garfield a chance at life. Bell regretted for the rest of his life that he didn't insist that the machine be passed over the left side as well.


Candice Millard

This is such a well researched book, copiously notated and indexed. The writing style is free and easy and the chapters laid out in such a compelling fashion that I actually found myself rooting for Garfield to live even though I knew the outcome. I was also cheering for Bell, who was frantically trying to do his part to save the president. I certainly came away with a heightened respect for several people including Bell who was not only a great inventor, but a wonderful humanitarian; Garfield who was a man of vision and integrity; and Candice Millard who is a writer with passion and wonderful insight. I certainly look forward to reading her next foray into history.

Will Byrnes wrote an excellent review of this book as well. It is not to be missed. Here is the link to his review: Byrnes Garfield review

Scott Miller wrote a book about the McKinley assassination that works great as a companion read to the Candice Millard book. My review is here: My McKinley Review

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at: https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten

[Will Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

If most people were to be asked today what they thought of Garfield, they would most likely offer an answer about a cartoon cat, and not the 20th president of the United States, the president who served only 200 days in office, the second president to be assassinated, and one of our great losses as a nation.


Image from Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau

Candice Millard, the author of The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, here follows the paths of two men, the ill-fated president, James A. Garfield, and the man who would see to his end, Charles Guiteau.

No political conspiracies were involved, at least not outside the delusions of an addled mind. While the assassin did have political views, they were likelier to be the same as those of his target than anywhere in opposition. No, he was your basic nutter, who convinced himself that God wanted him to take out the president. While clearly disturbed, Guiteau had an interesting past. His mother died when he was 7 and he was raised by his father, a religious fanatic, and follower of John Humphrey Noyes, the founder of the utopian Oneida commune in upstate New York. This cultish group favored free love, which they called “complex marriage,” among other things. Charles did not have a lot of success with the ladies, even at Oneida, which must have really stung. They practiced a form of self (really group) criticism that would gain favor with a later communal program, Mao Te Tung’s.

Although the commune promised the pleasures of complex marriage, to Guiteau’s frustration, “The Community women,” one of Oneida’s members would later admit, “did not extend love and confidence toward him.” In fact, so thorough was his rejection among women that they nicknamed him “Charles Gitout.” He bitterly complained that, while at the commune, he was “practically a Shaker.”

He worked as a lawyer (which at the time did not require a law degree) and a preacher and had a rather permanent and cavalier attitude toward paying his bills. I guess in that way he was a harbinger of Republicans of a later era. Guiteau was in DC seeking a political appointment from the president, just compensation, in his mind, for the assistance he had given to the campaign. He had suffered delusions of grandeur for a long time. His own family had sought to have him put away. But the slippery bastard fled before they could complete his committal.

Garfield’s was a classic American success story. His parents were farmers, working land-grant turf. But dad passed away when James was still a boy. Through hard work and recognition of his native brilliance by enough people who had the means to help, Garfield managed to get an excellent education. His oratorical skills were state of the art for his time. He was elected to the state legislature and soon thereafter put into the national Congress, with hardly any effort at all on his part. This accidental president never sought that office either. In fact, he attended the 1880 Republican convention to give the nominating speech for his fellow Ohioan, John Sherman. But after dozens of ballots, with no hope of any of the major candidates winning enough votes to get the nomination, delegates began looking for an alternative. And thus was James A Garfield nominated for president by his party.

Speaking of which, the Republican Party of 1880 was rather different from the GOP of today. Garfield had been anti-slavery, as had his party.

For freed slaves, an impoverished and, until recently, almost entirely powerless segment of the population, Garfield represented freedom and progress, but also, and perhaps more importantly, dignity. As president, he demanded for black men nothing less than what they wanted desperately for themselves—complete and unconditional equality, born not of regret but respect.

Today’s party could probably be counted on to insist that property rights trump all and turn away any attempt to get rid of such a peculiar institution. So Garfield was a pretty good guy, remarkably, considering that the Civil War had ended less than 16 years prior, acceptable to both the South and the North, a brilliant, Renaissance man.

Millard offers not only a window into the personal and political history of Garfield, a literal log-cabin Republican, we also get a look at the time. One element is further confirmation re what a fetid swamp DC was (well, it remains a fetid swamp these days, but for other reasons), a place where rats roamed at will but if I step out of the way, they seem happy to dash past. in the White House, (yes, yes, I know, sometimes they are just so easy that even I, who know no shame, have to pass, but you are free to select the party you dislike and fill in the blanks) and clouds of mosquitoes blotted out the sun. Ok, that last may be a slight exaggeration, but the gist remains. It was a biologically unhealthy place. The toxicity of DC and the White House in particular figures rather largely into the story of how James A. Garfield met his end.

In addition to the intersecting lines of Garfield and Guiteau, a little extra attention is directed toward a young Scottish inventor, a fellow whose chief concern was helping the hearing impaired. He had, not long before, brought to market a remarkable new device. This made for an interesting time for him. Once the world realized just what he had created, thieves, swindlers and worst of all, lawyers, came after him like a wolf pack on the trail of an injured deer. How much time must one dedicate to defending oneself in court in order to retain control of that which you, yourself created? Lots, and it was making him miserable. Still, he had a thing for inventing. When he heard of the attack on Garfield he hastened to his lab to work on a device that would, hopefully, locate the bullet inside the president’s body, without having to open him up first, a sort of early metal detector. We speak, of course, of Alexander Graham Bell, a young man still. His efforts merit considerable attention and entail a lot of drama. Actually, considering that we are all well aware of the outcome, it is rather remarkable how much dramatic tension there is in this non-fiction account.

We get a look at the medical sorts who dove in when the president was shot, some reasonable, and some determined to place their own interests above the health of Garfield. We get to see yet another example of the arrogance of power leading to a dark end when it chooses to ignore scientific advances in the fact-based world. And we get to see some of the places where the leading edge of medical thought and technology were struggling for recognition. Joseph Lister had revolutionized European medical practices with his insistence on antiseptic environments for medical care. But those who insisted on local exceptionalism preferred to leave their patient in environments we would probably describe today as filthy, and saw nothing wrong with poking their fingers into open wounds. Garfield, ultimately, suffered an iatrogenic death. The bullets did not kill him. His doctors did. Sadly, medical care is the third leading cause of death in the USA today, so some things have not changed all that much.

Re government, Millard fills us in on some of the political game-playing of the time, and how it was used to generate governmental stasis. There is much here that resonates, and that reminds us how far we have come in some ways, and how little we have grown in others. I contemplated making a table showing 1880 vs 2013, and doing the comparison (and contrast) more graphically, (it could work just as well in 2022) but I will leave that for other reviewers. I merely note that such a comparison could indeed be constructed.

One interesting point made here is that both Guiteau and Garfield felt themselves to have been touched by God. Both had faced death while aboard ships and both felt that they had been spared by the Almighty for some greater purpose. It seems unlikely that they were both right.

History books need not be dull. The best give us a sense of a time and a place, let us see some of the personalities afoot in that world, look into how things came to be the way they were and how events of that time have echoed down to us today. A good popular history book makes us stop, rub our chins and mutter to no one in particular, “I did not know that.” On all counts, Candice Millard has succeeded. While the subject is not exactly laugh-riot material, if you love to learn, it will make you smile. It has made others smile as well. Destiny was awarded a PEN award for research nonfiction, and an Edgar Award for best Fact Crime book of 2011.

And it is quite filling. If you are of a cartoonish persuasion, you might even think of it as lasagna for the brain.

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal, Twitter and FB pages

For another consideration of this book, you could do worse than to check out Jeffrey Keeten’s excellent review

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm excited that I'm excited!!!! Does this make sense?? Have you ever been excited that you are REALLY EXCITED???

In a VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME I've read books about 3 American Past Presidents....

I'm pleased to say.... just like the positive late bloomer reader experience WHEN A LIGHT SWITCH WENT OFF ....and I knew I'd be reading for the rest of my life.....
I TURNED A HUGE CORNER AGAIN JUST IN THIS WEEK. I'm now 'clear' -- I have nothing to fear - or reasons to resist reading about past Presidents..... or U.S history-or other biographical stories. If the 'author' is terrific- research is terrific- THESE BOOKS WILL be 'as good'... if not better as ANY FICTION STORY!!
It's no 'accident' that 3 books in a row about Past Presidents of the United States have been juicy enjoyable 'true' stories!

Author Candice Millard meets author Taylor Jenkins Reid in "Destiny of The Republic:
A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President". NO KIDDING!!!

