Destiny of the Republic

Of the four assassinated presidents, Lincoln and Kennedy got all the press. I doubt Bill O'Reilly will write a book called Killing Garfield, and that's good, because the definitive book on the Garfield assassination has been written by Candice Millard with Destiny of the Republic, which covers the promise of Garfield, his insane assassin, the incompetence of his medical team, the struggle by Alexander Graham Bell to save him, and the accompany stress endured by the country.

James Garfield was the 20th president of the United States, little remembered today. He was the last president born in a log cabin, and was admired for coming from the most abject poverty. He was president for only three months when he was shot in the Baltimore and Potomac railway station on July 2, 1881. He died two and a half months later. But Millard paints a picture of how giant of a man he was at the time.

He was a dark horse candidate, a congressman from Ohio and former Civil War general. At the Republican convention of 1880 the party was split between two factions--the stalwarts and the half-breeds. Mostly this split was due to the issue of civil service reform, with the stalwarts preferring the old spoils system. They were led by the ruthless senator from New York, Roscoe Conkling, who supported James Blaine for president. The half-breeds supported Ohio senator John Sherman. But after several ballots neither could gain the necessary votes for nomination. Garfield, who placed Sherman's name in nomination, ended up being the compromise candidate. He was forced to choose Chester Arthur, one of Conkling's men, as Vice President. Garfield then defeated Winfield Hancock in the general election.

Paralleling Garfield's story is that of Charles Guiteau, his assassin. When I was a kid we learned that Guiteau was a "disappointed office seeker," but the truth is that he was insane, full of delusions of grandeur. Millard writes, "Charles Guiteau was an unremarkable figure. He had failed at everything he had tried, and he had tried nearly everything, from law to ministry to even a free-love commune. He had been thrown in jail. His wife had left him. His father believed him insane, and his family had tried to have him institutionalized. In his own mind, however, Guiteau was a man of great distinction and promise, and he predicted a glorious future for himself.

After Garfield's election, Guiteau was a common sight at the White House. He wished to be named Consul to France, and in those days anyone could walk into the White House and have a seat. The president's secretary, John Stanley Brown, knew him by sight, and Guiteau even managed to corner Blaine, who had been named Secretary of State. When it became apparent that Garfield was ignoring him, Guiteau decided that a stalwart should be president. He shot Garfield, and then expected the army to free him and Arthur to pardon him.

Because of Guiteau's statements, the public did for a while believe Conkling and Arthur were behind it. Conkling, through a tactical error, lost his senate seat. He still believed Arthur would do his bidding, but Arthur turned the tables on him. Arthur is something of a sad figure in this book: "The thought of Garfield dying terrified Arthur. The vice presidency was a prominent but undemanding job that had suited him well. Now, however, with the president near death, Arthur's position had been suddenly elevated to one of far greater importance than he, or anyone else, had ever believed possible."

The second part of this book is about the care Garfield received. "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."

Millard clearly points out that Garfield did not directly die of the gunshot wound. She says that he would have better off untreated. The first mistake was when the doctor arriving on the scene probed the bullet wound with his unsterilized finger. Garfield would receive constant probings like this, and he would die riddled with infection.

Joseph Lister, a British physician (Listerine is named after him) had come up with the notion that bacteria led to infection. European surgeons took to his theories and countless lives were saved. For some reason, American surgeons were skeptical, even dismissive, laughing at the idea that unseen forces were responsible for death. Thus Garfield, treated by an arrogant and foolhardy Dr. Bliss (his first name was Doctor, an example of parental pre-ordainment), was doomed from the start.

He lingered for a few months. Inventor Bell, who was famous because of the telephone, tried to invent a metal detector to find the bullet. He was successful in the invention, but Bliss stubbornly only allowed him to use the machine on Garfield's right side, where Bliss was sure the bullet was. After Garfield died and the autopsy performed, Bliss was chagrined to find that it was, indeed, on the left side.

Bliss spent the rest of his career trying to defend himself. Arthur surprised everyone by being a competent leader who championed civil service reform (and denied Conkling a post as Secretary of State).  It was until President McKinley's assassination twenty years later, though, that a permanent bodyguard force was installed around the president.

What comes across most through this book, though, is Millard's admiration of Garfield, and the regret that he did not complete his term. He was quite a forward thinker--he advocated equal rights for black citizens. After reading this book, it does seem a shame he was cut down by a deranged man who should have been receiving psychiatric care. Now Garfield exists only as the answer to a trivia question.