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The American Presidents #20
James A. Garfield
The ambitious self-made man who reached the pinnacle of American politics―only to be felled by an assassin's bullet and to die at the hands of his doctors
James A. Garfield was one of the Republican Party's leading lights in the years following the Civil War. Born in a log cabin, he rose to become a college president, Union Army general, and congressman―all by the age of thirty-two. Embodying the strive-and-succeed spirit that captured the imagination of Americans in his time, he was elected president in 1880. It is no surprise that one of his biographers was Horatio Alger.
Garfield's term in office, however, was cut tragically short. Just four months into his presidency, a would-be assassin approached Garfield at the Washington, D.C., railroad station and fired a single shot into his back. Garfield's bad luck was to have his fate placed in the care of arrogant physicians who did not accept the new theory of antisepsis. Probing the wound with unwashed and occasionally manure-laden hands, Garfield's doctors introduced terrible infections and brought about his death two months later.
Ira Rutkow, a surgeon and historian, offers an insightful portrait of Garfield and an unsparing narrative of the medical crisis that defined and destroyed his presidency. For all his youthful ambition, the only mark Garfield would make on the office would be one of wasted promise.
James A. Garfield was one of the Republican Party's leading lights in the years following the Civil War. Born in a log cabin, he rose to become a college president, Union Army general, and congressman―all by the age of thirty-two. Embodying the strive-and-succeed spirit that captured the imagination of Americans in his time, he was elected president in 1880. It is no surprise that one of his biographers was Horatio Alger.
Garfield's term in office, however, was cut tragically short. Just four months into his presidency, a would-be assassin approached Garfield at the Washington, D.C., railroad station and fired a single shot into his back. Garfield's bad luck was to have his fate placed in the care of arrogant physicians who did not accept the new theory of antisepsis. Probing the wound with unwashed and occasionally manure-laden hands, Garfield's doctors introduced terrible infections and brought about his death two months later.
Ira Rutkow, a surgeon and historian, offers an insightful portrait of Garfield and an unsparing narrative of the medical crisis that defined and destroyed his presidency. For all his youthful ambition, the only mark Garfield would make on the office would be one of wasted promise.
181 pages, Hardcover
First published May 30, 2006
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March 9, 2020
It is fitting our second martyred president be remembered less as president than as martyr. After all, his active presidency lasted only four months, the last three months of the seven being spent in a prolonged, unnecessary death agony. Because of this, we remember Garfield—if we remember him at all—by his likeness to our fallen president ”Father Abraham”: born in what was then the West, in a simple log cabin, Garfield, a voracious reader, largely self-taught, pulled himself up by his bootstraps, becoming a lawyer and legislator, a passionate Republican who fought against secession and for freedom and was struck down by an assassin’s bullet in his prime.
All true, as far as it goes. But there are elements of his biography that sound a lot like Bill Clinton too.
Raised in a rural backwater, in near poverty, son of a single mother (widowed, later divorced from a second troubled marriage), James Garfield studied hard, using his native intelligence and studiousness to rise, eventually graduating from a prestigious Eastern school (Williams College). He was a genial man—persuasive in private, compelling as a public speaker—who early sought a career in government. He made friends easily, often using those friends (Salmon P. Chase, for example) to further his political ends. He began as a passionate extreme member of his party, but later moved to the middle. There were rumors of womanizing, and a few hints of other scandals too, involving get-rich quick schemes (Credit Mobilier) and self-serving behavior while in office (the congressional “Salary Grab,” accepting legal fees from a lobbyist). Garfield fiercely denied any wrong-doing, and remained—at least by those of his own party—a respected and well liked man.
So . . . was Garfield more a Lincoln, or a Clinton? Unfortunately, America will never know, for a bullet from the pistol of an addle-brained assassin soon ended his four-month presidency. Perhaps the most fascinating part of Garfield’s history—the story which takes up more than a third of Rutkow’s book—is the account of the assassination and its aftermath. The short version: although Joseph Lister’s antiseptic surgical procedures were well known by 1881, they were not universally (or uniformly) practiced, and the older, wealthier, more conservative physicians—the kind of doctors who made up much of the president’s medical team—were the ones least likely to follow those new procedures. They poked and prodded Garfield with their dirty fingers, eventually filling his poor wounds with pus, and—although they used innovative methods to save the president and make him comfortable (a jerry-rigged air conditioner, Alexander Graham Bell’s primitive “ultrasound” machine), he expired after eighty-eight days. His assassin Charles Guiteau, as crazy as he was, made a pretty good argument at trial: why should I be tried for the president’s murder when it was his doctors, after all, who killed him?
One last thing: what did our second martyred president think of our first martyred president? Not much, actually. Garfield was a radical Republican who didn’t believe Lincoln went far enough. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Garfield called him “a second-rate Illinois lawyer.” And he refused to support Lincoln for a second term, arguing “I think we could do better.”
July 26, 2024
The Garfield Presidency In The History Of American Medicine
The volumes in the "American Presidents" series offer short, accessible introductions to each of the presidents and to their accomplishments and shortcomings. With the presidency of James Garfield, this approach presents difficulty. In 1880, Garfield (1831 -- 1881) was elected the 20th president. Less than three months after his inauguration, a deranged individual, Charles Guiteau, assassinated Garfield. Although he lingered painfully for two and one-half months, Garfield never was able to assume functioning as president. Thus, unfortunately, there is little on which to assess his leadership or his performance in the Oval Office.
With these difficulties, Ira Rutkow has still written an informative book, "James A. Garfield" (2006) for the series. Rutkow, a physician and a professor of surgery, has proved multi-talented by writing several books on the history of American medicine particularly during the Civil War era. His book on Garfield focuses on the medical care the president received following the assassination. Put briefly and charitably, Rutkow finds Garfield's care left much to be desired. In addition to its focus on Garfield's medical treatment, Rutkow's book offers a portrayal of the man and his era. The book is perceptive, well-documented and includes thorough notes and bibliography for a work of this scope.
As Rutkow shows, Garfield led an interesting and inspiring life. Born in a log cabin in Ohio, Garfield's father died when the boy was two. He was raised by his mother. After some attempts to work on the river in a rough-and-tumble life, Garfield discovered education and the life of the mind. Through his perseverance, Garfield graduated from Williams College, Massachusetts where he excelled in languages, philosophy, history and literature. He was a lifelong educator, reader, and student.
During the Civil War, Garfield, with no military training, served courageously and well, rising to the rank of General. He served 18 years in the House of Representatives beginning in 1863 where he began as part of the radical wing of the Republican party, pressing Lincoln to pursue a more aggressive course on the war and on ending slavery. Garfield became known for his eloquence as a speechmaker. In 1880, when factions of the Republicans deadlocked at the convention, Garfield emerged as the compromise candidate. The unknown Chester Arthur of New York became the vice-presidential candidate as a result of political deal making. Garfield squeaked out a narrow victory over Civil War hero Winfield Scott Hancock.
In his short time as president, Garfield struggled with his cabinet appointments and seemed to be unduly influenced by James Blaine, his Secretary of State. Garfield and Vice-President Arthur were not a good match and quarreled bitterly. Although by no stretch a conspiracy, Garfield's murder had been politically motivated.
Rutkow devotes at least one-third of the book to discussing the state of American medicine following the Civil War and to explaining the abysmal medical treatment the president received, even by the standards of the day. The medical detail quickly becomes the focus of the book and outweighs the author's treatment of Garfield's life and character. The portrayal of Garfield's illness and of the defects of his treatment is convincing, informed, and painful to read. Following Garfield's death, the public and the medical profession became outraged at the manner in which his wound had been handled and mishandled. Rutkow argues that Garfield's death was an important factor in improving the standards and scientific quality of American medicine.
Rutkow's discussion of Garfield's treatment was valuable, but I would have liked more emphasis on Garfield's life and politics. Rutkow observes, for example, that from the date Garfield was shot until his death, the United States was effectively without a chief executive. This might have been pursued further. It is worth noting that it was not until the adoption of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution in 1967, that a method was provided for the governance of the country in the event of presidential incapacitation.
I read Rutkow's book on Garfield together with an earlier book on the series by Zachary Karabell on the presidency of Chester Arthur. The books make a good pair as they offer related perspectives on the Garfield-Arthur relationship, particularly as it involved presidential appointments, and on the politics of the Gilded Age.
Rutkow offers a good basic biography of Garfield, an adequate short political portrait of his times, and an informed treatment of Garfield's wounds and American medicine. His book is a worthwhile addition to the American Presidents series.