For all my 'female' friends who think they wouldn't touch this book --the book cover looks 'dry' - brown - and frightening boring????
-- I PROMISE the readers who enjoyed listening to the audiobook of "One True Loves" or "After I Do"......that if you give this audiobook a chance....( nobody was more afraid than I was)....that 'very soon' into this audiobook you'll be HOOKED .... in the SAME WAY HOOKED as you've been with TJR. The only difference-- is a part of you 'will' be proud of yourself -- for stepping outside of your comfort zone. Guess what??? PRESIDENTS ARE ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS TOO!!!

I was telling a friend -- I got SO EXCITED at one point during this book - walking &
listening.... that I literally cheered out loud to the trees on the trail I was hiking.

.....James A. Garfield was our 20th President
.....He was born in NE Ohio.... Born into poverty.
.....OMG... we hear THE BEST survivor story about Garfield with he - a rope - and water! It's sooooo good -- I WONT SPOIL IT.... ( it's toward the beginning of the this book)
.....Garfield went to College with the $17 his mother had saved for him. 17 dollars!!!!!!
.....An excellent student -- ( oh I believe he had a reason for wanting to be the very best scholar he could be).....he was asked to TEACH CLASSES AT his University 'while' he was still an undergraduate student. Garfield loved to read and learn about 'everything'.
......Garfield became a University Professor
.....While giving a speech at the Republican Convention in 1880... endorsing candidate
John Sherman, his speech was so powerful - so real - that all the people in the room started yelling 'Garfield's' name. CHANTING grew LOUDER.... "Garfield, Garfield"!!!
......Readers - audiobooks listeners will be ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEATS through what happens next ---- shaking your heads -- it's UNBELIEVABLE the way James Garfield 'wins' the Presidency. I ONLY WISH THIS HAPPENED in 2017!!!!
James Garfield said: "I never had Presidential Fever, even for a day"!!!!!!!!
.....A humble man - a man with so much integrity- my body ached at how much I love
WHO Garfield WAS AND ALL THAT HE STOOD FOR.
I realized how MUCH my insides ARE CRYING for this type of leadership in our country.
Is it any wonder that I'm reaching for books like this right now??? I'm wanting to believe in the probability and possibility of goodness, honestly, honor, justice, service for the greater needs of others... I DONT WANT TO BELIEVE THIS WAS THE END OF AN ERA!!!
.....I found the story about Garfield and his wife Lucretia fascinating. The first five years of their marriage they only spent five months together. The truth about the troubles in the early years of marriage was so raw and personal -- it made me believe every single thing in this book because it was at this moment I realize nothing is being hidden. AGAIN.... I'll say....FOR READERS WHO LIKE TO READ ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS- and MARRIAGE.... it's all right here. As valuable as any fiction story!!!!

.....as we dive deeper into the book --- it becomes very clear why the title includes the words madness, medicine, and murder of a President. SUCH A TRAGIC TALE!!!!!
...... Garfield was an ethical guy. He was willing to work where he was needed. He was considered a rational man that would call himself a radical when it came to civil rights. He was the only President ever to deliver a speech not in English. He was a staunch ally of the newly freed black population.
.....AND THEN SOME FRICKEN CRAZY GUY....Charles Guiteau shot a couple of bullets.
The first shot went into Garfield's arm. The second went into his back and broke two ribs. Garfield did not die right away.
Alexander Graham Bell tried to save him. He was already famous at age 34 for already having invented the telephone. He had been trying to create a machine that would be find the bullet inside the president.

However, Garfield was being treated by another doctor: Dr. Bliss. There was nothing blissful about Dr. Bliss. When you hear the story it makes your stomach turn when you realize that this doctor put his dirty fingers, unwashed hands, and unsterilized instruments deep into Garfield's wounds. Joseph Lister and other scientists had already proved that infections were caused by germs and could be prevented by antiseptic practices. Basically, Garfield died from malpractice---however a jury convicted Guiteau guilty anyway.


PARTS OF THIS STORY STAND OUT TO ME:
1. The way James A. Garfield 'became' President. What's the likelihood that the exact same situation that happened back in 1880 could happen like that today?
2. A smaller part of this story was the relationship - beginning dating days - early marriage - later years of marriage ... with Lucretia were interesting to me.
3. The ROPE STORY is AWESOME!!!!
4. FEMALE -- author Candice Millard..... I think she's kinda inspiring!!!!
5. I look at the cover of this book with TRANSFORMED eyes. I see nothing but the most beautiful man: James Garfield. Oh.... and how I enjoyed reading about when you would belly-laugh .... rolling on the floor at times. Your wife thought you were a fruitcake.... YOU WERE A MAN 'the people' loved!!! Men and women loved you.... for all the right reasons!!!!! I'm sad your life ended too soon!!!


Thank you to ALL THE MANY FRIENDS WHO TOLD ME TO READ THIS BOOK! I had No idea I would ENJOY IT THIS MUCH!!!!!!
This was the GREATEST HOMEWORK - book - recommendation!!!! ---haha!!! Never felt like homework!!!!!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!! >>> TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

“When [President James] Garfield walked in, [Charles] Guiteau was standing right behind him. This, Guiteau realized, was his chance to kill the president, and this time he was not about to let it slip away. Without a moment’s hesitation, he raised the revolver he had been carrying with him for nearly a month and pointed it at Garfield’s back. So complete was his composure that he might have been standing at the edge of the Potomac aiming at a sapling, instead of in a crowded train station about to shoot the president of the United States…”
- Candice Millard, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President


History has not done much to remember the 20th President of the United States. Perhaps it was because James A. Garfield was shot just four months into his term of office. Or maybe it’s because he has the misfortune to share a surname with an orange cartoon cat who loves lasagna and hates Mondays. Whatever the reason, Garfield has been unfairly removed from popular knowledge, and exists mainly as an answer your beer-fogged mind struggles to form during trivia night at the local bar.

Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic does an excellent job with the triple tragedy of Garfield’s life. First, his shooting. Second, his lingering death, as his ignorant butcher-doctors ensured his doom, but only after great suffering. Finally, attempting to remedy the indignity of his disappearance from memory.

Millard tells this story by focusing on four main players. The main player, of course, is Garfield himself. Born into abject poverty, he raised himself by dint of sheer ability. He taught school, fought commendably in the Civil War (achieving the rank of brigadier general), and was a highly respected congressman before emerging as a dark horse Republican presidential candidate in the election of 1880. There was much decency in him, especially as a proponent of black civil rights.


Charles Guiteau: A man with "some derangement of his mental organization," according to John Logan

The villain of the piece is Charles Guiteau, a “writer” and “lawyer” and castoff from John Humphrey Noyes’ Oneida Community, where despite the prevalence of free love, no woman would touch him. Guiteau was hyper religious and delusional, his chief delusion being convinced that newly-elected President Garfield owed him a job as American consul in Paris. When that job was not forthcoming, Guiteau borrowed some money (which he never meant to pay off, as he was notorious for walking away from debts) and purchased a .44 caliber Webley British Bulldog revolver (he opted for the ivory over wooden grip).

On July 2, 1881, Guiteau ambushed Garfield at the Baltimore & Pacific Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. The assassin fired two shots at point blank range, one of which entered Garfield’s back and lodged behind his pancreas. He was soon attended to by doctors, who shoved their dirty fingers to probe the wound. Unfortunately, they determined that the bullet had come to rest near his liver. These kinds of mistakes are known to occur when doctors create bullet tracks with inexpert probing.


Guiteau's ambush of Garfield

Thus enters the third major character of this saga, Dr. Doctor Willard Bliss. No, that name is not a typo, or a castoff joke from Airplane. Dr. Bliss’ first name was Doctor. This, I suppose, is what we call aspirational naming. Dr. Bliss took over Garfield’s care with a tyrannical authority. In and of itself, this might not have been a terrible occurrence. But Dr. Bliss had two things working against him. He was often wrong, and he was too conceited and arrogant to allow for that possibility. Right up until Garfield gasped his last, Dr. Bliss was telling everyone who’d listen that the President was going to be fine.

At the periphery of this story, Millard follows Alexander Graham Bell. Famed as the inventor of the telephone, Bell worked furiously to invent a metal detector to find the bullet buried in Garfield’s body. He came up with a working device, but was unable to find the precise location. Only an autopsy revealed that the doctors – directed by Bliss – had been looking in the wrong place all along.

Millard is a fantastic historian and writer. Her books are well-researched and filled with memorable details. Her prose is graceful and she is a natural storyteller. At just 300 pages of text, this is a short book that I finished in only a couple reads.


