Show FIVE MINUTE CHATS ABOUT OUR presidents fyd by JAMES MORGAN JAMES A GARFIELD 1831 nov 19 james jamaca abram garfield born at orange ohio 1858 61 P resident president of hiram college 1858 ducretia rudolph 1860 member of ohio Seri senate ato ISAI colonel in ohio volunteers 1862 brigadier general 1863 major general 1863 80 in congress elected to the united states senate 1880 june 7 nominated for president by re republican publican convention at chicago chicag 0 november elected president 0 AMES ABRAIM GARFIELD was the JAMES latest and it Is fairly safe to say the last of the presidents born and bred in log cabins notwithstanding that humble state be was one of the half dozen scholarly men who mho have sat in tile the presidential chair garfield Is the only president who ft nas as present at his own nomination the presidential lightning struck hiro him as ile he sat in his sent scat in that most extraordinary tra and exciting national convention which met at chicago in all the stalwart clans believing with a st louis editor that there was one more president in the bloody shirt upon the great name of grant nd under the banner of the hero of X rag lames james A garfield appomattox they rallied against the balf creeds breeds who followed the plumed knight james G blaine of maine the rival champions in th hat at remarkable tournament at chicago viere ros hoe boe conkling chieftain of tile the stal stai warts n arts and james A k garfield of ohio the spokesman of the half breeds although lie he was restrained from directly supporting elaine blaine by the instruct tiong ot of his state in favor of the nomination of john sherman erman conkling a handsome fop carefully studied the right moment to make its his theatrical I 1 entry upon the stage the first day dr drawing aNIng the tha applause ag lie he advanced advanced I 1 down the aisle with ills grandiloquent swell his majestic elac el lc overpowering I 1 lioa cring turkey gobbler strut which blaine had held up to the laughter of congress years before in a never to be bc forgiven speech the next nest day garr 1 e id 1 I 1 took 0 0 1 1 his I 1 1 Is revenge by entering while conkling c 0 rik 11 0 was 1 speaking and the welcoming cheers drowned the voice of the indignant speaker on the third i if 1 y tile two came to grips in a debate and the ohioan scored on uie the new yorker ler while the gallery still was cheer 1 ing the victor in that round conkling wrote on the margin of a newspaper news and se senate IWO garfield a mocking 1 tion that lie he was playing to tile gal ij lery in ills his own interest 1 I congratulate you on being a dark horse borse in truth garfield could not rise in tile the convention without helping himself more than he be helped sherman who nover never had a chance to win As ballot lifter itter ballot was tak taken en it became plain that neither the immortal BOG who NOW followed follon ed grant nor n or the deaf aning cheers which his name evo evoked could come the prejudice agn against lif a third term in the white and it apt ai was made equally plain that this old afis jo guard never would surrender to ip blaine garie A new liew candidate was necessary feces airy it if taj the convention was not to fall to ft pieces in factions one solitary vote i for or garfield on most of the ballots had J continued to point the finger 0 of des tiny nt at him wisconsin pointed all her fingers in his direction when her delegation 6 brodaj to him on the thirty fi cat fourth ballot y f garfield rose witti with pallid face and C il 6 dry lips to a point of order but sm 11 rit stor aloar of massachusetts who 11 was 0 ji in tha chair rapped him film down in two t I 1 more ballots lie was nominated liy by a combination of the beable find and men y in the midst of the uproar the nal title boe sat limp and perspiring in his seat aget get me out of here he faintly ahls ills ered to his ese er gohei nor obiter of 0 ollo assassination OF GARFIELD 1831 1881 march 4 james A garfield inaugurated president aged fifty mar 23 sent to senate the nomination of federal officers in now new york city may 16 the senate con firmed the nominations may 17 senators conkling and platt resigned july 2 garfield shot b by y charles J guiteau at washington sept 6 removed to elberon N J sept 19 died aged fifty 1882 june 30 guiteau hanged n J aames A GARFIELD fell a sacrifice J to the spirit of facil faction on and of tile the spoils system although this gentle gentie kindly man was not of the heroic stuff that martyrs are made of his blood became the seed of better belter things in our politics rarely karely if ever has a president taken up the burden of the office with a larger measure of good will from the people regardless of party and of faction than flowed floed out to garfield ns as he stood on the lie steps of the capitol in the sunshine of ills his inaugural day the picture of robust american manhood in its prime his first kiss after kissing in the lie bible in the presence of a multitude of witnesses was for the aged mother who in a forest but had started him on his way to the white house and iho held a place of h honor onor beside the schoolmate sweetheart who acho had been his faithful companion all along the road one thin tiling though backest yet and that is a slight ossification ot of the heart john ilay hay had written to the president elect this lack was fatal had its his heart been harder garfield ni bould have made his administration wholly his own lifting it above factions and lie he might have lived through a prosperous term instead lie remained his few months in the white house what he had been in congress a lieutenant of blaine whom lie appointed to the of state with the love of a comradeship of eighteen years and who became at once the power behind the throne the omy dry president to step directly from the alie capitol to the white houe lie N was as without executive exper experience leDee or tastes his whole training had been to debate lind and compromise not to act or decide on his sole responsibility garfield himself was rather indifferent to factions liking to get along with all men ile he appreciated Con klings reluctant but timely support in the campaign and invited him out to mentor in the winter to talk over the he new york patronage ile he thou thought ht of inviting him into the cabinet itself until blaine whispered no less than three weeks after he be took its his seat garfield told the senator that lie he was not yet ready to consider the question of filling the new york offices only 48 hours afterward lie filled them nominating for the highest of those offices best friend and Con klings worst enemy in new york with garfielda Gar fields hand blaine had thrown down the gauntlet to the haughty chieftain of the stalwart clan and a duel of factions was ou on in blind fury the administration succeeded in beating conkling in the senate where lie he opposed the lie confirmation of the offen she nominee but tile the equator and his colleague thomas C aa A pi I 1 I 1 W W lucretia R garfield carfield plait resigned their seats beats and appealed to the new york legislature legisla leglIa tuie to reelect thern them as a vindication ot of their course when the conflict wits was bitterest and when ahen the stalwarts Stal warts were losing at albany a disappointed place hunter at washington charles J Cul custeau conceived the mad idea ot of saving tile situation with a pistol shot and he posted i himself lt tit at the railway matlon where his victim was to take a train for sins mail the president pres deit idelt was going back to williams college the goal coal of hla his struggling youth and was smiling like a L loy boy oil off fur for a vacation as he entered the waiting room at the rall rail way station elation with blaine at ills side in two flashes of a revolver lie fell copyright 19 n uy oy james morgan |