Robin Friedman
The volumes in the "American Presidents" series offer short, accessible introductions to each of the presidents and to their accomplishments and shortcomings. With the presidency of James Garfield, this approach presents difficulty. In 1880, Garfield (1831 -- 1881) was elected the 20th president. Less than three months after his inauguration, a deranged individual, Charles Guiteau, assassinated Garfield. Although he lingered painfully for two and one-half months, Garfield never was able to assume functioning as president. Thus, unfortunately, there is little on which to assess his leadership or his performance in the Oval Office.
With these difficulties, Ira Rutkow has still written an informative book, "James A. Garfield" (2006) for the series. Rutkow, a physician and a professor of surgery, has proved multi-talented by writing several books on the history of American medicine particularly during the Civil War era. His book on Garfield focuses on the medical care the president received following the assassination. Put briefly and charitably, Rutkow finds Garfield's care left much to be desired. In addition to its focus on Garfield's medical treatment, Rutkow's book offers a portrayal of the man and his era. The book is perceptive, well-documented and includes thorough notes and bibliography for a work of this scope.
As Rutkow shows, Garfield led an interesting and inspiring life. Born in a log cabin in Ohio, Garfield's father died when the boy was two. He was raised by his mother. After some attempts to work on the river in a rough-and-tumble life, Garfield discovered education and the life of the mind. Through his perseverance, Garfield graduated from Williams College, Massachusetts where he excelled in languages, philosophy, history and literature. He was a lifelong educator, reader, and student.
During the Civil War, Garfield, with no military training, served courageously and well, rising to the rank of General. He served 18 years in the House of Representatives beginning in 1863 where he began as part of the radical wing of the Republican party, pressing Lincoln to pursue a more aggressive course on the war and on ending slavery. Garfield became known for his eloquence as a speechmaker. In 1880, when factions of the Republicans deadlocked at the convention, Garfield emerged as the compromise candidate. The unknown Chester Arthur of New York became the vice-presidential candidate as a result of political deal making. Garfield squeaked out a narrow victory over Civil War hero Winfield Scott Hancock.
In his short time as president, Garfield struggled with his cabinet appointments and seemed to be unduly influenced by James Blaine, his Secretary of State. Garfield and Vice-President Arthur were not a good match and quarreled bitterly. Although by no stretch a conspiracy, Garfield's murder had been politically motivated.
Rutkow devotes at least one-third of the book to discussing the state of American medicine following the Civil War and to explaining the abysmal medical treatment the president received, even by the standards of the day. The medical detail quickly becomes the focus of the book and outweighs the author's treatment of Garfield's life and character. The portrayal of Garfield's illness and of the defects of his treatment is convincing, informed, and painful to read. Following Garfield's death, the public and the medical profession became outraged at the manner in which his wound had been handled and mishandled. Rutkow argues that Garfield's death was an important factor in improving the standards and scientific quality of American medicine.
Rutkow's discussion of Garfield's treatment was valuable, but I would have liked more emphasis on Garfield's life and politics. Rutkow observes, for example, that from the date Garfield was shot until his death, the United States was effectively without a chief executive. This might have been pursued further. It is worth noting that it was not until the adoption of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution in 1967, that a method was provided for the governance of the country in the event of presidential incapacitation.
I read Rutkow's book on Garfield together with an earlier book on the series by Zachary Karabell on the presidency of Chester Arthur. The books make a good pair as they offer related perspectives on the Garfield-Arthur relationship, particularly as it involved presidential appointments, and on the politics of the Gilded Age.
Rutkow offers a good basic biography of Garfield, an adequate short political portrait of his times, and an informed treatment of Garfield's wounds and American medicine. His book is a worthwhile addition to the American Presidents series.
Robin Friedman
February 4, 2017
Not to justify the shooting of Garfield in anyway but the wound and damage itself where not necessarily fatal. A combination of the shooting and shoddy medical care shortened his life. What might have been if Garfield had lived we will never know. This should be a lesson to all. I would recommend this one.
May 13, 2019
Continuing my journey through Presidential biographies…still slogging through the largely forgotten presidents of the Gilded Age. There isn’t too much to say on Garfield other than of all the American presidents, James A. Garfield has the sad distinction of being the one who seems to have died in the worst possible way. The fact that this book was written by a surgeon and professor of medicine rather than a historian offers some insight into what you can expect from this book. Six months into his term, he was shot in the back by an insane, disgruntled office seeker. He lived for 80 days while doctors of that era displayed their utter incompetence, probing the wound dozens of times with dirty hands and instruments. No major organs were damaged by the bullet, but the constant probing led to infection and sepsis (i.e. rotting from the inside out as his whole body filled with pockets of puss). The author contrasts this to the medical care received by President Ronald Reagan when he was shot in the chest almost 100 years later. Amazing what a difference a century made…Reagan (whose wound was much more serious) was back at the job in 11 days, while Garfield’s presidency was reduced to a tantalizing “what if.”
What follows are my notes on the book:
On Saturday, July 2, 1881 Garfield was looking forward to leaving town for a respite from the bitter fight between Stalwart and Half-Breed factions of the Republican Party when he was shot by a disgruntled (and insane) office seeker Charles Guiteau. After firing the shot, he proclaimed “I did it and I will go to jail for it. I am a Stalwart and Arthur will be president.” Garfield would live an excruciating 79 days before dying. He was the last of the nation’s “born in a log cabin presidents,” a general during the Civil War, and the quintessential rags-to-riches, self-made American man. He was president during the Gilded Age, a satirical phrase coined by Mark Twain to note the gilt of the upper class’ overindulgences, the guilt of the robber baron financial shenanigans, and the guilds of the various interest groups (political bosses and labor unions).
Garfield was born in the frontier village of Orange, OH, a few miles south of Cleveland in 1831. His family lived on a 20 acre farm in a tiny log cabin. Life was hard and grew harder when his father and 3 older siblings died from illness in 1833 when he was 2. His mother Eliza was a woman of considerable pluck and religiosity who managed the farm and raised her surviving children. Garfield was an awkward child without physical dexterity, but he was ambitious and disciplined. At age 16, he left home to build a life off the farm. A voracious reader, he hoped to become a sailor. He found work as a bowman and deckhand on the Eire Canal (5). It was brutal work and in 1848 he set off for Geauga Academy in nearby Chester, OH. He loved his studies, especially elocution and both ancient and modern languages. He joined the debate society and began to understand the power of the speaker’s platform (6). He became a formidable speaker and debater with exceptional oratorical skills. The institution could not confer degrees so he moved to Massachusetts and Williams College for his third year of school.
There his interest in politics was sparked and he embraced the abolitionist movement. Debates over a number of current events entered his daily ruminations. His graduation from a sophisticated Eastern college made him a man of distinction and substance back in rural Ohio where he came back to teach. Within a year, he was elevated to the presidency of the Eclectic Institute where he had started his studies. He used this as a stepping stone to a life in the nascent Republican Party. He was an effective Republican Party spokesman and his reward for his service was election to the state Senate in 1859 (the youngest in the Senate (11)).
In 1858 he married his childhood sweetheart Lucretia Rudolph. A year and a half later, he became a father. He was admitted to the Ohio bar after self-study of law books and an examination. While previously conciliatory, South Carolina’s secession from the Union in 1861 turned him into a full-blown Hawk (13). When Lincoln called for 75K troops Garfield asked Ohio to furnish 20K alone. He anticipated a short, bloody war and began to familiarize himself with the military treatises and campaigns of Napoleon and Wellington. Knowing how military leaders (Washington, Jackson, Harrison, Taylor, etc) commanded political respect, he sought out a position as an officer in the army. He offered his services to the Ohio governor and was commissioned a Lt Col. He was quickly promoted to Colonel of the 42d Ohio Volunteers, a regiment he largely recruited from his former students (15). After drilling for 4 months, they were ordered to Louisville to drive out the Confederate troops recruiting this side of the Cumberland Mountains. The Sandy Valley campaign was a minor affair with no substantive barring on the war. But Garfield’s victory there would make him a minor celebrity at the time of the campaign.
Garfield’s supporters lobbied the governor to give him a battlefield promotion. The governor agreed and he was made a brigadier general. Despite this promotion, he feared that as the war dragged on he would be lost in the mix of the growing number of state-appointed generals. With his health in decline (dysentery, etc) and frustrated with the prosecution of the war he returned home on furlough and sought the nomination of a congressional seat. In 1862, he secured his party’s nomination. Shortly after, he was ordered to Washington DC by the Secretary of War. There he was befriended by the powerful Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase (17). Chase proved an invaluable mentor and ally. In November, he was elected to the House.