The fatal weapon

Millard is aiming for a broad audience and she gets right to the point in her judgments. She is not afraid to draw conclusions. This makes for an effortless, entertaining read, with a certain amount of attitude. However, there is a tradeoff in that Millard’s declamations come at a loss of some nuance. There is altogether more telling than showing.

On the whole, I do not disagree that Garfield was a good man with the potential for greatness within him. Yet Millard’s portrait is so strikingly positive that it doesn’t ring entirely true. When she mentions, almost offhand, that Garfield cheated on his hopelessly devoted wife Lucretia, it sort of jolted me in an I was not expecting that sort of way. In that same vein, I hesitate as to how much weight to put into Millard’s flattering portrayal of Garfield’s relationship to black America. His views on racial equality sound almost too good to be true for a 19th American. Of course, I say this without evidence. Everything I knew about Garfield coming into this book can be encapsulated in three sentences. (1) Fought in the Civil War. (2) Murdered at a train station. (3) Separate and distinct from the cat.

Millard has several different threads woven around the central storyline of Garfield’s assassination. One of the big ones is a withering critique of the state of American medicine in the 1880s. She introduces Joseph Lister, a pioneering British physician who developed effective sterilization techniques to avoid infection following surgery. Lister’s methods were widely ignored if not outright mocked by many in the American medical establishment. Had they been employed on Garfield, it is likely he would have survived, since Guiteau’s bullet did not nick any arteries or puncture any organs. Indeed, Garfield likely would’ve survived had he simply been left alone entirely. (As I noted above, I don’t know much about Garfield. However, I’ve read a bit more on American medical history, and Millard’s take squares with what I’ve seen presented elsewhere, such as in John Barry’s Spanish Flu epic, The Great Influenza).


The mind of a murderer. Literally. A jar containing the remains of Guiteau's brain

Another major subplot is the spoils system of government. At the time of Garfield’s unlikely ascendancy, many important government posts were filled by the patronage system. Men who were loyal to the president of the winning party were given plum posts – such as customs collector – for which they received tidy salaries. We think of politics today as corrupt, but that doesn’t even begin to describe the spoils system. Garfield’s death was widely seen as the consequence of this system, since Guiteau – aside from being mentally deranged – was a jilted office-seeker. To the surprise of all, Chester A. Arthur, former bagman to spoils-don Roscoe Conklin, seized the emotional moment of his predecessor’s death to get a civil service bill passed into law.

The major downside to Destiny of the Republic is its length. The brevity is wonderful in the sense that it leaves you wanting more. At the same time, it leaves you wanting more. I wanted more amplification on Garfield’s rise from Ohio congressman to presidential candidate (Millard makes it seem like he made one humble speech and nabbed it). I wanted Guiteau’s trial, conviction, and execution given more space to breathe. (It feels rushed). I wanted – well, you get the picture. It’s been said a good book can never be too long, and that’s definitely the case here.

Destiny of the Republic left me bereft. I mourned, relatively speaking, the loss of James Abram Garfield, a man to whom I’d never before given more than two thoughts. It’s hard to say whether he would have been a great president, since greatness is not only in rising to the occasion, but having an occasion to rise to. But we will never know, and that’s the hard thing. He was certainly a man of exceptional promise, cut down before that promise fully revealed itself.

[Candi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There would come a time when the story of James Garfield's early life would be widely admired. Throughout the nation and around the world, his extraordinary rise from fatherlessness and abject poverty would make him the embodiment of the American dream."

This is an outstanding biography of the 20th President of the United States, one whom I admittedly knew very little about previously. James A. Garfield has left such an estimable impression on me after reading this comprehensively researched book by Candice Millard. Having completed only four months of his term before being shot by a madman, Garfield was not able to serve this nation to the great potential he would undoubtedly have done if events had not taken such a drastic turn in his life.

Born into extreme poverty, James Garfield's story is quite remarkable. A brilliant man, he applied himself rigorously and went from working as janitor while attending Western Reserve Eclectic Institute in Ohio to serving as assistant professor by his second year. After graduating from Williams College in Massachusetts, he would later become president of the Eclectic Institute by the age of twenty-six. He quickly achieved the rank of major general during the Civil War and later went on to serve in the House of Representatives. Without ever seeking a nomination, Garfield suddenly found himself running in the presidential election and winning by a narrow margin.

A family man and a scholar, Garfield was perhaps pushed from those things he was most passionate about into the throes of politics and what he called "intellectual dissipation." However, always a fighter and possessing a drive not due to ambition but a desire to improve and reform, Garfield rose to the occasion in his new position. Unfortunately, there was one who felt his own fame inevitably linked to that of the president's. Charles Guiteau, religious fanatic and sociopath, would seek a political appointment he felt was his due. When denied what he felt was his right, Guiteau would then take matters into his own hands with the excuse of "divine inspiration", and rid the Americans of this president who he claimed was a "danger to his party and his country".

What occurs next is a shocking account of the harmful medical practices that ultimately were more dangerous than the bullet that entered Garfield's back. There were so many factors here that worked for and against the eventual fate of this president. People like Alexander Graham Bell who toiled exhaustively on an invention to determine the location of the bullet, the support of the American people, and the strong body and spirit of the president himself were all favorable components to a successful recovery. However, a team of doctors led by a physician that refused to acknowledge the success of Joseph Lister's antiseptic techniques that were in practice in Europe at this time and had been known for several years prior to this event – this is what eventually led to Garfield's decline.

This book was fascinating – I was actually quite surprised to become so absorbed by the persons and historical details occurring at this critical time following the Civil War in this country. Candice Millard is a skillful researcher and writer; most of the time I almost forgot this was non-fiction. There is perhaps one part of the book that may be a bit dry to readers less interested in the politics of the time, but this is really just a small portion of the entire account. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American history, medicine and science. There is a plethora of valuable information on these topics to be found within these pages.

5 stars

[JanB · Rating 5 out of 5]

As riveting as a thriller, this book is proof that history need not be boring or dull. I knew little of President Garfield before reading this book and I’m only sorry it took me so long to do so. Marialyce and I chose this as a buddy read, and it's one that deeply moved us both.

He was bigger than life, a gregarious man who loved life and his family. He grew up poor, yet managed to go to college, and become a university professor and president as well as a minister. He was a man of the people, a strong anti-slavery advocate, and served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Telling a group of blacks who traveled to his home in OH: “ You were not made free merely to be allowed to vote, but in order to enjoy an equality of opportunity in the race of life.” “ And I tell you now, in the closing days of the campaign, that I would rather be with you and defeated than against you and victorious.” He firmly believed education was the means to better oneself, regardless of color.

This story is about so much more than the assassination of a President. The author has woven into Garfield’s story the assassin, Charles Guiteau’s, growing delusions and mental illness, as well as the efforts of Alexander Graham Bell to develop a device to locate the bullet that still resided in the President's body.

Dr. Joseph Lister’s theory of germs and the importance of disinfection, which was largely ignored or mocked by the medical community, plays a part in the President’s death. In particular, the arrogant and pompous Dr. Bliss was single-handedly responsible for Garfield’s death from sepsis. The horror and suffering Garfield endured as he lay dying for two months was often difficult to read. Yet, he bore it all with grace and good humor, never complaining, and ever grateful to the doctors who treated him. Had Garfield simply gone home after being shot and left alone to recuperate, he would have survived.

Other well-known people make an appearance, including Helen Keller and Robert Todd Lincoln (who tragically was present at three Presidential assassinations). The political corruption and shenanigans of the times were also explored (spoiler alert: not much has changed).

The country was still wounded and divided from the Civil War, but Garfield’s death brought the country together in a way that had seemed impossible. Much loved by everyone, there was an outpouring of grief throughout the country when he died. The people mourned his death as Americans, not as Northerners or Southerners, which is perhaps his greatest legacy.

Each chapter began with a quote from Garfield, which highlighted how deeply thoughtful and kind he was. The author writes in such a way that I felt I knew the man, not just the President. Only four months into his Presidency when he was shot, the nation missed out on a Garfield presidency and we will never know the full impact he would have made.

*For our duo reviews please visit https://yayareadslotsofbooks.wordpres...

[Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're like me, I'll bet you haven't given President James Garfield much thought either. Have you? Come on, admit it. He was elected in 1880, shot in 1881 and gone in months, and suddenly it was all Chester Arthur, all the time. But here's a book that manages to make mountains out of this molehill of a Presidency. First, the author persuades us that Garfield was a truly likable, magnetic, wonderful human being. Honest, thrifty, salt-of-the-earth, up from the farm, a true man of the people in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, a scholar and a gentleman, respectful and progressive in his attitudes toward blacks, magnanimous toward his enemies, he did not seek power, but found it thrust upon him, and had he lived, the case is made, might have been a truly great President. So that's for starters.

Then to spice it up a bit we learn that on his behalf, as he lay dying in the Washington summer heat, air conditioning was invented and deployed for the first time in history. For Garfield! They invented it so he would be comfortable, thus making, I don't know, the whole modern world possible, probably.

Then, on his behalf, Alexander Graham Bell labored through the nights to invent a metal detector to find the bullet in his body. His efforts failed, but not because his device did not work, but rather because the physician would not allow him to inspect the left side of the body (where the bullet actually lay), insisting that he confine his metal detection to the side that the physician, Dr. Bliss, believed to be its location.

Furthermore, while Dr. Bliss, the imperious surgeon who claimed full responsibility for his care and probably killed him with his dirty fingers as he probed inside his abdomen, insisted that modern ideas of sterilization were nonsense, nonetheless out in the country and in Europe physicians were imploring the White House doctor to adhere to the ideas of Lister and sterilize instruments and hands. They were unsuccessful, but following Garfield's death their ideas gained a foothold.

We are treated along the way to some gloriously gruesome descriptions of anesthetic free 19th century surgery procedures, and copious amounts of puss and bodily fluids. You can skip that part if you like, but if you want to really smell the 19th century, it's worth a read too.

The story of his assassin, Charles Guiteau meanwhile provides a great picture of a 19th century low-life and more or less insane person, not just during those few months, but as recreated here, over much of his life. Millard is a good story teller, weaving together historical documents and her conversations with historians into a compelling narrative that makes us want to turn the page.

Finally, we have the remarkable story of Vice President Chet Arthur, a true nothing and political factotum, an errand boy to the egotistical Senator Roscoe Conkling, who mysteriously found the strength to kick his patron, Conkling, out of his life upon assuming the Presidency (earning Conkling's eternal enmity), and to begin the process of creating a civil service in the United States.

All of this happened in 1880 and 1881 (and in the 3 years that followed with Arthur), and is great fun to learn about.

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wash your hands, friends.
Truly that is the moral of this story of presidential assassinations, sex cults, steamship explosions, medicine and Alexander Graham Bell. Destiny of the Republic from historian Candice Miller is a riveting read that has so much going on in it (except for medical hygiene), threading multiple historical figures and narratives to tell the tale of lesser known President Garfield’s rather heartwarming rise to office and his very brief time there. Miller crafts a rather cinematic read out of what is surely an impressive scope of research which makes this quite engaging, though at times the rather ambitious structure feels like the aim for a novel-like narrative steamrolls over the smaller details. I appreciate the effort to make this rather brisk and brief as far as historical non-fiction goes, though there were many times I wished it would have lingered a bit more over certain aspects. Still, this is quite fascinating and this is coming from someone that tends to not have much interest in non-fiction and especially not about American presidents but I found this to be a rather enjoyable, informative and fascinating read.

‘If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old.’
-James Garfield

This book first and foremost made me really like Garfield. He has so many great quotes—beyond ‘I hate mondays’—and Miller creates a really flattering historical portrait of him. I loved the story of him showing up to the Convention intending to cast a vote and leaving as candidate, with people cheering him on and Chester Arthur having a little anxiety cry over concerns of possibly having to be president. Garfield just comes across as a genuinely decent person committed to his country, against slavery, and apparently a real chatterbox. Miller juxtaposes him with a lot of villainous characters, particularly the framing of Dr. Bliss as being the real cause-of-death from not just leaving Garfield alone and constantly poking around inside him without following basic cleanliness as laid out by Joseph Lister (and looking on the wrong side of the body) and Garfieldn’s assassin, Charles Guiteau.

Engraving of Garfield having been shot by Guiteau from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1881

Guiteau’s story is fascinating, from being unwanted in a sex cult and nicknamed Charles “Guit-out” (this same sex cult is best known for creating the silverware brand Oneida) to shooting a president over concerns he would end the spoil system and that he deserved consulship. Guiteau had come to believe he had been instrumental in Garfield's rise to power and was ordered by God to carry out the killing. A detail that really stuck with me was his imprisonment and his belief the guards were there to protect him and on his side, only to discover they were there to ensure nobody else killed him after one guard took a shot at him (and was sentenced to 8 years in prison for it). The Bell narrative, however, while fascinating for his attempts to create a device to detect the bullet in Garfield, sort of kills the momentum and often feels inflated at the expense of other aspects that I’d rather have gone into with greater detail.

1881 political cartoon of Guiteau holding a gun and a sign reading "an office or your life."

A fun bookclub read and a fascinating look at history, Destiny of the Republic is a great little non-fiction on a period I knew next to nothing about. Its not something I would normally pick up, which is something I really appreciate about belonging to a bookclub and finding new reads that I end up enjoying. I enjoyed that it was quick and read much like a novel, though sometimes it felt a bit overambitious and might have been better (and I can't believe this is something I'd ever say) if it was longer and a bit more dry. I definitely have spent time looking up a lot of the events that were covered though. For a fun, fascinating and engaging historical read, Destiny of the Republic is a worthwhile choice.
Also, wash your hands.

3.5/5

[Dem · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating non fiction story, Murder, politics and a medical mystery all in one.

I had passed up on this book on so many occasions. I just could not summon enough interest in an American president that I had never heard about to bother purchasing a book. But the reviews were so compelling that I had to source a second hand copy and what a surprising insightful and fascinating read this one turned out to be.

James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wonderful Scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nations corrupt political establishment. Four months after he became president he was shot by a deranged office seeker named Charles Guiteau. In this book, the author meticulously researches the before during and after the assassination , the men who tried to save the president, the medicine used and lack off and of course the details of the man who shot the president.

This is a book that is extremely well written from start to finish and I just couldn’t put it down, plenty of photos which really added to my enjoyment of the book. I loved the details and got a wonderful sense of mid 1800s American. You really came to care about James A Garfield and cant help wondering if he had survived what his legacy would have been.
This is one of those books that not only entertains but also educates the reader. A vivid and suspenseful read, certainly a book I will remember many years from now.

I am so grateful to all the reviewers of this book here on Goodreads as it is with your gentle persuasion and compelling reviews that I finally got a copy of this one onto my real life favourites shelf. <\b>

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Destiny of the Republic, A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President” is a book club read that I truly enjoyed. It was a read that I did not want, would never have read, and whined about prior to reading. That is what book club is for: get out of one’s comfort zone and try different literature.

Author Candice Millard exhaustively researched President James Garfield’s life. It was a bit of a slow start for me, getting into her cadence of prose. I was fully engaged in the story within 25 pages. Garfield is not one of the better-known presidents. In fact, I forgot he had been assassinated while in office. In American history, he wasn’t elevated to saint-like status as Lincoln and Kennedy. Yet, he is underrated. He was a good man, elected president against his will. In fact, at the Republican convention, he hadn’t run for President, and he was there to nominate John Sherman of Ohio. He was nominated against his consent.

He lived in the time of Alexander Bell, who was part of his medical team in trying to find the bullet. Interestingly, Garfield died as a result of poor medical care and not the bullet itself. At the time, Joseph Lister discovered and promoted antisepsis, which was accepted in Europe, but not widely accepted in the USA. After Garfield’s death, doctors and surgeons became more aware of germs and sterile environments.

Charles Guiteau was sentenced to death for the death of President Garfield. By all accounts, he was delusional, as he said that God wanted him to kill the President. Guiteau’s life is also strongly researched, and Millard does a fabulous job revealing his sketchy life.

