0:02

In 1881, James Garfield became the second

0:04

U.S. president to be assassinated. But

0:06

while Abraham Lincoln died a martyr 16

0:09

years earlier for union and liberty, Garfield

0:11

was killed for a less glorious cause, civil

0:14

service reform. Well, that doesn't seem like

0:17

a big deal now. It was then. This

0:19

was a time when most government positions were

0:21

obtained through political connections. This practice,

0:23

known as patronage or the spoils

0:26

system, was the way both Republicans

0:28

and Democrats held power. It

0:30

created a lot of party loyalty. You

0:32

owed your job to the party, but also

0:34

led to a lot of incompetence and corruption. Garfield

0:38

was the first president to seriously challenge

0:40

this system. He took on the

0:42

party bosses who doled out jobs and instead appointed

0:44

qualified civil servants on the

0:46

basis of merit. This courageous

0:48

act cost America's 20th president his

0:51

life. James Garfield was born

0:53

on November 19, 1831, near Cleveland, Ohio. His

0:57

father died before James was two, leaving his

0:59

strong-willed mother, Eliza, to raise him

1:01

and his three siblings alone. His

1:04

mother and his older brother, Thomas, recognized there

1:07

was something special about James, and they

1:09

made every possible sacrifice to get him an

1:11

education. James didn't disappoint them.

1:14

He was an excellent student with an exceptional work

1:16

ethic. It wasn't enough for him to

1:18

merely master a subject. He had to be

1:20

the best in his school, and invariably,

1:22

he was. He put

1:25

himself through college by studying during the day and

1:27

working as a janitor by night. The

1:29

same year he graduated, 1856, he joined

1:33

the new anti-slavery Republican Party. A

1:36

committed abolitionist, he got himself elected to the Ohio State

1:38

Senate in 1859 at age 28. When

1:41

the Civil War began in 1861, Garfield

1:43

abandoned politics to join the Union Army.

1:47

As fate would have it, Garfield became one

1:49

of the first major Union War heroes. He

1:52

achieved that status by defeating Confederate forces at

1:54

the Battle of Middle Creek in Kentucky in

1:56

January 1862. Relative

1:58

to future battles, it was a milestone. In or affair. But.

2:01

It was one of the first time that the union can claim

2:03

a victory. And a dispel the notion

2:05

that the south was invincible. During.

2:07

The War as follow Ohioans elected

2:09

him to the house of Representatives.

2:11

Initially, Garfield felt uneasy about accepting

2:13

the owner. He. Didn't want

2:16

anybody to think he was running away from the

2:18

battlefield. It took President Abraham Lincoln

2:20

to convince him otherwise. Lincoln's. Argument

2:22

was straightforward. He. Had enough

2:24

generals, he needed more support in Congress.

2:27

It wasn't long before every one

2:29

recognized Garfield Manifold Talents. He. Was

2:31

a brilliant legislator, a master of

2:33

details, And also known as a nice

2:35

as person in Washington. To. Nice Many

2:37

thought to be considered presidential timber.

2:40

Garfield. Had no ambitions to be president, so

2:42

he didn't care. He. Was happy to

2:44

rise to the chairmanship of the

2:46

powerful Appropriations committee and eventually House

2:48

Minority Leader. But. His career path

2:50

change when the Republican to mention and

2:53

Eighteen Eighty deadlocked between former President Ulysses

2:55

Grant. And main Senator James, you

2:57

blame. Grant. Was backed by New

2:59

York machine ball Senator Roscoe Conkling. a

3:01

staunch defender of the spoil system, Civil.

3:04

Service reformers back going. After.

3:06

Thirty three ballots neither side and get the upper

3:08

hand. On the thirty fourth ballots.

3:11

Almost. Had a nowhere. The Wisconsin delegation

3:13

voted for Garfield. That.

3:15

Was enough to get the ball rolling. Over

3:17

the next to ballots Garfield delegate count

3:19

skyrocketed to three hundred ninety nine. Enough

3:22

to make him the party's nominee. Nobody

3:24

was more stone them garfield. The. General

3:26

election was almost as dramatic. Garfield.

3:29

One by the slimmest of margins. Defeating

3:31

Democratic candidate Winfield Scott Hancock by a

3:33

mere eight thousand votes out of nine

3:35

million cast. The. Electoral

3:37

Count, however, was decisive. Two.

3:39

Thousand and Fourteen Two hundred and fifty thoughts.

3:42

Both. Counseling assume that Garfield now in

3:44

power. Would. Just pay lip service, civil

3:46

service or form. He. Was wrong. Garfield.

3:49

Nominated pro Reform advocate William Robertson to

3:51

run the New York Customs House. The.

3:53

Mother Lode of patronage Opposition Conkling

3:56

a long controlled. Conklin.

3:59

was apoplectic But

4:01

his tantrum fell on deaf ears. It

4:03

turned out that the boss's influence was less than he thought.

4:06

The party backed a new president. It was

4:08

a major victory for Garfield and set up his

4:10

first term for success. Not

4:13

only did he establish presidential authority over

4:15

party bosses and advance civil service reform,

4:18

he could also advance civil rights for the

4:20

former enslaved, something he desperately wanted

4:22

to do. And then there were

4:24

issues about tariffs, the debt, and the currency for

4:26

the president to deal with. Garfield

4:29

was up for the task, but he never got the

4:31

chance. On July 2nd, 1881, a

4:34

mentally unstable office seeker, Charles

4:36

Guiteau, approached him and fired two

4:38

shots. The first grazed

4:40

Garfield's arm. The second tore

4:43

into his back. Attempting

4:45

to locate the bullet, doctors prodded their unwashed

4:47

fingers and instruments into the president, infecting

4:49

the area around the wound. Had

4:51

they done nothing, he would have likely survived.

4:54

Two and a half months later, on September

4:56

19th, Garfield died. He had all

4:58

the makings of a great president. Would he

5:00

have become one? We'll never know. I'm

5:03

Lewis Paccone, author of The President

5:05

is Dead, for Prager University. Thank

5:08

you for watching this video. To keep

5:10

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5:12

making a tax-deductible donation.