In 1862, the Union suffered an embarrassing defeat at Fredericksburg. This drew Garfield back to the battlefield and in 1863 he was ordered to the Army of the Cumberland in Murfreesboro, TN. General Rosecrans aggressive style appealed to Garfield and he was offered the option of commanding a division or serving as his chief of staff. One offered battlefield glory, the other an option to influence the course of the campaign from the headquarters. With string opinions on how the war should be fought he chose the latter. They went on to outflank the Confederates at Shelbyville and Tullahoma capturing much of Middle Tennessee. But then Rosecrans suddenly became hesitant and demanding additional troops before pressing the attack further. Garfield’s influence with Rosecrans began to wane. Frustrated, he wrote a pointed letter to his old mentor Secretary Chase. This letter created quite a stir and by September 1863, the Army of the Cumberland was on the move again.
Moving into unfamiliar territory, the Confederates eventually broke through at the Battle of Chickamauga and routed the Yankees. Garfield worked beside Rosecrans and even undertook a dangerous ride through enemy lines to scout the situation. The defeat led Lincoln to relieve Rosecrans and recall Garfield to Washington to be promoted. There he met Lincoln and was told the President needed men with military experience in the House and needed every vote he could get. Impressed by Lincoln’s sincerity to ratchet up the level of combat, he resigned his Major Generalcy and returned to Congress (23).
In his 18 years in Congress, only once (in 1874) did he win less than 60% of the vote in his district. He was given a choice seat on the Committee of Military Affairs where he became deeply involved in running the business of the army (24). As one of the more radical Republicans, he thought Lincoln’s policies too moderate and derisively marveled how a second rate Illinois lawyer was the man leading the world into this new era. He did not support Lincoln’s reelection bid. The radical Republicans thought Lincoln should back a policy of confiscation, giving southern possessions over to northerners (since by seceding they had forfeited their legal rights and were to be regarded as conquered territory) (26). However, Lincoln’s popularity was at its height and criticism was often tantamount to disloyalty to the government. Speaking at the Republican nominating convention, he boldly laid out his position as one of the Presidents severest in-house critics and argued he could not return to Congress unless free to act on his sincere beliefs. He was heartbroken over Lincoln’s assassination but his views on Reconstruction were not altered and he would not become an ally of President Johnson because his plan closely followed Lincoln’s.
Viewing Johnson as a Southern sympathizer, he did everything he could to defeat his program. Voting rights for Southern blacks was a top priority to help solidify the results of the military victory, but that was not a universal Northern sentiment (28). Despite lukewarm public opinion, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The rift widened and when Johnson allegedly broke some of the restrictions Congress passed to limit his power, impeachment proceedings began. Garfield supported the resolution of impeachment (28). When his mentor, Salmon Chase presided over the trial as Chief Justice, Garfield felt he favored the defense and turned on him as well.
With the fighting over, Congress had to deal with the financial measures put in place to fund the war: massive debt, monetary policy, fiat greenbacks, etc. He sought and won a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee as well as the chairmanship of the Committee on Banking and Currency (29). On the principal issue of paper money, he believed the supply of Greenbacks should be reduced and those still in circulation backed by gold. His stance made him a leader of the fiscally conservative side of the political debate. As he hoped, this gave him national exposure. His “sound” money position and his experience on these committees were critical factors to his wining the Republican nomination later in 1880. When he tried to occupy the middle ground between protectionists and free traders, his waffling cost him a chance at securing the chairmanship of Ways and Means (31).
The early 1870s were his most influential in Congress where he remained the fiscal watchdog of the House. Several scandals at this time also put his reputation at risk. 1) The Credit Mobilier affair when congressmen were given stock to forestall a legislative inquiry (he claimed ignorance of what the stock was and argued it never swayed his votes on anything and he avoided a censure), 2) a retroactive Congressional pay raise of 50% outraged his constituents far more than the Credit scandal. And 3) a conflict of interest when he represented a company on a public works project in D.C. for which he received a $5K fee.
Garfield campaigned relentlessly in 1874 to counter these accusations and was reelected despite the Democrats taking the House. Surviving the election, he became one of the more powerful Republicans in Washington and heavily involved in the presidential election of 1876 and the selection of Hayes. Grant’s scandals took him out of the running for a third term. 20 electoral votes from FL, LA, and SC were disputed. Congress established a 15 member commission to resolve this Constitutional crisis. After several weeks of intrigue, they voted on partisan lines and Hayes was elected President (39). When Democrats threatened to filibuster the report, secret negotiations resulted in a compromise: Hayes would be acknowledged as President and all Federal troops would be removed from the South, bring Reconstruction to an end (40). Garfield’s role in resolving the crisis made him one of the era’s most talked about politicians. Garfield remained in the House at Hayes’ request, but the two soon began to have political disputes and Ohio elected him to the Senate in 1880 (42).
Despite earlier “emotional infidelities” his middle and later years were marked by a strong marriage (43). They were a large, tight knit family with 7 kids (5 lived to adulthood). He was remarkably well read, and spent more time in the Library of Congress than any other congressman. He was extremely sensitive to criticism for a public figure.
Three candidates were frontrunners in 1880: Grant, Blaine, and Sherman (48). Garfield threw his support behind fellow Ohioan Sherman. In return, Sherman agreed to throw his support behind Garfield should the convention deadlock. With the rabid hostility between the pro-Grant Stalwarts, and the reformist Half-breeds, he had positioned himself as the most visible compromise candidate. Though not a Half-Breed, he was a leader of the anti-Grant forces. As chair of the rules committee, he scuttled shady rules changes that would favor Grant, but also supported delegate’s rights to vote their consciences instead of force unanimity. When it was his turn to nominate Sherman, a voice shouted out “we want Garfield” in the middle of his speech that flustered him. After 34 ballots, WI shifted their 16 votes to Garfield starting a wave. Sherman (stuck in third) acquiesced and threw his votes to Garfield and he won on the 36th ballot (55). The final vote was Garfield 399, Grant 306, Blaine 42, it was clear the Stalwarts remained defiant. To appease that faction, Chester Arthur was chosen for VP. Garfield traveled to NY to further mend a fractured party but risked looking weak trying to appease the NY Party boss (Conkling). Every little bit helped…Garfield won with the closest popular vote margin in history (2,000 votes) and picked up NY’s 35 electoral votes putting him over the edge to be elected (62).
From the time of his election to inauguration, he was embroiled in political haggling over the formation of his cabinet. Blaine harbored ambitions of his own, but agreed to curtail them when he was selected for Secretary of State. When word of his appointment leaked, it enraged Conkling and the Stalwarts who demanded that the Treasury (and the patronage it controlled) be reserved for one of their own faction (which he ignored). None of the Stalwart candidates passed muster with Blaine and he worked to influence Garfield against dividing his cabinet. His life was one of irksome negotiations. Hoping to have some stalwart representation, he offered Thomas James Postmaster General. But this too upset Conkling because he hadn’t been consulted (68). His inaugural address was unremarkable. In those days, office seekers could go right into the White House and plead their case one-on-one with the President. One such man was the unstable Guiteau who demanded an appointment to Paris.
His first success in office was the renegotiation of government bonds to a lower rate, reducing interest on the massive public debt by 40% (73). His interest in financial matters led to uncovering the “Star Route” postal fraud scandal from the Grant and Hayes administrations. Rural postal routes in the West had charged exorbitant sums to the government for next to no deliveries (74). When Garfield offered all the patronage positions in NY to Conkling men, Blaine convinced him to reconsider and he appointed one of Conkling’s foes to the most coveted position in NY. The battle between Garfield and Conkling became daily news as Garfield attempted to humble Conkling and oppose boss rule.
Conkling took the drastic step of resigning from the Senate, thinking his speedy reelection would humiliate Garfield and solidify his rule in NY. Instead, it proved to be Conkling’s political suicide that started his fade into obscurity. But Guiteau grew more disturbed, thinking Garfield a traitor and the Stalwarts the only safeguard against Democrats assuming control and starting a second Civil War. By June, he bought himself a .44 and intended to assassinate the president. After an aborted attempt at church, he enquired of the White House staff and was given the president’s itinerary for his travel by train the following day (81).
The following morning, he shot Garfield twice, one grazing him but the other striking him in the back. Nobody knew what to do. As doctors arrived, they would repeatedly probe the wound with unwashed and dirty hands (some covered in manure from their horses). He was moved to the White House. Arthur sought out his mentor Conkling, as the assassin had clear political motive that cast them as potential conspirators. 8 hours after being shot, his clothes were removed for the first full examination. More than a dozen different people would probe the wound over the coming months furthering the risk of infection. His temperature spiked every evening, today known as a clear sign of an abscess or brewing infection (95). Ultimately the infection would metastasize to the whole body leading to irreversible sepsis. As he grew sicker, his primary doctor (Bliss) acted more like an autocrat, prohibiting visitors and controlling and scripting the release of information.