For historians, this is a must read. For those who enjoy historical fiction, I think this nonfiction novel is an interesting read.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I am a history buff, I imagine that "Destiny of the Republic" would be a page turner for any reasonable reader. When nonfiction is well done it is nigh on unbeatable and this text easily fits that bill. I had never heard of its author, Candice Millard, before but I will pick up her other book based solely on how much I enjoyed this one. The subject matter of her previous book, "The River of Doubt" does not sound all that interesting to me, but in her capable hands I am sure I will enjoy it. What a testament to her skills as a writer and historian.
I knew the basics about President James Garfield, and a little about his assassin, however, Millard's in-depth characterization of Garfield makes me sad for two reasons. One, it seems apparent that America missed out on a possible great presidency due to one's man's mental illness, and second, where are the leaders like James Garfield today?
An especially effective device in the text was starting each chapter with a quote from something Garfield said or wrote. It gives you hints at what a great man he must have been. When you read a book whose ending you know, and still have an emotional response to it then you know the author has done something extraordinary. That was certainly the case with "Destiny of the Republic".
The real magic of this text is how seamlessly Millard weaves the tale of President Garfield with the events of the times, the mental illness of his eventual assassin (Charles Guiteau) the genius of Alexander Graham Bell, and the arrogance of the medical establishment, especially in her depiction of the physician chiefly responsible for Garfield's medical care after he was shot, Dr. D. Willard Bliss. If history has a villain for Garfield's death, his assassin is followed closely by the medical team that cared for Garfield, and their supreme ignorance and arrogance.
"Destiny of the Republic" is important history that is very well rendered. Its style reminded me a lot of books by the pop historian and writer Erik Larson. That is a good thing! I for one cannot wait to read more by this talented writer. Learning something and being entertained is a lovely combination.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

What drew me into Destiny of the Republic was a PBS Special that aired not too long ago. We all had a skeletal understanding of the assassination of James A. Garfield. Garfield, unfortunately, became an elusive name in the litany of former presidents. Ah, dear readers, this man was so much more.

In regard to the author, Candice Millard is an exceptional writer. I read her book, The River of Doubt, that depicts the treacherous journey of Teddy Roosevelt as he ventured down the Amazon River. This river trip almost did Teddy in. He suffered greatly in the mix of it and in the subsequent aftermath.

In regard to Garfield......A petal that falls from a budding flower hardly diminishes the beauty and the intention of that flower. But a petal that falls from the bloom of history can have an impact and a lasting effect within the course of time and destiny. It is, in my humble opinion, that in 2016 we may have experienced a different America in the years following his presidency if this man had lived.

Garfield came upon the presidency by sheer happenstance. In 1880 he was at a deadlocked Republican Convention to nominate another as a candidate. Instead, his own name was pushed forward. Garfield came from the most humble and poorest background. He didn't own a pair of shoes until he was 4 years old. His brilliant mind pushed him from being a janitor at the university to becoming its president two years later. He even served as a general in the Union Army.

While in Congress, Garfield introduced a resolution to allow blacks to walk freely through the streets of Washington, D.C. without carrying a pass. He asked, "What legislation is necessary to secure equal justice to all loyal persons, without regard to color, at the national capitol?" He gave passionate speeches in support of black suffrage and better treatment of former slaves. Garfield made it clear in his inaugural address that he would not tolerate the discrimination he knew that was taking place in the South. He felt that ignorance was at the root of the problem and it was the sacred duty of the North and South to educate all of its people regardless of color.

But, sadly, Garfield became a victim of ignorance at the hands of the medical community. The mental derangement of his murderer, Charles Guiteau, was swept aside by those who wished not to take an active role in committing him to a mental institution years before. Garfield died, not by the bullet that entered his back that day, but at the very hands of the ignorant doctors who constantly probed for it and introduced deadly sepsis. Garfield suffered in unspeakable ways.

Destiny of the Republic reads much like a novel. I think we can all look back in hindsight to the should haves and could haves that lay heavy at the feet of this great nation of ours. Garfield served only 4 months into his presidency when he was struck down....a life too short, but perhaps, bearing messages still relevant today and into the future.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another fascinating history book from Candice Millard. Destiny of the Republic is about the life of President James Garfield and Charles Guiteau, the deranged man who assassinated him in 1881. There's also great stuff on the history of medicine, including how long it took before American doctors believed in the importance of sterile instruments and in the dangers of infections in wounds.

One of the frustrating side effects of reading a lot of history is realizing how many times that things should have turned out differently. In this case, James Garfield was a smart, thoughtful, kind and considerate man who worked hard at being a good leader and president. His early death was a great loss for this country. Additionally, had his doctors been more careful about germs and infection, Garfield could have survived the gunshot wound. Argh, the madness of it!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes presidential biographies, stories about lunatics, or details on the history of medicine.

If you're new to Millard's work, I also highly recommend her books Hero of the Empire, which is about a young Winston Churchill, and The River of Doubt, which is about a crazy trip Teddy Roosevelt took down the Amazon. Millard is one of my favorite narrative nonfiction writers working today.

Favorite Quote
"Garfield's shooting had also revealed to the American people how vulnerable they were. In the little more than a century since its inception, the United States had become a powerful and respected country. Yet Americans suddenly realized that they still had no real control over their own fate. Not only could they not prevent a tragedy of such magnitude, they couldn't even anticipate it. The course of their lives could be changed in an instant, by a man who did not even understand what he had done."

[Janssen · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh my word, this was outstanding. Definitely reading more of her books.

[Jay Schutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't particularly interested in the life of America's 20th president, James A. Garfield, but the premise of this book is what drew me in. It follows a timeline of Garfield, Charles Guiteau (Garfield's assassin) and inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Also, to a lesser extent, Dr. Joseph Lister.
The heart of the story pertains to the care, or lack thereof, that Garfield received from his primary doctor, Dr. D. Willard Bliss. It was a total fiasco to say the least.
Medical standards in the U.S. at the time were very lax and not up to date with European standards. Garfield's doctor (and others) caused his wounds to become so ravaged by infection that survival was out of the question. He did live 2 agonizing months after his attack.
Today, Dr. Bliss might have been on trial as well for incompetence and malpractice.
Author Candice Millard is an excellent writer of American history. I have read other books she has written. She did a great job on this one weaving multiple backstories together to create another easily read, extensively researched and very interesting historical book.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Garfield was an exceptional individual. Born in 1831, he was raised in abject poverty after his father died and his mother was left to raise four small children on her own. She valued education, and sacrificed to make sure that James was able to attend school. James was an honest, intelligent man, and an eloquent speaker who became a university president at the age of 26, a successful lawyer, an early abolitionist, a Civil War general, and had a distinguished career in Congress. He never aspired to become President, but was elected without even campaigning because he was so highly regarded by his peers and the general public. He had only been in office for five months when a deranged and disgruntled former office seeker shot him in the back.

The injuries Garfield sustained were not life threatening. However, his care was taken over by an arrogant and incompetent physician whose malpractice cost Garfield his life. Without the slightest complaint, Garfield often endured unnecessary treatment that would today be labeled torture.

Within his short term of office, Garfield had already nearly eliminated the spoils system, which had been used frequently to appoint unqualified individuals to key government positions. While reading, I found myself wondering how U.S. history would have been different had Garfield lived.

Candice Millard’s exhaustive and meticulous research, as well as her wonderful style of writing bring James Garfield’s world to life. Destiny of the Republic is a riveting and unforgettable book. This is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and I would recommend this book to anyone interested in United States history as well as anyone looking for an outstanding nonfiction read!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot of facts from this account of the 1881 Garfield assassination, and I was moved by the plight of good people handicapped by the lack modern advances in presidential security and medical care. But I wasn’t enthralled with how the pieces of the book came together or with the limited reflections on the big picture.

I liked the foreshadowing method Millard employed near the beginning with a visit to the 1876 science and technology exposition in Chicago. There we get Lister failing to persuade the backward American medical profession to adopt his methods of antisepsis, and we get a view of Alexander Graham Bell demonstrating the telephone for the first time. The lack of sanitary precautions by the doctors caring for Garfield’s bullet wound led to his slow death by infection over the 80 days of his survival. Bell’s inventive genius gets harnessed in story with intensive efforts to create a metal detector which could pinpoint where the bullet was located in Garfield’s body. But we never get much detail on the efforts of more enlightened doctors to wrest control of the case from the dishonest quack Dr. Bliss who took over the case, and the device invented by Bell proved ineffective and would not have helped with Garfield’s care if it was.

A significant portion of the book is devoted to the life and madness of Garfield’s assassin, Charles Guiteau. Because Garfield’s shooting came in the first months of his presidency, there is little sense of the tragedy and import of an interrupted political agenda as with the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations. All we learn is that Garfield sought to reform the patronage system in the civil service and supported rights for blacks. Because the historical consequences of Garfield death are unclear, the motivations and life trajectory of Guiteau did not fascinate me. The fact that there was virtually no security for the President is an interesting fact that just hangs there. That the Secret Service wasn’t tasked with presidential protection until after McKinley’s assassination 20 years later is another baffling fact. The issue on the insanity defense in Guiteau’s trial did interest me, but all we know is that somehow the jurors were not swayed, and an execution by hanging resulted.

