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Show James Garfield: 20th President The twentieth president of ' the United States was James Garfield, born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on Nov. 19, 1 83 1 , the youngest of four sons of Abram Garfield and his wife. His father had come to Ohio from Massachusetts four years earlier. GARFIELD, WIDELY respected re-spected as a man of integrity, a surprise nominee met a tragic end before he had served much of his term. He was a member and lay teacher of the Disciples of Christ and a fine soldier. Lincoln, in fact, persuaded him to resign from the army in late 1863, after a distinguished ' career, climaxed at Chick-amauga, Chick-amauga, and run for Congress. He was elected and remained in the House until 1879 when elected to the U.S. Senate from Ohio. Then came the fatal and surprise sur-prise turn in his life. Before he could take his seat, the Republican Repub-lican National Convention nominated him for president. The three leading contenders for the nomination had been U.S. Grant, William Sherman and James Blaine, but the convention con-vention deadlocked. THEN SIXTEEN Wisconsin delegates turned to Garfield and a stampede developed among delegates and he was unanimously nominated. He was elected that year but after serving only a few months a disappointed office seeker from New York, Charles Guiteau, shot him at the Washington railroad station sta-tion (July 2, 1881). Garfield fought for life for 1 1 weeks but finally lost his greatest battle, dying on Sept. .19 at Elberton, N.J. |