Joseph Lister was touring the world advocating for his antiseptic method of surgery with sterilized hands & tools (Listerine was later named after him). Bliss was familiar with his revolutionary methods, but he really didn’t understand them. Garfield lived on for 80 excruciating days. Bliss attempted surgery to find the bullet and help drain out the puss pocket growing in his back. This too was accomplished with dirty hands and tools. Alexander Graham Bell was called in to use his part of his telephone’s inner workings to help locate the bullet (unsuccessfully). Over the next 6 weeks, he endured numerous surgical drainages of abscesses, all the while the press releases painted an intentionally deceptive picture of recovery. Disputes between other physicians and Bliss raged. He was literally starving to death and was rotting from the inside out. On July 29, he presided over a sham cabinet meeting.
He grew frustrated and asked to leave Washington. He was conveyed to the New Jersey coast, 3,200 feet of temporary railroad track laid for the final stretch to his sea-side cottage. He died painfully on Sept 19th a few weeks short of his 50th birthday. The autopsy showed no major organs damaged…it was the infection that killed him. Had the wound been bandaged and left alone, he would have lived. Guiteau was a wildly successful assassin. His favored Stalwart faction would rise to power under Arthur. Bliss faced numerous denunciations for his handling of the whole affair and he resorted to revisionist history, claiming he had followed Lister’s methods. A small scandal erupted when Bliss and the other doctors asked for compensation for their work. Grief for Garfield was short lived. Lucretia’s efforts to secure his legacy proved futile. By the 1890s the Stalwarts and Half-breeds would disappear. His presidency reduced to a tantalizing “what if.”
100 years later in 1981, Reagan would be shot in the chest. With modern methods, he was in surgery within hours and recovered within 11 days.
What follows are my notes on the book:
On Saturday, July 2, 1881 Garfield was looking forward to leaving town for a respite from the bitter fight between Stalwart and Half-Breed factions of the Republican Party when he was shot by a disgruntled (and insane) office seeker Charles Guiteau. After firing the shot, he proclaimed “I did it and I will go to jail for it. I am a Stalwart and Arthur will be president.” Garfield would live an excruciating 79 days before dying. He was the last of the nation’s “born in a log cabin presidents,” a general during the Civil War, and the quintessential rags-to-riches, self-made American man. He was president during the Gilded Age, a satirical phrase coined by Mark Twain to note the gilt of the upper class’ overindulgences, the guilt of the robber baron financial shenanigans, and the guilds of the various interest groups (political bosses and labor unions).
Garfield was born in the frontier village of Orange, OH, a few miles south of Cleveland in 1831. His family lived on a 20 acre farm in a tiny log cabin. Life was hard and grew harder when his father and 3 older siblings died from illness in 1833 when he was 2. His mother Eliza was a woman of considerable pluck and religiosity who managed the farm and raised her surviving children. Garfield was an awkward child without physical dexterity, but he was ambitious and disciplined. At age 16, he left home to build a life off the farm. A voracious reader, he hoped to become a sailor. He found work as a bowman and deckhand on the Eire Canal (5). It was brutal work and in 1848 he set off for Geauga Academy in nearby Chester, OH. He loved his studies, especially elocution and both ancient and modern languages. He joined the debate society and began to understand the power of the speaker’s platform (6). He became a formidable speaker and debater with exceptional oratorical skills. The institution could not confer degrees so he moved to Massachusetts and Williams College for his third year of school.
There his interest in politics was sparked and he embraced the abolitionist movement. Debates over a number of current events entered his daily ruminations. His graduation from a sophisticated Eastern college made him a man of distinction and substance back in rural Ohio where he came back to teach. Within a year, he was elevated to the presidency of the Eclectic Institute where he had started his studies. He used this as a stepping stone to a life in the nascent Republican Party. He was an effective Republican Party spokesman and his reward for his service was election to the state Senate in 1859 (the youngest in the Senate (11)).
In 1858 he married his childhood sweetheart Lucretia Rudolph. A year and a half later, he became a father. He was admitted to the Ohio bar after self-study of law books and an examination. While previously conciliatory, South Carolina’s secession from the Union in 1861 turned him into a full-blown Hawk (13). When Lincoln called for 75K troops Garfield asked Ohio to furnish 20K alone. He anticipated a short, bloody war and began to familiarize himself with the military treatises and campaigns of Napoleon and Wellington. Knowing how military leaders (Washington, Jackson, Harrison, Taylor, etc) commanded political respect, he sought out a position as an officer in the army. He offered his services to the Ohio governor and was commissioned a Lt Col. He was quickly promoted to Colonel of the 42d Ohio Volunteers, a regiment he largely recruited from his former students (15). After drilling for 4 months, they were ordered to Louisville to drive out the Confederate troops recruiting this side of the Cumberland Mountains. The Sandy Valley campaign was a minor affair with no substantive barring on the war. But Garfield’s victory there would make him a minor celebrity at the time of the campaign.
Garfield’s supporters lobbied the governor to give him a battlefield promotion. The governor agreed and he was made a brigadier general. Despite this promotion, he feared that as the war dragged on he would be lost in the mix of the growing number of state-appointed generals. With his health in decline (dysentery, etc) and frustrated with the prosecution of the war he returned home on furlough and sought the nomination of a congressional seat. In 1862, he secured his party’s nomination. Shortly after, he was ordered to Washington DC by the Secretary of War. There he was befriended by the powerful Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase (17). Chase proved an invaluable mentor and ally. In November, he was elected to the House.
In 1862, the Union suffered an embarrassing defeat at Fredericksburg. This drew Garfield back to the battlefield and in 1863 he was ordered to the Army of the Cumberland in Murfreesboro, TN. General Rosecrans aggressive style appealed to Garfield and he was offered the option of commanding a division or serving as his chief of staff. One offered battlefield glory, the other an option to influence the course of the campaign from the headquarters. With string opinions on how the war should be fought he chose the latter. They went on to outflank the Confederates at Shelbyville and Tullahoma capturing much of Middle Tennessee. But then Rosecrans suddenly became hesitant and demanding additional troops before pressing the attack further. Garfield’s influence with Rosecrans began to wane. Frustrated, he wrote a pointed letter to his old mentor Secretary Chase. This letter created quite a stir and by September 1863, the Army of the Cumberland was on the move again.
Moving into unfamiliar territory, the Confederates eventually broke through at the Battle of Chickamauga and routed the Yankees. Garfield worked beside Rosecrans and even undertook a dangerous ride through enemy lines to scout the situation. The defeat led Lincoln to relieve Rosecrans and recall Garfield to Washington to be promoted. There he met Lincoln and was told the President needed men with military experience in the House and needed every vote he could get. Impressed by Lincoln’s sincerity to ratchet up the level of combat, he resigned his Major Generalcy and returned to Congress (23).
In his 18 years in Congress, only once (in 1874) did he win less than 60% of the vote in his district. He was given a choice seat on the Committee of Military Affairs where he became deeply involved in running the business of the army (24). As one of the more radical Republicans, he thought Lincoln’s policies too moderate and derisively marveled how a second rate Illinois lawyer was the man leading the world into this new era. He did not support Lincoln’s reelection bid. The radical Republicans thought Lincoln should back a policy of confiscation, giving southern possessions over to northerners (since by seceding they had forfeited their legal rights and were to be regarded as conquered territory) (26). However, Lincoln’s popularity was at its height and criticism was often tantamount to disloyalty to the government. Speaking at the Republican nominating convention, he boldly laid out his position as one of the Presidents severest in-house critics and argued he could not return to Congress unless free to act on his sincere beliefs. He was heartbroken over Lincoln’s assassination but his views on Reconstruction were not altered and he would not become an ally of President Johnson because his plan closely followed Lincoln’s.
Viewing Johnson as a Southern sympathizer, he did everything he could to defeat his program. Voting rights for Southern blacks was a top priority to help solidify the results of the military victory, but that was not a universal Northern sentiment (28). Despite lukewarm public opinion, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The rift widened and when Johnson allegedly broke some of the restrictions Congress passed to limit his power, impeachment proceedings began. Garfield supported the resolution of impeachment (28). When his mentor, Salmon Chase presided over the trial as Chief Justice, Garfield felt he favored the defense and turned on him as well.
With the fighting over, Congress had to deal with the financial measures put in place to fund the war: massive debt, monetary policy, fiat greenbacks, etc. He sought and won a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee as well as the chairmanship of the Committee on Banking and Currency (29). On the principal issue of paper money, he believed the supply of Greenbacks should be reduced and those still in circulation backed by gold. His stance made him a leader of the fiscally conservative side of the political debate. As he hoped, this gave him national exposure. His “sound” money position and his experience on these committees were critical factors to his wining the Republican nomination later in 1880. When he tried to occupy the middle ground between protectionists and free traders, his waffling cost him a chance at securing the chairmanship of Ways and Means (31).
