GARFIELD, James Abram
(1831–81), 20th president of the U.S. (1881), who
during his brief term asserted presidential prerogatives against
the demands of congressional leaders.
Garfield was born in a log cabin in Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, on
Nov. 19, 1831. Raised in poverty by his widowed mother, and doing
every kind of rough frontier work, he managed to secure a college
education and to develop oratorical skills that quickly led him
from lay preaching for the Disciples of Christ into politics. He was
married in 1858 to Lucretia Rudolph (1832–1918) and was
elected to the Ohio legislature the year after. When the American
Civil War came, he raised a regiment and soon displayed considerable
talent as an administrator and military leader.
In January 1862, when Union victories were rare, Garfield’s
troops defeated a Confederate army at Middle Creek, making Garfield
a hero and resulting in his promotion to brigadier general of volunteers.
Military glory and his antislavery record won him a seat in Congress
in 1863. Garfield went to Washington with brilliant prospects marred
only by his lack of wealth and his tendency, already manifest, to
participate in rather dubious business undertakings that traded
on his military fame and political position.
Garfield was a talented parliamentarian, a hard worker, and
a skilled negotiator in Congress. His work on the House Appropriations
Committee made a real contribution to improving the management of
the U.S. government. When James G. Blaine advanced to the Senate
in 1876, Garfield succeeded him as leader of the House Republicans;
as such he was a brilliant debater and a consistent but sensible
partisan. In 1880, when Republican factions deadlocked at the national
convention, he was an obvious compromise choice for the party’s
presidential nomination.
Factional battling within the Republican party marked the
1880 campaign, which was further marred by the airing of two financial
scandals that loosely implicated Garfield—one involving
the paving of Washington, D.C., streets and the other the building
of the transcontinental railroads. Then, as throughout his career,
Garfield deflected his accusers, but he could never fully deter
them. With the Republican factions finally cooperating and a New
Yorker, Chester Arthur, as his vice-presidential candidate, Garfield
became president with a scant margin of 10,000 votes.
Garfield’s brief administration was consumed largely
by a war with Sen. Roscoe Conkling of New York over patronage. Garfield
had appointed James Blaine, Conkling’s greatest enemy,
as secretary of state and then named a Blaine supporter to the politically
critical position of collector of the Port of New York. Conkling,
upholding the tradition of “senatorial courtesy,” questioned
the president’s right to make New York appointments over
the objection of the state’s senator. After a bitter battle
in which it became clear that the Senate would confirm Garfield’s
nominee, Conkling and Thomas Platt (1833–1910)—New
York’s junior senator—resigned their seats, seeking
vindication through reelection by the New York legislature. Conkling’s plan
backfired: The legislature sent two new senators to Washington,
ending Conkling’s career and giving Garfield a triumph.
On July 2, 1881, Charles Jules Guiteau (c. 1840–82),
a disappointed office seeker, shot Garfield; he lingered on until
September 19, when he finally succumbed. Garfield’s death
at the hands of a frustrated office seeker created a powerful impetus
for civil reform. His administration, which initiated prosecutions
for mail-contract frauds in the previous administration, in addition
to fighting the battles with Conkling, had importance principally
in asserting the power of the president against Congress and in
attacking corruption in government.