Ultimately, the characters in this history didn’t quite come alive for me, so I wasn’t emotionally engaged at the same level I attain in works by other popular historical writers I love, such as McCullough, Goodwin, Ambrose, and Sides. Still, Millard’s talent in writing, her pacing, weaving of themes, and marshaling of quotes, was impressive, and I look forward to exploring her other work and future books. Her light touch in this book in focusing on highlights serves readers well who are interested in the skeleton of an historical story. Maybe her reticence to jump onto an agenda or take a stand in interpretation makes her a more objective historian than my favored authors, but my pleasure meter is moved more by writers who take a clear stand and go out on a limb in their judgments.

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5★
"Even as he lay dying, Garfield was kind, patient, cheerful, and deeply grateful. When Bliss told him a fund was being raised for [his wife] Lucretia, Garfield was overcome with gratitude. 'What' he said in surprise. Then turning his face to his pillow to hide his emotion he continued, 'How kind and thoughtful. What a generous people.'"

Perhaps like me you know James Garfield only as one of four U.S. presidents assassinated while in office. He was only in the White House four months when the bullet ripped into his body and so never had the opportunity to memorably serve the nation. It took 70+ excruciating days for him to die.
By all accounts he was a great man and our historical record no doubt suffered for his loss and the things he might have accomplished.
Candice Millard has written a compelling narrative which was very enjoyable as an audio book. Full of interesting facts and detail, at one point she even had me choked up; such a political and medical tragedy.
During our tumultuous political times I come away thinking we could really use a leader like President Garfield ASAP.

[Malia · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Millard's fascinating book "The River of Doubt", I was curious to see what else she had written. In "Destiny of the Republic" she highlights a very different president, but does so in a similarly gripping and impeccably researched manner. It read like fiction, but taught me a lot I never knew about this president and this time in US history. I didn't know, for example, that presidents before Garfield never had bodyguards, or that Garfield's widow founded the first presidential library, among many other fascinating points. Looking forward to reading more by this talented author soon!

Find my book reviews and more at http://www.princessandpen.com

[Stephanie *Eff your feelings* · Rating 5 out of 5]

If a mentally ill person had not been able to get his hands on a gun, the secret service was doing the job that it does today, if doctors didn’t consider the science of antisepsis the way the anti science crowd considers climate change today, Ohio would have had a significant president in James A. Garfield.

I had a long review written here that seemed to have grown out of control. I decided I would let you read the book instead, and you should. In short(er) Mr. Garfield grew up poorer than poor. He rose out of it, went to college then into politics. He was an abolitionist and worked with the Underground Railroad. He was against the secession of the southern states and became an accomplished military man. He was intelligent, kind and empathetic, everyone loved him. He proved the Pythagorean Theorem while in congress just for something to do. He became the president of the United States against his will but accepted this challenge without complaint. He never once campaigned for any of his political positions. Unimaginable today.

A delusional man with a gun walked up to President Garfield at a train station one day and shot him in the back. At that time the president was unguarded so as to be easily accessed by the public. Being guarded seemed to be too” royal” for Americans and they believed their president should be accessible to everyone. This was after the assassination of President Lincoln. What the hell.

Doctors poked and prodded the man’s wounds in the most horrifically unsanitary ways; a germ-aphobe would have crapped themselves, twice. Garfield developed raging infections which is what ultimately killed him after 80 days of torture. During that time he never complained. He died due to medical incompetence, he would have survived if doctors had opened their minds a tad and started using Dr. Listers antisepsis practices which were widely accepted throughout Europe, but no, they denied the science. He would have lived if they did nothing; the doctors killed him as much as the assassin did.

He was a great man; I wonder what would have been different if he had finished his presidency?

[Paula K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly very good audiobook. Who ever knew anything about this president?
Highly recommend for those that like history and politics. Just terrific.

5 out of 5 stars.

[Tamar...playing hooky for a few hours today · Rating 5 out of 5]

Destiny of the Republic is an excellent read – especially for someone like me, who rarely reads non-fiction and/or biographies. Candice Millard has written a book that is gripping from start to finish (well, almost – see below). I’m not sure there is anyone in the country who knew less about President Garfield than I did, before I read this book. One interesting thing I learned was that President Garfield was born and raised in Orange, Ohio, less than five miles from where I grew up, and later lived with his wife on their farm in Mentor, Ohio, about twenty miles from where I grew up. You would think that Ohio educators would proudly focus at least one small part of school curriculum on the man, but, unless I slept through that lesson, I never learned a thing about this President except maybe in passing reference to Presidents who were assassinated. Actually, eight of the forty-four Presidents to date, hailed from Ohio. This, too, I only learned now from a 30 second surf on Google!

I flew through the pages of this book, rivetted until the end. Almost gripping? My petty issue was that nearly half the book takes place over the last 70 days of his life, as Garfield lay dying in the White House after being shot by the certifiable lunatic, Charles Guiteau. The description of his dying days, while being treated by the best that medicine had to offer (IN THE U.S.), is painstakingly and horrifically detailed, and left this reader squirming, and thanking God that she was born and lived in a later century.

The beginning of the book provides a description on how Garfield's family came to live in Orange, his education, the death of his father and the fortitude of his mother who, widowed and impoverished, still managed to raise her children and instill a thirst for knowledge in her son. Before he finished school, Garfield took a job on the docks for a spell but after a harrowing near drowning experience he had a sudden epiphany and returned to his education, studying initially at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute at Hiram, and later returning to that college to teach. While studying he met Lucretia Randolph, the daughter of co-founder of the Western Reserve Eclectic, who was later to become his wife. The book also begins with a brief introduction to the character of Guiteau.

Garfield was a Union Army Officer during the Civil War, an Abolitionist, and while serving in Congress was an impassioned advocate for the black franchise (caveat / for the black male franchise). Millard described a brilliant, affable, and sociable man. There is an interesting, detailed description of his accidental and unwanted Presidential Nomination at the 1872 Republican Convention in Chicago, which he attended and was to speak for the Republican Presidential Nomination of the Secretary of the Treasury and former Ohio Senator, John Sherman. Garfield was extremely popular; he came from poor origins and was “of the people”. In a fascinating and dramatic turn of events, and despite his objection and staunch loyalty to Sherman, the Convention nominated Garfield without his ever putting in his bid or expressing any interest in the job!

The Republican Convention also introduces the devious political intrigues orchestrated by Garfield’s nemesis, Roscoe Conkling. The intriguing manipulations of this character are described throughout the book in titillating detail.

One of the most interesting sections of the book, for me, was at the beginning – just after a brief introduction to Guiteau, who was responsible for Garfield’s assassination, there is a description of Garfield’s attendance at the 1876 Centennial Science Exhibition in Philadelphia. The description of the exhibition is fascinating and included such inventions as Remington’s typewriter and Edison’s automated telegraph system. But I think the true purpose of introducing this historic event is primarily to introduce the reader to two major “players”, the one, Alexander Graham Bell who attended the Exhibition to showcase his invention (the precursor to the telephone as we know it), and the other, Joseph Lister, who came to lecture on the success of his antisepsis procedure which was almost universally rejected by the U.S. medical establishment:

“…many American doctors still dismissed not just his [Lister’s] discovery, but even Louis Pasteur’s. They found the notion of “invisible germs” to be ridiculous, and they refused to even consider the idea that they could be the cause of so much disease and death….Why go to all the trouble that antisepsis required simply to fight something that they could not see and did not believe existed….”

Notwithstanding the fact that this rejection was the cause of Garfield’s death (Guiteau pulled the trigger but the President died of the medical (mis)treatment that followed) – the quote rings somewhat true today, as we battle a current invisible, deadly virus as well as pandemic deniers.

If this was fiction, we would have called this foreshadowing, but the truth is that whether or not President Garfield would have succumbed to death from the bullet fired by Guiteau, it was Doctor Bliss who, solely entrusted with treating the President, killed him with his arrogance and ignorance.

And, so it was that Garfield served as the 20th President of the United Stated for barely four months before he was shot and assassinated by Charles Guiteau, a man who was considered deranged even by his own family. Garfield did not die immediately and did not die of the gunshot wound, but rather lingered on suffering from sepsis for two and half months before his death.