The early 1870s were his most influential in Congress where he remained the fiscal watchdog of the House. Several scandals at this time also put his reputation at risk. 1) The Credit Mobilier affair when congressmen were given stock to forestall a legislative inquiry (he claimed ignorance of what the stock was and argued it never swayed his votes on anything and he avoided a censure), 2) a retroactive Congressional pay raise of 50% outraged his constituents far more than the Credit scandal. And 3) a conflict of interest when he represented a company on a public works project in D.C. for which he received a $5K fee.
Garfield campaigned relentlessly in 1874 to counter these accusations and was reelected despite the Democrats taking the House. Surviving the election, he became one of the more powerful Republicans in Washington and heavily involved in the presidential election of 1876 and the selection of Hayes. Grant’s scandals took him out of the running for a third term. 20 electoral votes from FL, LA, and SC were disputed. Congress established a 15 member commission to resolve this Constitutional crisis. After several weeks of intrigue, they voted on partisan lines and Hayes was elected President (39). When Democrats threatened to filibuster the report, secret negotiations resulted in a compromise: Hayes would be acknowledged as President and all Federal troops would be removed from the South, bring Reconstruction to an end (40). Garfield’s role in resolving the crisis made him one of the era’s most talked about politicians. Garfield remained in the House at Hayes’ request, but the two soon began to have political disputes and Ohio elected him to the Senate in 1880 (42).
Despite earlier “emotional infidelities” his middle and later years were marked by a strong marriage (43). They were a large, tight knit family with 7 kids (5 lived to adulthood). He was remarkably well read, and spent more time in the Library of Congress than any other congressman. He was extremely sensitive to criticism for a public figure.
Three candidates were frontrunners in 1880: Grant, Blaine, and Sherman (48). Garfield threw his support behind fellow Ohioan Sherman. In return, Sherman agreed to throw his support behind Garfield should the convention deadlock. With the rabid hostility between the pro-Grant Stalwarts, and the reformist Half-breeds, he had positioned himself as the most visible compromise candidate. Though not a Half-Breed, he was a leader of the anti-Grant forces. As chair of the rules committee, he scuttled shady rules changes that would favor Grant, but also supported delegate’s rights to vote their consciences instead of force unanimity. When it was his turn to nominate Sherman, a voice shouted out “we want Garfield” in the middle of his speech that flustered him. After 34 ballots, WI shifted their 16 votes to Garfield starting a wave. Sherman (stuck in third) acquiesced and threw his votes to Garfield and he won on the 36th ballot (55). The final vote was Garfield 399, Grant 306, Blaine 42, it was clear the Stalwarts remained defiant. To appease that faction, Chester Arthur was chosen for VP. Garfield traveled to NY to further mend a fractured party but risked looking weak trying to appease the NY Party boss (Conkling). Every little bit helped…Garfield won with the closest popular vote margin in history (2,000 votes) and picked up NY’s 35 electoral votes putting him over the edge to be elected (62).
From the time of his election to inauguration, he was embroiled in political haggling over the formation of his cabinet. Blaine harbored ambitions of his own, but agreed to curtail them when he was selected for Secretary of State. When word of his appointment leaked, it enraged Conkling and the Stalwarts who demanded that the Treasury (and the patronage it controlled) be reserved for one of their own faction (which he ignored). None of the Stalwart candidates passed muster with Blaine and he worked to influence Garfield against dividing his cabinet. His life was one of irksome negotiations. Hoping to have some stalwart representation, he offered Thomas James Postmaster General. But this too upset Conkling because he hadn’t been consulted (68). His inaugural address was unremarkable. In those days, office seekers could go right into the White House and plead their case one-on-one with the President. One such man was the unstable Guiteau who demanded an appointment to Paris.
His first success in office was the renegotiation of government bonds to a lower rate, reducing interest on the massive public debt by 40% (73). His interest in financial matters led to uncovering the “Star Route” postal fraud scandal from the Grant and Hayes administrations. Rural postal routes in the West had charged exorbitant sums to the government for next to no deliveries (74). When Garfield offered all the patronage positions in NY to Conkling men, Blaine convinced him to reconsider and he appointed one of Conkling’s foes to the most coveted position in NY. The battle between Garfield and Conkling became daily news as Garfield attempted to humble Conkling and oppose boss rule.
Conkling took the drastic step of resigning from the Senate, thinking his speedy reelection would humiliate Garfield and solidify his rule in NY. Instead, it proved to be Conkling’s political suicide that started his fade into obscurity. But Guiteau grew more disturbed, thinking Garfield a traitor and the Stalwarts the only safeguard against Democrats assuming control and starting a second Civil War. By June, he bought himself a .44 and intended to assassinate the president. After an aborted attempt at church, he enquired of the White House staff and was given the president’s itinerary for his travel by train the following day (81).
The following morning, he shot Garfield twice, one grazing him but the other striking him in the back. Nobody knew what to do. As doctors arrived, they would repeatedly probe the wound with unwashed and dirty hands (some covered in manure from their horses). He was moved to the White House. Arthur sought out his mentor Conkling, as the assassin had clear political motive that cast them as potential conspirators. 8 hours after being shot, his clothes were removed for the first full examination. More than a dozen different people would probe the wound over the coming months furthering the risk of infection. His temperature spiked every evening, today known as a clear sign of an abscess or brewing infection (95). Ultimately the infection would metastasize to the whole body leading to irreversible sepsis. As he grew sicker, his primary doctor (Bliss) acted more like an autocrat, prohibiting visitors and controlling and scripting the release of information.
Joseph Lister was touring the world advocating for his antiseptic method of surgery with sterilized hands & tools (Listerine was later named after him). Bliss was familiar with his revolutionary methods, but he really didn’t understand them. Garfield lived on for 80 excruciating days. Bliss attempted surgery to find the bullet and help drain out the puss pocket growing in his back. This too was accomplished with dirty hands and tools. Alexander Graham Bell was called in to use his part of his telephone’s inner workings to help locate the bullet (unsuccessfully). Over the next 6 weeks, he endured numerous surgical drainages of abscesses, all the while the press releases painted an intentionally deceptive picture of recovery. Disputes between other physicians and Bliss raged. He was literally starving to death and was rotting from the inside out. On July 29, he presided over a sham cabinet meeting.
He grew frustrated and asked to leave Washington. He was conveyed to the New Jersey coast, 3,200 feet of temporary railroad track laid for the final stretch to his sea-side cottage. He died painfully on Sept 19th a few weeks short of his 50th birthday. The autopsy showed no major organs damaged…it was the infection that killed him. Had the wound been bandaged and left alone, he would have lived. Guiteau was a wildly successful assassin. His favored Stalwart faction would rise to power under Arthur. Bliss faced numerous denunciations for his handling of the whole affair and he resorted to revisionist history, claiming he had followed Lister’s methods. A small scandal erupted when Bliss and the other doctors asked for compensation for their work. Grief for Garfield was short lived. Lucretia’s efforts to secure his legacy proved futile. By the 1890s the Stalwarts and Half-breeds would disappear. His presidency reduced to a tantalizing “what if.”
100 years later in 1981, Reagan would be shot in the chest. With modern methods, he was in surgery within hours and recovered within 11 days.
September 19, 2009
James Garfield is probably best known for being assassinated early in his presidency and then suffering a lingering death. It is a shame that this person is so little known. His story is that of an American success (Horatio Alger spoke of him as a model of "poor boy makes good"). But we will never know how good (or mediocre) he would have been as president. There are signs that he could have been another in a long line of mediocrities (he seemed sometimes loath to make people unhappy and appears to have sometimes caved to pressure). Still, he also had some strengths (good knowledge of budget and finances).
The book opens by noting his background, coming from poor circumstances, working as a canal boatman for awhile. Going to school and "pulling himself up by the boot straps." Poor boy ended up graduating from an elite Eastern college. He became interested in politics at that point. After a brief stint as a teacher, he was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859 (the youngest member) as a Republican. When the Civil War broke out, he volunteered and ended up being William Rosecrans' Chief of Staff, where he performed capably. During his military service, he was nominated to run for Congress as a Republican from Ohio. After the disaster at Chickamauga, he ran and won the election and ended his military career (he ended up being promoted to major general at the end of his service, pretty remarkable--and a sign of the political connections he had developed, for instance, with Salmon Chase).
