It may be that Netflix has done more to revive the memory of former U.S. President James Garfield and his assassin, Charles Guiteau, than the army of American history teachers and a mountain of U.S. history textbooks.
I imagine the reason such a series was even created perhaps stems from the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
The series begins in the following manner:
“This is a true story about two men the world forgot. One was the 20th President of the United States. The other shot him.”
Cut to the Army Medical Museum in Washington D.C., and a human brain in a specimen jar. Reading the label, a worker remarks “who the fuck is James Guiteau.”
Yes, these men have been recovered from history.
If there had been no murder, it is unlikely that Guiteau’s name would have ever entered the history books.
Garfield doesn’t occupy a prominent place in the history of American presidents. Part of this probably stems from the fact that he only had 5 months in office. The big issue of American society – slavery – had been largely resolved by the time he rose to highest office in land. The tide of war had receded and trade was flourishing. Factional politics, job-seeking, bribery and corruption were becoming more and more brazen.
Garfield had been born in Ohio in 1831. At the time of his birth, Ohio would have been considered a frontier state. A rough line of could have been drawn down the western side of the Appalachian mountains and east side of the Mississippi River.
Ohio was not one of the founding 13 American colonies.
Garfield was not an East Coaster.
By the time he became President in 1881, the frontier had advanced much further westwards, to the Great Plains and the western territories.
Garfield came a poor background.
He had grown up in a log-cabin.
His father had died when Garfield was but 2 years of age.
In his teens, Garfield left home to make his way in the world. For a time he worked as a bargeman on a canal.
He served in the Ohio Senate between 1859 and 1861.
When the American Civil war rolled around, Garfield was staunchly anti-slavery and he enlisted for the Union.
He saw action at Shiloh and Rosecrans and at Chickemauga. He rose to the rank of Major General during the conflict.
Garfield was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1862, serving all the way up to his time as President.
Garfield was Republican and anti-slavery. He entered the U.S. House of representatives in 1863 – right in the middle of Lincoln’s presidency.
The Netflix series covers to the Republican Primary of 1880. Among those vying to become nominee were President Grant and war hero, John Sherman.
Senator Roscoe Conkling (New York) was pushing for Grant to have a third term. But, running for a third term violated the unwritten rule that had existed from George Washington’s time – that 2 terms are enough. There was no legal prohibition against Grant seeking a third term. But others were not happy to see that happen.
The guy whose name rhymed with his state, James G. Blaine from Maine, also sought the nomination.
The problem was, none of these 3 candidates could secure a majority of votes.
Garfield was supporting Sherman’s nomination. They shared the same home state.
In nominating Sherman at the Convention, Garfield stated (in his actual speech), “We want one who will act in no spirit of unkindness towards those we lately met in battle. the Republican Party offers to our brethren in the South the olive branch of Peace, and invites them to renewed brotherhood, on this supreme condition: That it shall be admitted, forever, that in the War of the Union we were right and they were wrong.”1
After the war, Sherman was generally moderate and conciliatory towards the South. It is interesting that Garfield refers to the Civil War as the “War of the Union”.
In talking about Sherman, Garfield notes “His hand was in all that legislation that created the war currency…For twenty-five years he has trodden the perilous heights of public duty.”2
Sherman had been a U.S. Senator. He had also served as Secretary of the Treasury. Post-war, his policies aimed at national reconciliation and reconstruction.
In summation, Garfield said, “I do not present him as a better Republican or a better man than thousands of others that we honor; but I present him for your deliberate and favorable consideration.”3
Garfield’s speech in the series is not exactly the same as his actual speech. Some language is replicated, but it is not verbatim and the speech is shorter than the original. Key themes were slavery and the war.
In the series, Sherman is shown to be humiliated after Garfield’s speech. Indeed, for most of the actual speech, Garfield didn’t refer to Sherman by name. His address seems to end with a whimper rather than a bang.
Initially, Garfield wasn’t even one of the nominees, but since ballot after ballot failed to secure a victor, a move was made to make Garfield President. It took 36 ballots to confirm him as the Republican nominee. It was a record number of voting rounds for a Republican presidential convention. And it hasn’t been eclipsed since.
What comes through in the Netflix depiction of the Convention is the raw approach to politics at the time. It was all about the numbers. Individuals jockeyed for positions.
Garfield then went on to win the Presidency, 214 electoral votes to 155.
The depiction of Garfield’s presidential campaign is interesting. He is shown “campaigning” from his front porch in Ohio. Travel for representatives between their home states and the Capitol were onerous. The railways ferried people around. But it still took time. His wife makes mention of the difficulties resulting from him being away from home.
At the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, there were around 2.5 million people living in the 13 American colonies. By 1880, this had exploded to more than 50 million.
In the series, Garfield is shown wanting an open-door policy for people seeking appointments with him. Even in the 1880s, with a population many times smaller than America’s current population, this way of operating was never going to be feasible.
What comes through, is the number of offices seekers trying to secure a position.
Garfield was assassinated in 1881. I thought that perhaps the Secret Service may have been set up in the wake of his death. After all, there had already been a prior presidential assassination – Lincoln’s in 1865. The Secret Service was not established in 1881. It actually predates Garfield’s assassination. It was set up in 1865, but its purpose was to investigate the counterfeiting of U.S. currency. After Garfield’s death, there was temporary protection for the U.S. President, but it was only after the assassination of yet another president, McKinley in 1901, that it became a permanent security detail to protect the nation’s leader.
Another central character in the story is Chester A. Arthur. As part of the wheeling and dealing to secure the presidency, Arthur was offered the position of vice-president.
Arthur had been born in Vermont, but represented New York.
He had been admitted to the Bar there in 1854.
He had been involved in the “Lemmon slave case”, where it was determined that a slave passing through New York was to be considered free.
In 1855 he argued that blacks should be treated the same as whites on streetcars in New York and won a ruling to that effect.
In 1871 President Grant made him Collector of the Port of New York. This placed him at the nexus between money and political influence. Arthur’s reputation headed south during his time as Collector. He resigned the position in 1879.
There were contradictions in his life. He started his a career fighting legal cases on behalf or slaves or people who were being mistreated. Then he came to be associated with corruption and patronage.
Once installed as President, he made moves to reserve some government jobs for a competitive examination process (the Pendleton Act of 1883). He also set up the Civil Service Commission.
So, who was the real Chester A. Arthur?
The Netflix series reflects this moral ambiguity. At times he is a drunk, a party-goer, rowdy, a brawler. At other times he is shown missing his deceased wife. Defender of the down-trodden. Political numbers man. Corrupt Collector. Friend to Conkling. Estranged from Conkling. Promoter of positions filled on merit. It almost makes one wonder – would Arthur have given himself a job, or would have rejected himself as lacking merit?
Australia and the World Past and Present 
Leave a comment