Guiteau, villain #1, shot the President on page 147 and from that point on until nearly the final pages of the book, the reader is exposed to the brutal and shocking medical treatment of villain #2, Doctor Bliss, considered to be the top in his field. Had Bliss employed the prevailing European method of Lister’s antisepsis, he might have saved the president but instead, he killed that poor man by poking his fingers and unsterile instruments into the wounds, futilely searching for the bullet (by the end, Garfield’s body was riddled with sepsis). Bliss, furthermore, eschewed any interference in his methods (including those of A.G. Bell), flatly rejected any challenging diagnoses, and allowed no one to examine Garfield anywhere other than where he deigned appropriate - where he claimed the bullet was lodged (he was wrong). Although Bell by this time was famous in his own right, and spent nearly every waking moment inventing a device that would discover the exact location of the bullet, Bliss restricted his examination to the (wrong) area of Garfield’s body where he believed the bullet had lodged. By this time, Bliss was terrified that he had failed in his treatment of Garfield and he held the treatment of the President close giving misleading reports to the press regarding his president’s true condition. Of course, the autopsy shocked the medical community and ruined Bliss professionally.

In conclusion, and to add a modicum of levity, if this was a work of fiction I would have described villain #1, Guiteau, as a deliciously flawed and unreliable character, a certifiable assassin, who suffered from chronic pecuniary deficit-itis which was compounded by sociopathic megalomania-itis. He not only fostered an unlimited number of get-rich schemes, including scamming clients with his a genuine copy of a fake law license (that latter is perhaps a bit harsh since, at the time, anyone who articled in a law office could get a license to practice law), but he also mooched off of friends and relatives, fled his debts by dodging landlords, and ticketlessly boarded trains thereby hitching a ride, gratis, only to be dropped off at the nearest station when he was discovered. Before performing the dastardly deed, Guiteau meticulously checked out the prison accommodations where he’d be held to see if they met with his satisfaction. His unbridled opinion of himself was so high and his penny so pinched that he offered the rights to his autobiography to the New York Herald including a personal note at the end, “I am looking for a wife…I want an elegant Christian lady of wealth under thirty, belonging to a first-class family…” Guiteau also used his autobiography to announce his bid for Presidency.

Guiteau was, among other things, a total nut case, suffered from delusions of grandeur, and mistook infamy for fame. His megalomania rantings annoyed everyone around him (including the judge at his trial). He was convicted and eventually hanged but not before one of his own prison guards was so fed up with his ranting that he attempted a Jack Ruby and failed.

4.5 stars rounded up.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course I deprecate war but if it is brought to my door the bringer will find me at home. - James A. Garfield

There was never a more reluctant candidate for president than James A. Garfield. He was drafted into the nomination over his own vocal protests, and he wrote a friend directly following his election, ”There is a tone of sadness running through this triumph which I can hardly explain.” For me, this makes his fate all the sadder. As the first quote attests, he was a man who would fight his corner, but I could not help thinking how much life he might have had and good he might have done if he had never been pushed into an office he did not want. We always need a man of his caliber who will attempt to bridge the gap between his friends and enemies with a sincere desire to do what is best for all, and in his time and ours those men are hard to find.

Before reading this book, the extent of what I knew about Garfield was that he was our 20th president and that he was assassinated before he had a chance to serve. What I learned from this book was that he was an extraordinary man and the loss to our country was considerable when he was killed. One cannot help thinking, when pondering the assassinations of presidents, in what vital ways the history of the nation is changed by their deaths. What if Lincoln had lived to oversee the reunion of our country? What if Kennedy had been allowed to continue his contributions; he was such a young man when he died and had so much more he could have accomplished? And, what if Garfield, a man of principle who championed the rights of freemen and opposed the spoils system of political rewards, had served even one full term. Chester A. Arthur, the man who succeeded him, was not a bad man or even a poor president, but every man brings a different sensibility to the job. An America under Garfield would have been different than an America under Arthur.

What is really harrowing about Garfield’s story, however, is the atrocious medical care he received at the hands of a doctor who inserted himself into the position of caring for him and refused any opinion other than his own, constantly claiming that there was no danger while Garfield wasted in front of his eyes. We forget how rudimentary the medical profession was at this time, but this recounting will definitely make you appreciate the state of the medical profession today.

Had Garfield been shot just fifteen years later, the bullet in his back would have been quickly found by X-ray images, and the wound treated with antiseptic surgery. He might have been back on his feet within weeks. Had he been able to receive modern medical care, he likely would have spent no more than a few nights in the hospital.

The descriptions of the medical treatment are cringe worthy. There is a different layer of sadness that accompanies knowing how senseless and unnecessary this loss was. There is another layer of sadness because this good man and his contributions to this world are all but entirely forgotten.

This is the second non-fiction I have read by this author. She is an amazing writer who brings the history to life and I am happy to say I would gladly read anything she has written. I feel my understanding of how my nation was shaped is expanded every time I pick up one of her books. Highly recommend.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story that weaves together, as described in the subtitle, Madness (assassin Charles Giuteau), Medicine (the tragically ignored findings of Joseph Lister which would have saved the President’s life), and the Murder of a President. Millard could have also added Science as a 4th thread, as she tells the story of Alexander Graham Bell, whose scientific discoveries are also part of the story.

It’s a great story, enhanced by intriguing characters and fun historical tidbits. Garfield comes across as a person of strong character, and you cannot help but wonder what he would have accomplished in a full term. He did not want to be President, actively fought against the nomination, and refused to campaign during the election. Chester A. Arthur goes through a redemption arc, from forgettable lackey to something more. And Alexander Graham Bell, as it turns out, has a lot more to him than just inventing the telephone.

The most memorable part is the tragic and avoidable mistakes by doctors. In particular, the image of doctors rooting their dirty fingers in Garfield’s open wounds. Gross.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This well-written and tragic story has been revised and can now be found in a place of honor at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly well researched and written American tragedy.

There’s a scene in the 1992 film Unforgiven, starring Clint Eastwood, between Gene Hackman and Richard Harris, where people are discussing the recent assassination attempt on the life of President James A. Garfield, himself only having been sworn in as president three months earlier. Harris, as English Bob, says” Well there's a dignity in royalty. A majesty that precludes the likelihood of assassination. If you were to point a pistol at a king or a queen your hands would shakes as though palsied.” And also that, “the sight of royalty would cause you to dismiss all thoughts of bloodshed and you would stand... how shall I put it? In awe. Now, a president... well I mean... [chuckles] why not shoot a president.” Gene Hackman’s character viscously beats English Bob, jails him and then sends him packing for such arrogance, and on Independence Day of all times.

Candace Millard actually discusses this idea in her 2011 history of this time and place, that US Presidents, even just fifteen years after Lincoln was assassinated, walked around in public unescorted and with a constituency that expected to be able to walk into the White House and to achieve some time with the federal executive. It was then believed that the likelihood of an assassination attempt on a non-royal head of state was unlikely and even if it were attempted, “shrugs” whattayagonnado?

I’ve always thought going to baseball parks is a good way to visit the country, that by attending a game in Baltimore’s beautiful Camden Yards or Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, we can also explore the host city and learn a little more, not just about the ballpark and the teams, but about that place. Likewise, reading books about Presidents is a good way to not just learn about that person, but find out more about that time in history as well.

This is a biography of our twentieth president, but also a documentary about his fatal shooting and about that time in history. Garfield was elected in 1880, having not actively sought his party’s nomination, was sworn in in March, and was tragically gunned down on July 2 of that same year. Millard also provides illustrative details about the assassin, the political makeup of Washington and about the dismally unsuccessful attempt to save the life of the president.

While learning about Garfield was interesting – he was a charismatic and promising leader, a scholar and war hero, still called General by many from his exploits in the Civil War; a vibrant, robust man in the prime of his life – what stands out here is Millard’s description of the medical community at that time that contributed to Garfield’s death.

The medical treatise aspects of the book are entrancing and has relevance today. Garfield may very well have survived the attack but for the terrible treatment he received. This was in 1880 and the ideas about germs, bacteria and antiseptics were still new and controversial, rejected by the medical establishment. Garfield survived until September 19, but in terrible agony, losing from a barrel-chested weight of 210, to a gaunt dying weight of 130. The actual proximate cause of his death was sepsis and infection. Just a few years after the calamitous Civil War, where hundreds of thousands died of disease, this is staggering. When the news of his death was finally realized and investigated, doctors around the world finally learned that Garfield’s primary treating physician may have done as much to kill the president as the gunman. English doctor Joseph Lister’s ideas and theories about sepsis were then better understood and championed

Millard also documents how inventor Alexander Graham Bell assisted with the attempts to save Garfield by inventing a device that would find the bullet without probing, a device and process that would have lasting importance in the medical community for decades afterwards.