He was a radical Republican and often at odds with President Lincoln. He became a leader in the House for the Republican Party. He worked hard. There were a few times that he stumbled into ethically compromising situations, but the author tends to think that he was sometimes blind to appearances and was not, in fact, corrupt. There follows the story of his rise in the party, his nomination in 1880 as the Republican candidate as a "dark horse," when the leading figures could not get enough votes to garner the nomination.
Then, his election. He agonized over selecting his Cabinet, and the process was ugly, with him sometimes giving in to pressure and other times exerting himself. He managed a very nice fiscal triumph. However, after only a handful of months in office, he was shot by Charles Guiteau. And then--what a story. Medical incompetence led to a slowly deteriorating condition, where he suffered for months until he expired.
Part of the strength of this work is the American medical profession at a turning point--with old-line doctors not keeping up with developments in medical science (such as antiseptic treatment of wounds) versus junior physicians adopting new methods, Unhappily, Garfield was treated by old-line doctors who contributed mightily to his death.
Another brief biography in the American Presidents series. Don't know anything about James Garfield? Here's a nice brief introduction to his career.
The book opens by noting his background, coming from poor circumstances, working as a canal boatman for awhile. Going to school and "pulling himself up by the boot straps." Poor boy ended up graduating from an elite Eastern college. He became interested in politics at that point. After a brief stint as a teacher, he was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859 (the youngest member) as a Republican. When the Civil War broke out, he volunteered and ended up being William Rosecrans' Chief of Staff, where he performed capably. During his military service, he was nominated to run for Congress as a Republican from Ohio. After the disaster at Chickamauga, he ran and won the election and ended his military career (he ended up being promoted to major general at the end of his service, pretty remarkable--and a sign of the political connections he had developed, for instance, with Salmon Chase).
He was a radical Republican and often at odds with President Lincoln. He became a leader in the House for the Republican Party. He worked hard. There were a few times that he stumbled into ethically compromising situations, but the author tends to think that he was sometimes blind to appearances and was not, in fact, corrupt. There follows the story of his rise in the party, his nomination in 1880 as the Republican candidate as a "dark horse," when the leading figures could not get enough votes to garner the nomination.
Then, his election. He agonized over selecting his Cabinet, and the process was ugly, with him sometimes giving in to pressure and other times exerting himself. He managed a very nice fiscal triumph. However, after only a handful of months in office, he was shot by Charles Guiteau. And then--what a story. Medical incompetence led to a slowly deteriorating condition, where he suffered for months until he expired.
Part of the strength of this work is the American medical profession at a turning point--with old-line doctors not keeping up with developments in medical science (such as antiseptic treatment of wounds) versus junior physicians adopting new methods, Unhappily, Garfield was treated by old-line doctors who contributed mightily to his death.
Another brief biography in the American Presidents series. Don't know anything about James Garfield? Here's a nice brief introduction to his career.
July 5, 2019
James A. Garfield is the twentieth book in The American Presidents series – a biographical series chronicling the Presidents of the United States. Ira Rutkow wrote this particular installment and edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
James Abram Garfield was the twentieth President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death by assassination six and a half months later. He was the first sitting member of Congress to be elected to the presidency, and remains the only sitting House member to gain the White House.
One of America's least remembered Presidents, Garfield is convincingly but briefly sketched in this fascinating account of his life and death. Garfield was born in a log cabin in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and his father died when he was two. After a variety if menial jobs in childhood, a rigorous determination to be educated, and a short stint as a Civil War officer, Garfield embarked on a Congressional career.
The intricacies of post- Reconstruction politics dominated his stint there, as well as his presidential campaign, and Rutkow gives an accomplished narrative of the debates of the day. What sets this book apart from other accounts is its rigorous analysis of the assassination attempt, and the attendant medical mishandling which led to his death a mere six months after taking office in January of 1881.
All in all, James A. Garfield is a wonderful, albeit brief biography of the twentieth president and it is a good continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series of presidential biographies, which I plan to read in the very near future.
James Abram Garfield was the twentieth President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death by assassination six and a half months later. He was the first sitting member of Congress to be elected to the presidency, and remains the only sitting House member to gain the White House.
One of America's least remembered Presidents, Garfield is convincingly but briefly sketched in this fascinating account of his life and death. Garfield was born in a log cabin in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and his father died when he was two. After a variety if menial jobs in childhood, a rigorous determination to be educated, and a short stint as a Civil War officer, Garfield embarked on a Congressional career.
The intricacies of post- Reconstruction politics dominated his stint there, as well as his presidential campaign, and Rutkow gives an accomplished narrative of the debates of the day. What sets this book apart from other accounts is its rigorous analysis of the assassination attempt, and the attendant medical mishandling which led to his death a mere six months after taking office in January of 1881.
All in all, James A. Garfield is a wonderful, albeit brief biography of the twentieth president and it is a good continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series of presidential biographies, which I plan to read in the very near future.
January 6, 2022
Good book, especially on the medical history
I enjoyed this book. I didn't know much about President Garfield. The part about the medical practice of the day was interesting and especially about a certain mouth wash.
I enjoyed this book. I didn't know much about President Garfield. The part about the medical practice of the day was interesting and especially about a certain mouth wash.
November 26, 2020
A short and easy read for an inconsequential President more famous for the manner of his death than his political accomplishments. Nevertheless, I wish the book had spent more time on his political career before it and his life were ended by stunning medical malpractice.
May 8, 2013
Because of the shortness of Garfield's Presidency, this biography focuses on Garfield's pre Presidential life, his assassination and the controversial medical treatment that followed the shooting. The book is written by a professor of surgery and has excellent sections on the development of modern medicine and how the mistreatment of Garfield helped spark our country's acceptance of the importance of preventing and fighting infection--it was repeated probes into Garfield's wound by unwashed doctors' fingers that caused Garfield's death--as well as the widespread development of nursing schools
One footnote to Garfield's political story is the contrast to his predecessor, Rutherford Hayes. It confirms that it was Hayes who set the stage for eventual civil service reform and exercised leadership that was in many ways ahead of his time and that Garfield benefited from the reaction against Hayes putting merit above spoils in hiring federal employees
One footnote to Garfield's political story is the contrast to his predecessor, Rutherford Hayes. It confirms that it was Hayes who set the stage for eventual civil service reform and exercised leadership that was in many ways ahead of his time and that Garfield benefited from the reaction against Hayes putting merit above spoils in hiring federal employees
April 2, 2009
An interesting man who truly was a self made man who rose to the presidency. Was president during a rather scandal ridden and "cloudy" era of our nation history. He certainly was a man who most know nothing about, but he was president and that certainly counts for something. The book points out that he was a man of integrity and had the nation best interests at heart. Most of the book was about his assasination and his prolonged death more at the hands some bungled doctors than his wound.
March 27, 2021
This is another in the American President Series from Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. editor until his death, now Sean Wilentz. The author is Ira Rutkow, a professor of surgery at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Garfield was shot in an assassination attempt by a disgruntled office seeker four months into his presidency. He did not accomplish much as one would expect. He remained the Chief Executive for the two and one-half months incapacitated and in pain that it took for him to die in office. I think his major accomplishment was to have the US join the Geneva Convention which helped to establish the International Red Cross and Garfield helped to organize the US Red Cross. Garfield showed much potential and it is a shame he did not have the time to fully demonstrate it. His Administration was fraught with Republican Party infighting between the Stalwarts and the Half-Breeds over patronage. The Stalwarts were led by Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York. The were so called Stalwarts because of their unyielding opposition to President Hayes's policies on Reconstruction. The Half-Breeds were more moderate and so called as an insult to Speaker of the House James G. Blaine who weakly supported President Grant and his Administration. Garfield was more of a Half-Breed and the majority of his patronage appointments went to Half-Breeds much to the aggravation of Conkling. This book though is more clearly about the medical treatment that President Garfield received and that ultimately killed him.
After he was shot Doctor Willard Bliss was sent for. Bliss was thought of as an expert on gunshot wounds because of his service in the Civil War and at the US Army Armory Hospital in Washington. Like the infighting of the Republican Party, the medical profession had two competing groups of doctors, the Allopaths and the Homeopaths. Allopaths were considered orthodox and the Homeopaths sectarian. Allopaths formed the American Medical Association. They practiced "heroic" medicine. These practices included bleeding, blistering, harsh mineral concoctions to induce vomiting and heavy dosages to treat all ailments. Homeopaths administered low dosages of medication and more important they believed in using the antisepsis system proposed by Joseph Lister. It is difficult to believe today that doctors and much of the population did not protect against the spread of bacteria and germs. As the author points out the medical sciences in the 1870'S were rudimentary. "The combination of hard-won political freedoms, the remnants of Jacksonian-style individualism, and the economic opportunities available on the resource-rich land led to neglect of the less practical or theoretical sciences, particularly those relevant to medicine" (Rutkow, p. 110). Sound familiar? Garfield's wound was not life threatening. Today he would have been healed and back to the White House within a week. What killed him was the medical malpractice supervised by Dr. Bliss who did not use clean hands or instruments when probing the would and it resulted in spreading the sepsis. Garfield was in agony for about eighty days. Healthcare did change as a result of Garfield's death. Nursing Schools were opened across the country - Bliss did not use trained nurses in caring for the President. The medical profession began to realize the importance of cleanliness and sterilization when treating patients. Lastly because the assassin was a disgruntled patronage seeker, reforms were made to the Civil Service. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 was passed. My next in the series is Chester A. Arthur who was Garfield's Vice President. Interestingly, Arthur was a nod to the Stalwarts and Conkling and Garfield and Arthur so disliked each other that they never spoke to each other and Arthur was not invited to cabinet meetings or pretty much any Garfield Administration function. This is a great series and I recommend it to all readers!
After he was shot Doctor Willard Bliss was sent for. Bliss was thought of as an expert on gunshot wounds because of his service in the Civil War and at the US Army Armory Hospital in Washington. Like the infighting of the Republican Party, the medical profession had two competing groups of doctors, the Allopaths and the Homeopaths. Allopaths were considered orthodox and the Homeopaths sectarian. Allopaths formed the American Medical Association. They practiced "heroic" medicine. These practices included bleeding, blistering, harsh mineral concoctions to induce vomiting and heavy dosages to treat all ailments. Homeopaths administered low dosages of medication and more important they believed in using the antisepsis system proposed by Joseph Lister. It is difficult to believe today that doctors and much of the population did not protect against the spread of bacteria and germs. As the author points out the medical sciences in the 1870'S were rudimentary. "The combination of hard-won political freedoms, the remnants of Jacksonian-style individualism, and the economic opportunities available on the resource-rich land led to neglect of the less practical or theoretical sciences, particularly those relevant to medicine" (Rutkow, p. 110). Sound familiar? Garfield's wound was not life threatening. Today he would have been healed and back to the White House within a week. What killed him was the medical malpractice supervised by Dr. Bliss who did not use clean hands or instruments when probing the would and it resulted in spreading the sepsis. Garfield was in agony for about eighty days. Healthcare did change as a result of Garfield's death. Nursing Schools were opened across the country - Bliss did not use trained nurses in caring for the President. The medical profession began to realize the importance of cleanliness and sterilization when treating patients. Lastly because the assassin was a disgruntled patronage seeker, reforms were made to the Civil Service. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 was passed. My next in the series is Chester A. Arthur who was Garfield's Vice President. Interestingly, Arthur was a nod to the Stalwarts and Conkling and Garfield and Arthur so disliked each other that they never spoke to each other and Arthur was not invited to cabinet meetings or pretty much any Garfield Administration function. This is a great series and I recommend it to all readers!
July 9, 2022
This book is part of the American Presidents series of short biographies of presidents, which are ideal if you are a bit curious about an obscure president, but don’t want to plow through 1000 pages about him.
James Garfield was a member of a select club: American presidents who were killed by their doctors. George Washington was certainly killed by his doctors. William Henry Harrison (of “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too” fame) may have been mistreated by his doctors also. (There may be more members of the club that I don’t know about.)
The book is mostly about Garfield’s respectable career: born in a log cabin, Civil War general, college president, Congressman, but a lot of the short book is devoted to the poor treatment Garfield received from his doctors. The author of the biography is a doctor as well as an historian, and naturally has a professional interest in the treatment and a judgement of Garfield’s doctors.
Garfield’s doctors, even by the standards of the late 19th century were guilty of malpractice. They did not follow antiseptic procedures, sticking their dirty hands and instruments into Garfield’s wound. The result was bad infection which killed Garfield.
The author says that the gunshot wound that Ronald Reagan received in the assassination attempt on his life was worse than the wound that Garfield suffered, and yet Reagan recovered fairly quickly. Of course, Reagan had the benefit of 20th century medical knowledge and equipment, but Garfield should have recovered also.
The author also describes the procedures and equipment that would be used if a 21st century American president were to be shot in the same way. Let us hope we don’t have to find out.
James Garfield was a member of a select club: American presidents who were killed by their doctors. George Washington was certainly killed by his doctors. William Henry Harrison (of “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too” fame) may have been mistreated by his doctors also. (There may be more members of the club that I don’t know about.)
The book is mostly about Garfield’s respectable career: born in a log cabin, Civil War general, college president, Congressman, but a lot of the short book is devoted to the poor treatment Garfield received from his doctors. The author of the biography is a doctor as well as an historian, and naturally has a professional interest in the treatment and a judgement of Garfield’s doctors.
Garfield’s doctors, even by the standards of the late 19th century were guilty of malpractice. They did not follow antiseptic procedures, sticking their dirty hands and instruments into Garfield’s wound. The result was bad infection which killed Garfield.
The author says that the gunshot wound that Ronald Reagan received in the assassination attempt on his life was worse than the wound that Garfield suffered, and yet Reagan recovered fairly quickly. Of course, Reagan had the benefit of 20th century medical knowledge and equipment, but Garfield should have recovered also.
The author also describes the procedures and equipment that would be used if a 21st century American president were to be shot in the same way. Let us hope we don’t have to find out.
May 28, 2021
This short biography of Garfield was surprisingly good. The weakest part of it is the biographical portion. Ruktow, while writing a well researched book, didn’t really spend much time on his background, personal life, and political achievements. He does talk about them but not that much. For the first six chapters or so I wasn’t really pleased, but then Ruktow gets to the thing that really defined Garfield which was his assassination. But not just his assassination, also the medical scandal that followed at the time. Ruktow really shined during this time because he is a dentist by trade and writes history on the side. So he was able to expertly break down what was happening to Garfield biologically as well as the massive malpractice that was preformed upon him. I feel like Garfield deserves some credit just for dealing with it all before he finally died. If found the discussion of late 19th century medicine pretty fascinating and the conflict between allopaths (people who favored traditional medicinal practices like bleeding) and homeopaths (people who favored more new fangled techniques like replacing blood with certain drugs) really interesting. The wound to Garfield wasn’t inherently fatal. Given proper medical care he would have survived and there were people at the time who could have offered it (-!; did via advice letters) they just weren’t listened to.
As a biography this book left a lot to be desired, but the sizable chunk of the book that dealt with his medicinal care was fascinating in its own way that it bumps up the rating. For its size this is worth the read if you want to learn about Garfield.
As a biography this book left a lot to be desired, but the sizable chunk of the book that dealt with his medicinal care was fascinating in its own way that it bumps up the rating. For its size this is worth the read if you want to learn about Garfield.
October 1, 2025
This book must surely be unique in this series in that it is written by a professor of surgery rather than a professional historian or politician. The reason for this becomes obvious upon reading the book. A very large portion of the book is devoted to the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Garfield and his treatment by the doctors. This part was especially painful to read, as his treatment was terrible and his suffering must have been excruciating.
I vacillated back and forth between four and five stars on this book. I wish there had been more space devoted to Garfield's presidency and especially to the political aftermath of his assassination. Rutkow makes the intriguing statement that Guiteau was a successful assassin, not only because he managed to kill his target, but because he accomplished his political goals. I wish this had been explained.
Rutkow pays some attention to Charles Guiteau and mentions that he inherited a fanatical religious character from his father. Rutkow does not mention Guiteau's membership in the Oneida community, a cult like group that practiced group marriage among other bizarre things. The Oneida community was founded by John Humphrey Noyes, who had preterist beliefs. Since I have a casual interest in preterism, this does make me curious as to whether Guiteau also had preterist beliefs. I’m going to be on the lookout for a decent biography of him.
In the end I gave this book five stars. The description of the state of medical practice in the 19th century is thoroughly fascinating. As for the lacks, that is to be expected in a format which is limited to about 150 pages.
I vacillated back and forth between four and five stars on this book. I wish there had been more space devoted to Garfield's presidency and especially to the political aftermath of his assassination. Rutkow makes the intriguing statement that Guiteau was a successful assassin, not only because he managed to kill his target, but because he accomplished his political goals. I wish this had been explained.
Rutkow pays some attention to Charles Guiteau and mentions that he inherited a fanatical religious character from his father. Rutkow does not mention Guiteau's membership in the Oneida community, a cult like group that practiced group marriage among other bizarre things. The Oneida community was founded by John Humphrey Noyes, who had preterist beliefs. Since I have a casual interest in preterism, this does make me curious as to whether Guiteau also had preterist beliefs. I’m going to be on the lookout for a decent biography of him.