Not just about Garfield, this is an important book of American and medical history.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

In an interesting, quasi-biographical piece, Candice Millard explores the brief presidency of James A. Garfield and the assassination attempt that would eventually take his life. While it would seem a clear-cut task, Millard broadens the story to include a few additional individuals, whose actions play a key role in better understanding events surrounding the president’s lingering before finally succumbing in September 1881. Millard opens the narrative at the Centennial Exposition, where celebrations surrounding one hundred years of American nationhood were taking place There, as Congressman James A. Garfield wandered around the grounds, two men were also present, prepared to discuss some of their scientific findings. The first, British surgeon Dr. Joseph Lister, who sought to explain to his American colleagues the importance of antisepsis. Struggling as he was, Lister could not sway those present of the importance of a sterile field while working or of the need for utmost cleanliness when handling open wounds. His words, which were impacting the way European doctors were handling patients, would prove to be foreboding in the years to come. The other man, shuffled away at the Exposition, was Alexander Graham Bell, a Scot who was trying to show off his telephone, which was still in its infancy. Bell did receive some takers, though the process of being able to hear someone’s voice when they are a distance away was still baffling. Millard peppers the narrative with backstories and mini-biographies as she advances the successes of Garfield, particularly when he went to Chicago in the summer of 1880, host of the Republican National Convention, to put forth a nominee for president. By the end of the gruelling voting process, Garfield was handed the nomination, which he reluctantly accepted. A powerful speaker, Garfield was respected by his peers and was seen to be a sure winner when he faced his Democratic opponent in November. In a parallel narrative, the reader learns all about Charles Guiteau, a failed lawyer and evangelical preacher, who soon became fixated on all things related to Garfield. When the ballots were cast and Garfield won the presidency—something that Millard describes as being a prize Garfield accepted without much fanfare—Guiteau began an eerie communication with the president-elect, first congratulating him and then stalking him for a posting in the new government. As Millard illustrates, Guiteau was known around town as a swindler who would not pay his bills, though he was adamant that he should have a prominent role in the Garfield Administration, more because he was first to ask than meriting anything in particular. When nothing came from the president, Guiteau continued and appeared around the White House, partaking in an awkward discussion with the First Lady, who remembered his presence in her diary. Eventually, Guiteau realised that Divine Intervention, which had already guided Garfield to become president, was now calling for the president’s death. Guiteau plotted and planned, eventually choosing a train station, where he fired multiple times into Garfield. The shots were not immediately fatal, though a doctor who quickly attended the president sought to probe the wound—on the dirty floor of the station—with his bare finger. Lodging it into the wound, the doctor surely introduced much grime and bacteria, thereby pushing it deep into the president’s body. After the panic of securing the president and arresting Guiteau, who voluntarily handed himself over, medical staff attempted to help Garfield and save his life. Enter, Alexander Graham Bell, who had been thinking about how to use some of the technology surrounding his telephone to locate the bullet, which might aid in saving the life of President Garfield. Before the invention of the x-ray, Graham’s use of sound through current induction and blockages would likely be able to help locate the lead bullet, preventing sepsis and other potentially fatal issues. As the days moved along, Garfield’s health ebbed and flowed, even as Bell attempted to use his makeshift invention. While Bell was able to see the president and introduce some of this early medical technology, the bullet was not located or extracted. Days turned to weeks and Garfield became weaker, with abscesses appearing all over his body, pus seeping out when they were punctured. All the while, Guiteau remained in custody, writing and pondering what might happen next. After a hot summer and doctors trying to alleviate stagnant air, which might be the cause of much distress for Garfield, September came and the president’s health took a significant drop. Each passing day saw his condition worsen until he finally succumbed to the gunshot wounds. The 20th President of the United States was dead, his assassin in custody, and the vice-president, Chester A. Arthur, equally disinterested in the role of president, assumed the role of America’s leader. Alexander Graham Bell was beside himself with grief, but knew he had done all that he could. In an interesting closing segment of the book, Millard documents the autopsy of President Garfield, which revealed abscesses and a body riddled with infection, particularly along the pathway the bullet took and a finger probed. Had Dr. Lister’s warnings been heeded those years ago, it is quite possible that President James A. Garfield could have lived and served a full term in office. Then again, history is filled with ‘what if’ moments, some of which would surely have changed things in a significant manner. A brilliant look at Garfield, Guiteau, and a few others whose decisions impacted the short Garfield presidency in a significant manner. Recommended for presidential history buffs, as well as those who enjoy seeing some of the lesser known aspects to the Garfield presidency and assassination attempt.

I recently finished a biography on Chester A. Arthur and was able to learn a little about Garfield during that time. I found what scraps were presented to me to be not only captivating, but also needing more detail. Millard’s book came highly recommended to be and I devoured it, thinking that it would be the biography of James A. Garfield that I sought. Rather than being a traditional biography, Millard offers a few mini-biographies while threading together the events that led up to Charles Guiteau shooting the president in the summer of 1881. I took away much from the book and its parallel narratives, all of which mesh at the appropriate times. I was astounded to learn about the Bell connection to the entire process, thinking him as a man whose attention was primarily on honing his telephone. The portions relating to Charles Guiteau not only strengthen my belief that he was somewhat detached with the rest of the world, but also that his fanciful ideas may have fuelled a vendetta against Garfield. Small snippets that discuss Chester Arthur and the role that many felt he had in his boss’ death cannot be discounted, but, like Garfield, I cannot find reason to believe that there was a substantial plot. I leave it to the reader to discover some aspects to the story I have chosen to hold back, permitting others to discover the wonders of Millard’s efforts. The writing is clear and tells an interesting aspect of American history that has been glossed over in many history books. Each chapter opens with a poignant quote by James A. Garfield, introducing the reader to even more bits of facts gleaned from the historical record, followed by a smooth narrative that transitions seamlessly from one topic to another. Any reader who enjoys history, particularly that which is not common knowledge, should locate and devour this book in short order.

Kudos, Madam Millard, for a stunning piece of writing. I took so much away from it and hope to look into some of your other work in short order.

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[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history, engagingly written. I give it ***** as I couldn't put it down. The story focuses on the assassination of James A. Garfield, but it became a really riveting story for me as it detailed the doctors' efforts to save the life of Garfield. I was aware that, unlike Lincoln, Garfield could have been (easily) saved by present-day medical practice. But I didn't know that he could have been saved in 1881--if the doctors had used the up-to-date methods of the time. Dr. Joseph Lister in England had demonstrated the life-saving value of antisepsis to prevent infection--but most American doctors did not accept it. So it was not the lunatic Charles Guiteau who actually killed Garfield, but Dr. Willard Bliss and the other doctors who had unsterilized fingers and instruments inserted into Garfield's wound, searching for the bullet--and causing the infection of the wound which killed the president. Candice Millard makes it clear that the loss of the 20th president was a tragedy for the nation and I would add that, tragically, it was a very preventable one...

[Lisa (NY) · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3.8] I appreciated learning about Garfield as a man and politician - especially the look at the presidential nominating process and the behind the scenes power struggles by Roscoe Conkling. I was particularly fascinated by the overview of scientific advances of the time, and the frustrating struggle to save Garfield's life. A bit melodramatic at times, especially in the buildup to his assassination, but Millard's skillful narrative kept me engaged.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What course would the country have taken if President James A. Garfield had not been shot in the back four months into his term in office by the delusional Charles Guiteau? Here was a man that came from humble origins, was a voracious reader, a graduate of Williams College, a general during the Civil War, and a reformist-focused Congressman. Garfield did not choose to run for President, but reluctantly accepted the nomination put forth by the Republican party.

Sadly, James Garfield did not have to die after being shot. His primary doctor, Dr. D. Willard Bliss, did not ascribe to the new antiseptic procedures developed by Dr. Joseph Lister and were being adopted in Europe. Instead, he probed the wound several times trying to find the bullet with his dirty fingers; nor did he allow Alexander Graham Bell to use his new invention where it needed to be used. Bell’s device would have found it! Septicemia ensued, and Garfield died two months after being shot. [Do you recall the saying, “ignorance is bliss”? Now you know where the phrase originated.]

President Garfield advocated for an educated electorate, civil rights for African Americans, and substantive civil service reforms. (Of note, these were passed in 1883 as the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act and signed into law by Garfield’s successor, President Chester Arthur). What additional progress would our nation have achieved if Garfield had lived? I learned much from Millard’s excellent account about this admirable man.