In the end I gave this book five stars. The description of the state of medical practice in the 19th century is thoroughly fascinating. As for the lacks, that is to be expected in a format which is limited to about 150 pages.
June 5, 2021
Fascinating story of Garfield’s rise from Civil War General to Republican congressman to president. However, the real story is one of the potential loss when four months into his presidency he was shot by a disgruntled Republican who thought Garfield was betraying his party. The would be assassin was delusional, but was fueled by the propaganda and rhetoric of a powerful Republican senator who was fighting Garfield for control of the party. Garfield survived for 80 days after the shooting. While the would be assassin was ultimately hanged for his crime, it was medical malpractice that ultimately led to the infections that resulted in Garfield’s death. The autopsy revealed that no vital organs were hit and the wound should have survivable. Antiseptic procedures were known at this time and while gaining wide acceptance in Europe, were not believed by the older generation of doctors who attended the President who continually probed the wound with unclean instruments and unwashed fingers - first introducing and the spreading the infection that slowly killed Garfield while they continually told reporters the President was recovering. The press coverage and ultimate fallout related to his care quickly advanced the acceptance of bacteria as a source of infection and the use of antiseptic surgery. A century later if Garfield had been attended by Reagan’s doctors he would have likely only spent one night in the hospital and resumed full presidential duties the next day.
May 22, 2022
Garfield's short time in office leaves him largely forgotten other than for his assassination.
Forgotten is his advocacy for the black citizens who were being oppressed in spite of the post-civil laws and Constitutional amendments.
After four months in office, he was shot. For 80 days he laid ill and suffering - mainly at the hands of the doctors treating him. The United States was far behind European nations in adopting the findings of Dr. Joseph Lister on sterile treatment of wounds.
Doctor Willard Bliss, the lead in treating Garfield was an egomaniac who blocked all attempts to influence Garfield's treatment, for his own aggrandizement.
Rutkow's book covered Garfield's early life and career adequately. I found his covering of the assassination attempt and illness annoying. He tended to be repetitive. One item he hammers on is that one of the doctor's hands were covered in horse manure. He apparently came to this conclusion because the man had been grooming his horse. I've read several accounts and, although possible, there seems to be no real evidence.
Rutkow also does a disservice Yo Ulysses S. Grant be referencing the Black Friday crash of Sept. 24, 1869, when plummeting gold prices precipitated a securities market panic. He offhandly makes it seem as if Grant was involved in improprieties - which he was not.
A better book, although it doesn't cover Garfield's earlier life - is Destiny of the Republic: Tale of Madness, Medicine & Murder by Candice Millard.
Forgotten is his advocacy for the black citizens who were being oppressed in spite of the post-civil laws and Constitutional amendments.
After four months in office, he was shot. For 80 days he laid ill and suffering - mainly at the hands of the doctors treating him. The United States was far behind European nations in adopting the findings of Dr. Joseph Lister on sterile treatment of wounds.
Doctor Willard Bliss, the lead in treating Garfield was an egomaniac who blocked all attempts to influence Garfield's treatment, for his own aggrandizement.
Rutkow's book covered Garfield's early life and career adequately. I found his covering of the assassination attempt and illness annoying. He tended to be repetitive. One item he hammers on is that one of the doctor's hands were covered in horse manure. He apparently came to this conclusion because the man had been grooming his horse. I've read several accounts and, although possible, there seems to be no real evidence.
Rutkow also does a disservice Yo Ulysses S. Grant be referencing the Black Friday crash of Sept. 24, 1869, when plummeting gold prices precipitated a securities market panic. He offhandly makes it seem as if Grant was involved in improprieties - which he was not.
A better book, although it doesn't cover Garfield's earlier life - is Destiny of the Republic: Tale of Madness, Medicine & Murder by Candice Millard.
December 1, 2020
Wow who would have thought that James A Garfield had a story so interesting. Cheers to the author Ira Rukow, I'm pretty used to the American Presidents series not having much to say. The authors asked to write biographies on minor presidents don't have it easy but this one.... this one got it right.
Garfield was a scholar, General in the Civil War and of course President of the United States. Yet within 200 pages I got to know the man and read a very interesting digression on the state of medicine in 1880's, then in the last pages when Reagan's assassination attempt was made in comparison I was left with much to ponder on how far we've advanced.
Honestly I would like to read more about Garfield and I would give Rutkow another shot. He did great work with 200 pages. Thanks to him I won't forget about Garfield like most of us have. What could have been he asked in the pages? What could have been now echoes in my head over and over as I think about this book I just read.
Garfield was a scholar, General in the Civil War and of course President of the United States. Yet within 200 pages I got to know the man and read a very interesting digression on the state of medicine in 1880's, then in the last pages when Reagan's assassination attempt was made in comparison I was left with much to ponder on how far we've advanced.
Honestly I would like to read more about Garfield and I would give Rutkow another shot. He did great work with 200 pages. Thanks to him I won't forget about Garfield like most of us have. What could have been he asked in the pages? What could have been now echoes in my head over and over as I think about this book I just read.
March 8, 2018
I wanted to read more about Garfield after reading Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation. This book was okay, but I could have done with a more nuanced take on Guiteau: he's described over and over again as a "lunatic" from a family of similarly *~crazy~* and (thus inherently bad, apparently) people.
The author really hit his stride discussing all the ways in which Garfield's doctors really messed up, though. That ended up being the most interesting part of the book for me. I would rate those chapters at about 4 stars or maybe even 5, but the rest of the book was just not there, for me.
The author really hit his stride discussing all the ways in which Garfield's doctors really messed up, though. That ended up being the most interesting part of the book for me. I would rate those chapters at about 4 stars or maybe even 5, but the rest of the book was just not there, for me.
June 25, 2018
Very good book! I would have given it a 5 star rating except that the author tended to reiterate time and time again that his doctors used unsterilized tools and stuck their unwashed and filth-covered fingers into his wounds. Once was enough, twice was reinforcement, but the multiple times after that was patronizing. We get it! The doctors played a deciding factor in the death of President Garfield through infection!
Other than that, the book did a tremendous job in describing Garfield and his contribution to the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. I recommend this book for those wanting a quick read and enough depth to get the measure of the man.
Other than that, the book did a tremendous job in describing Garfield and his contribution to the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. I recommend this book for those wanting a quick read and enough depth to get the measure of the man.
September 14, 2020
The author did a credible job. Much of the story focused on the days after the assassination attempt and the pathetic medical efforts to save Garfields life.
The story highlights the importance of selecting a qualified Vice President which was not a consideration in those times.
Garfield was like many presidents an opportunist who, while well meaning was more a manipulator than visionary leader.
Still, an interesting story.
The story highlights the importance of selecting a qualified Vice President which was not a consideration in those times.
Garfield was like many presidents an opportunist who, while well meaning was more a manipulator than visionary leader.
Still, an interesting story.
December 18, 2019
A quick read on the president who was assassinated six months into his term. His poor medical treatment fascinates me and I recommend Candace Millard’s excellent book. Also the lack of security even after Lincoln’s assassination astounds me. It would take 20 years as a third assassination before the secret services assigned to guard the president.
September 6, 2022
Very detailed and enlightening descriptions of a man and his unfortunate demise thanks to a set of disgusting circumstances. To summarily refuse to accept recognized medical practices because it doesn't resonate with what you have determined as the cause of something or is too cumbersome is wrong. This was compounded by dismissals and lying to the public over and over again.
March 26, 2018
Garfield was an unremarkable President. He is most remembered for his heroic struggle to survive for months after being shot in the back despite medical malpractice by his doctors. He suffered unspeakable pain and suffering and died from a survivable injury.
July 17, 2021
Though James A. Garfield only served as president for a few months because he was assassinated, he did have a good background of service in the country and was well educated and prepared to be president.
October 13, 2022
I really appreciated reading this biography written from the perspective of a doctor. His look at the medical practices (or malpractice) that lead to the death of a man who had the potential to be a very good president.
March 24, 2023
Just all right. The author, being a medical doctor, focused too much on the awful treatment Garfield received after the gunshot which obviously led to his death. Much should have been written about Chester Arthur's time in the White House.
June 5, 2018
Really, the most interesting thing about Garfield is how he died and how it helped change American medicine. The chapters on his botched medical care alone are worth the read.
August 20, 2019
Read to this one now and really enjoying it. I love writing style and everything Describe in this book.
January 12, 2020
A very interesting read on the unfortunately short tenure of one of the brightest minds to ever win the white house.
November 14, 2020
I had to write an essay on it? Hmmmmm..... I don't know what to write
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